What’s your point?

Clarity is critical to fundraising success — and to ongoing GP to LP communications.

Engaging LPs starts by ensuring the important points are front and center and crisply displayed in your presentations. We want to make sure when you finish a meeting, LPs don’t ask “What was the main point?”

Here are some suggestions for trimming down your presentations to capture LPs attention and focus it on those elements that will resonate and keep them engaged with your fund offering.

We offer some tips on developing the discipline to prioritize your information concisely and make it ‘pop’ graphically to ensure your message is on point:

1: Don’t include every detail in your intro presentation. Think about what your readers need to see to move to the next conversation, i.e., what will make your presentation stand out. The details will be covered in discussions, DDQ, and PPM.

2: Include no more than 12-15 pages of content in the body of your presentation. Fewer pages will help you focus your message. It will also enable you to deliver your pitch in 30-40 minutes, leaving plenty of time for the conversation that LPs value.

3: Limit yourself to 3 major points on a page. You can include more bullet points than that, but don’t assume that your audience will retain more than 3 ideas. Use the “three-second test”: look at the page for three seconds, then ask yourself “what did I take away from the slide?”

4: Fewer words = more impact. Use short phrases, sometimes sentences, but never paragraphs. Be creative. Find a unique message for your team. Using fewer words will force you to choose them more carefully.

5: Use white space strategically. Text or charts do not need to fill the entire page. Empty space focuses the reader’s eye on your important points and makes your presentation more appealing to read.

6: Keep it interesting by varying the layout from page to page. Avoid several pages in a row of bullet-point lists. This is where well-designed charts, judicious use of images, color, and clean graphic elements can add value.

7: Avoid unnecessary graphics. Unless the image, icon, or illustration genuinely adds to the message or improves ease of reading, omit it. Do use graphic elements specific to the team, strategy, or investment, which are sometimes more effective than words.

8: Use the page title to tell your story. This is prime real estate—no need to waste it. Instead of a generic page label like “Investment Team”, you can highlight your main point with a title like “10 Years Together Investing in Specialized Sector.”

With a slimmed-down presentation: your LPs and prospective investors will thank you for valuing their time; you will communicate your main points more effectively, and you don’t even need to go to the gym!