To End-Stop or Not: A PowerPoint Dilemma

Dear Grammar Guru: When doing a PowerPoint presentation, are periods required at the end of sentences and/or bullet points when they are complete sentences?

Generally, if you have a slide that contains text in a block, like a quote or a sentence, you should use normal punctuation.

For bullet points, you don’t need periods, because bullet points should not be complete sentences. The “6×6 rule” states that bullet point lists in slide presentations should be no more than 6 words per bullet, and no more than 6 bullets per page.

Consider these two lists, both of which might be on a slide entitled “How Poverty Hurts Children”:

• Children are dying for lack of medical care.
• Children are malnourished and susceptible to illness.
• Children are not being adequately educated.
• Children are sold into slavery or forced to work to help support their families.
• Children are abused or left to die because parents cannot feed them.

OR

• Poor health
• No medical care
• No education
• Slavery and forced labor
• Abuse and neglect
• Death

You can see how the second list, with just the bare-bones, basic message, makes a far more powerful impact on the audience.

So, to answer your question briefly, use periods only for quotes or blocks of text. Keep bullet points very short and don’t use periods.

Tags: bulleted lists, PowerPoint, presentations, public speaking, slides, Typography