plus it’s easy & free!!!

My last blog post briefly indicates my disdain for bulleted lists. Why do I hate them so?  Let me count the ways. Slide decks containing bulleted lists are completely predictable, unimaginative.  Even worse, during your talk the audience will quickly read through your list in top-to-bottom order and see each item as equally weighted—without it being obvious which items are meant to take precedence over others. But the death of your talk doesn’t stop there. After your audience has read through your bulleted list faster than you can explain each item, they zone out and stop giving you their full attention because they already know what’s coming.

My go-to solution

There are tons of strategies to convey ideas in formats other than the boring bulleted list. Today I want to share with you my go-to solution…and it is free!  There’s a feature in Microsoft Office products (like Word and PowerPoint) called SmartArt. It contains a built-in design gallery that will help you convey your points in graphic organizers like these:

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Laura Hsu

Laura Hsu is the design & customer experience expert at Communication Hackers. With a natural eye for design, Laura excels at advising businesses on the juncture of design and messaging. She is also a natural teacher who loves to explain the why, what, and how of complicated things in a simplified way.

Latest posts by Laura Hsu (see all)

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