With bullet points you can build the bigger picture, a simple overview so that your audience can easily relate to what you are saying about the topic. The same applies to an agenda, where bullets points are also very useful. Always highlight the live section, thus making it easier for the audience to keep up with your speech. The presentationmagazine.com website offered a list of further instances in which bullet points are useful.
When you need to emphasise there is a lot to be done
Sometimes you need to express the feeling of a busy situation, when there are too many obstacles, requests or other unpleasant things to deal with. How to convey to your audience this sense of having too many tasks to do or too many points of view to consider? Simply overwhelm them. Show them there really are multiple issues – bullet points are great for that. Just show them a list of bullet points, adding a word or two or even a short sentence about each.
Ranking
If ranking matters, it is best to use some data and prepare a chart. But when you don’t have the data or the time for this, bullet points can illustrate an order of preference. First beats second, second beats third …
When you need a little boredom
Sometimes you can show people that you are able to do the boring stuff. This is OK if you do it on purpose. If used properly, it can add to your credibility when you are presenting less boring things.
In case of emergency
If there is no time to prepare a presentation, it is better to use no slides at all. Sometimes, however, a basic structure can be created very quickly: all you need is bullet points and a few basic words. Nonetheless, if you really don’t have time, consider using a flip chart instead: usually this is much better than showing a poorly prepared slide.
-jk-