A very compact list in Beamer

Question

I would like to make a very compact list (e.g., itemize) in Beamer. An identical question has been asked for an article-type document class; the answer uses the enumitem package, known to be incompatible with Beamer.

My question is: How do I make the same compact list in the Beamer document class? As in the above linked question, I would like the list to have

• No whitespace before list
• No whitespace after list
• No whitespace between lines
• Less indent before the bullet points

Answer 1

To achieve all four requirements in one shot, define your own itemize and don't touch Beamer's. In the following, I give an example of a newenvironment to replace Beamer's itemize and fulfill all your goals:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{tabularx}

\newcommand{\myitem}[1]{%
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{}l@{}>{\raggedright}X@{}}
\usebeamercolor[fg]{structure}$\bullet$~~ & #1
\end{tabularx}%
}    
\newenvironment{myitemize}{\par}{\par}     
\begin{document} 

\begin{frame}{Frame Title}

normal text

normal text

\begin{myitemize}
    \myitem{first item}
    \myitem{second item}
    \myitem{third item}
\end{myitemize}

normal text

normal text 

\end{frame} 

\end{document}

Answer 2

To change the space before the bullet points:

\documentclass{beamer}

\setlength{\leftmargini}{0.5cm}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}

normal text

normal text

\begin{itemize}
\item Bar
\item Foo
\end{itemize}

normal text

normal text

\end{frame}

\end{document}

For you other three requirements, please see Adjust vertical space before enumerated list in Beamer.