Finding Your Inspiration Much of communication today has the quality of intan- gibility. Services, software, causes, thought leadership, change management, company vision--they're often more conceptual than concrete, more ephemeral than firm. And there's nothing wrong with that. But it's a struggle communicating these types of ideas because essentially they are invisible. It's difficult to share one's vision when there's nothing to see. Expressing these invisible ideas visually, so that they feel tangible and can be acted upon, is a bit of an art form. The best place to start is not with the computer. A pencil and a sheet of paper will do nicely. © Bettmann/Corbis Why take this seemingly Luddite approach? Because presentation software was never intended to be a brain- storming or drawing tool. The applications are simply containers for ideas and assets, not the means to generate them. It's been an easy trap to fall into, launching presenta- tion applications to prepare content. In reality, the best creative process requires stepping away from technol- ogy and relying on the same tools of expression that you grew up with--pens, pencils, and crayons. The goal is to generate ideas--not necessarily pictures yet--but lots of ideas. These can be words, diagrams, or scenes; they can be literal or metaphorical; the only requirement is that they express your underlying thoughts. The best thing about this process is that you don't need to figure out how to use drawing tools or where to save the file.