While building and updating pitchbooks and client presentations can feel like a never-ending task for hedge fund marketing managers, there are a few things you can do to simplify the process and ensure a professional-looking presentation.

1. Integrate your data sources: Hedge fund presentations are data rich. Using the data integration tools in PowerPoint will help you seamlessly integrate data from Excel and other sources and reduce the likelihood of reporting errors. Pro Tip: Integration can be tricky, when in doubt get expert advice from a creative services partner or IT vendor.
2. Be consistent with tables: Using a consistent design and treating content the same way across all tables in a presentation will make the information easier to consume. You can set up a table style to handle font, size, and colors before building or importing any tables into a presentation. Pro Tip: If you need to resize an entire table in PowerPoint, hit the Shift key and drag the white resizing dot to ensure that everything in the table resizes equally.
3. Alignments matter: Using the Alignment tool will ensure your objects are properly aligned on your slide, giving your presentation a polished and professional look. Pro Tip: The Alignment tool has two key settings, Align to Slide and Align Selected Objects. We recommend Align Selected Objects. Here are some helpful tips from Microsoft.
4. Turn on Guides and Gridlines: Guides (horizontal and vertical center lines) and Gridlines (a grid of lines across the entire slide) are a great feature to help you align items on a slide that are not associated with another object.
5. Use fonts appropriately: Stick to your brand’s core fonts and hierarchy of information. Titles, headings, text boxes and tables should be consistent across the presentation to help readers subconsciously process and categorize information. Pro Tip: We recommend no more than 2-3 fonts and 2-4 type sizes.
6. Don’t forget the Slide Master: While setting up a Slide Master takes time and planning; it is worth it in the long run. Consistency and branding are key in developing an impactful presentation. The Slide Master makes it easier to maintain both across a presentation regardless of how many people are editing.

Whether it's reviewing content or building a new deck, PowerPoint skills are a necessity for anyone in asset management. We believe that PowerPoint has become a powerful tool that can help firms showcase their brands and unique perspective.  Recently we shared our love for PowerPoint and its constantly evolving feature set. Contact us if you would like to learn more.

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