That sound you hear is the learner’s forehead hitting the desk…

Georgette Nicolaides
2 min readFeb 22, 2018

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Even animations can’t help!

65% of us are visual learners, according to the Social Sciences Research Network. And that statistic comes from 2004! So why are you still using boring bullets?

<<< Just look at this slide. Very dull. Even if it were an interesting topic! (Yours, of course.) There are a lot of ways we can spice this up, while still conveying important information. Here is one way we can do that:

Animate each point so that it rolls in from the closest edge.

According to The Center for Accelerated Learning, engaging as many senses as possible stimulates the brain and engenders increased learning. So, adding shapes and colors is not only more attractive and fun to create, it also makes your training more effective. And it adds little time to the development cycle, especially if you re-use favorite designs.

<<< Here is one way to create a list. Use the flags to display reference numbers and hyperlink the resource titles. Right-click the slide and select Format Background to add texture (like this). You can also add color, gradient fills, and images.

<<< This combination of shapes and bullets indicate a before and after relationship around an event. Place a brief description of the event in the center and animate before, then after, bullets. The background is formatted with a gradient fill. You can select where to place the darker color, and even add a third color to your gradient.

You can even creatively use Microsoft PowerPoint SmartArt, those images that scream, “Newbie!” Just ungroup the image and modify it.

SmartArt Tools menu > Group > Ungroup > change colors, fonts, and so on

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Choose one of your learning projects and spice up the bullet points! For more ideas, search online images for “alternatives to bullet points.”

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