Inspiration 9

Inspiration 9 greatly exceeded my expectations. At first glance it may not strike you as anything out of the ordinary, but it is a surprisingly powerful tool with a geat deal of hidden potential. It allows you to build and manipulate a set of ideas and related concepts on the fly. It simultaneously creates an outline of the relationships. Changes in either the diagram or the outline view change both the diagram and the outline simultaneously. Links to audio, picture and video files can be incorporated into the design. The program generates presentation quality slides which can be further edited and enhanced. The finished presentation can be viewed on PCs that don't have the inspiration program on them by installing a distributable presentation viewer (and any required user support files such as document, vidio and sound files). A skilled presenter may be able to use this program in a live meeting to develop a concept as a group interactively. A detailed outline of the group's model could easily be printed out for all participants. This makes the program potentially quite useful in a live meeting such as sales or marketing or in a classroom/training environment. Of course you can achieve more polished results with a premade presentation, but the flexability is there.

This tool helps organize thoughts, build brainstorming ideas, develop fictional characters, develop rough book outlines put together strategic and tactical plans and so much more. I'd say its only limitation is the imagination of the user. So far I've used this for my professional work in operational management and in my personal work in writing fiction. It looks to me like it would be useful in the classroom, in meetings and at my home desk. This very flexible brainstorming product is fairly easy to use and takes very little time to learn. It is also fairly inexpensive. I highly recommend it.

I love this product! I've used a program in government work called Analyst's Notebook for years. It's an associated chart application. This is very similar with its ability to create concept maps. I also really appreciate that this program will automatically create an outline AND a powerpoint presentation for you if you start out with a concept map. I'm sure there are a lot of other functions that I haven't discovered yet. I say this is great for any teacher because, if the teacher buys the program for his or herself for use at home, he or she can then take the product, save it as a picture and then use it at school either in powerpoint or the equally fantastic online program, Prezi. Awesome tool!

Mind mapping is brilliant. You don't even have to read the instructions to get started on creating simple mindmaps and converting them into outlines. I used it to map out my business processes (I have a home-based photography studio) and it was so incredibly helpful and instructive, I realized major gaps in my thinking and reorganized a few processes to be stand-alone as opposed to subsets of other processes, etc...I do wish you could load this on more than one computer -- I had to buy one for the kids to use on their computer for homework and reports, and one on my computer for work brainstorming. I think one copy was about $40, and the second copy (purchased a few months later) was $30Also, my oldest child has autism and is highly visual and this program has made writing MUCH less of a hated chore. But anyone in school would benefit from it (there is another version, KidSpiration, geared towards elementary kids)Highly recommended.

I love this software. Though it was designed for young students, I find it to be one of the best professional writing tools around. It's easy to create virtual cards, move them around, connect them in different ways, and then, with a touch of a key, convert them into a perfect outline. I use it in conjunction with Scrivener.

Inspiration more than helped me write my thesis. With having ADHD I have difficulty with prioritizing and outlining my thoughts. I love this program. I played with the colors and pictures and it put things together for me in an order I could follow. Way to go Inspiration!

Inspiration was a product I used many years ago in my work in public schools. I found it to be so helpful that I bought my own copy for personal use in organizing my projects, clarifying my thoughts and visualizing the project or problem more as a process via a 'big picture,' literally. The product then disappeared from my radar. Just recently, I discovered that the company had focused almost exclusively on marketing to schools. I have the latest version, love it, and enjoy using it. Please don't consider this software to be for kids. Although it can be a lot of fun, it's serious software.Inspiration 9

I really like Inspiration 9. I have used several versions with students and for myself. Great program for outlining and brain storming ideas. Although I have retired from the school system, I still find it useful.Faye