Start a new document, select Screen->Empty Slides Layout docker shows previews with bullet list. Select e.g. one column slide with bullet list for the first slide. The second text area is not formatted as bullet list initially, this has to be done manually
Just started using Calligra Stage and noticed the same problem. Was about to file a bug but then saw this -- and it's had no activity for almost two years now. There seems to be a basic problem with the slide templates in that certain expected formatting isn't happening. The template that has one dark gray bar in the middle -- supposedly a section title slide -- doesn't work, either.