Bullet Points: [bool-it pointz] Small textual markers indicating key concepts or ideas; information organizers
The best way to understand bullet points is to understand what they are not: they are not musket ball points, mortar points, flint arrowhead points, or pre-adolescent boy open-handed slap points. The term also assumes a seasoned, sober marksman; in other words, bullet points are specific and targeted. They follow linear logic. They produce no collateral damage.
When your bullet point reads, “Intellectually manifested super-intuitive data point interface uniquely pre-qualifies Acme Technology to archive existing obsolete infrastructures via cloud-computing,” you have not bullet-pointed at all; you have cluster-bomb-pointed your audience into a neolithic stupor that can only be broken with the immediate administration of free pastries and Starbucks coffee. Proceeding without allowing for complete recovery has varying implications for members of the audience: some will assume the fetal position, others will crouch wild-eyed and angry, and still others will take their business elsewhere. Where? To the company whose bullet point reads, “Beta Technology solves your problems.”
The human brain is a marvel, except when guerrilla presentation tactics dismantle the fragile divide between civilized human and barbarous animal. Keep it gentlemanly with precise, focused bullet points.
The Takeaway: An expert’s human voice is a far more reliable way to channel clear and precise ideas into audience members’ brains. Some use bullet points to great effect, but more often these points travel past the frontal lobes and into the cerebral cortex, triggering mouth breathing almost immediately.
