James Young wrote this short but influential book in 1965. He suggests five steps to develop creative, engaging ideas:

1. Gather material - as much as possible - about the topic.
2. Look for relationships between the pieces of information, especially unusual or unexpected ones.
3. Concentrate on something else for a while and let your subconscious sift through the information you gathered.
4. "When you are least expecting", an idea will come to you.
5. Shape and develop the idea into something practical, such as a presentation.

At no point did he mention choosing a Powerpoint template.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technique-Producing-McGraw-Hill-Advertising-Classic/dp/0071410945/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1324564752&sr=8-3

Are you planning a presentation? Tempted to open up Powerpoint and start typing bullet points?

Why? Just because everyone else does it that way?

Why not try doing it differently? Your audience will thank you. Start with your message. Ask yourself - what am I trying to get across in this presentation? Try putting yourself in the shoes of your audience. Assume your audience will only remember one thing, one aspect of your presentation. Let's be honest about this, that's pretty good going for the average Powerpoint presentation. So, what is that one thing that you want them to remember?

Once you've decided what your message is, think about how you might structure your talk. How much background do you need to give your audience? How can you make your talk interesting and memorable? Write notes to remind yourself what you want to say. Better still, write out your whole talk, word for word. Practice it, preferably to a friendly audience such as a friend or your partner - or even to yourself in the mirror.

Then, and not before, decide whether you need any visual aids. If you really, really need some Powerpoint slides to get your message across, then go for it (but exercise due care and restraint). If you don't need images, then please, do not bother. Think how much more powerful your presentation could be if you actually spoke directly to the audience, instead of constantly staring at a screen and clicking mouse buttons...

In the immortal words of Winston Churchill during World War 2:

"Now, where does this cable plug in... is the screen on? Let me see, it's shift-F7, isn't it... No, still not working. I'll just re-boot the laptop. Won't take long. OK, there we are. Oh wait a minute, I've lost the mouse pointer. Right. OK. We shall fight on the beaches... Now, why isn't it going on to the next slide...."