Quartet Easel

Cube-dwellers have grown increasingly accustomed to capturing their mental state on whiteboard surfaces, but whiteboard access at home, unfortunately, is not as common as at work. I picked up a Quartet "Portable Presentation Easel" to alleviate this problem. It's a heavy-duty whiteboard that is height- and angle-adjustable. It's also double-sided to maximize the available writing surface. When you want to transport it, the entire assembly folds up to approximately 42" x 32". I found this tool so useful in my home office that I have since added two traditional "fixed" whiteboards, but the Quartet easel remains the most used whiteboard in the house. -- Dhiren Patel More and more companies wisely retreat to an offsite to brainstorm in order to remove themselves from the urgencies and habits of their offices. Problem is, these charming retreats often contain minimal hardware (by design). Easels like the Quartet will work, but lack the large space real brainstorming requires. The creative pros will bring in mobile dry erase boards like the Nomad II, which can be rented and shipped to site. They rent for about $110 per panel per day (not including shipping). My facilitator friends rave that "the stuff goes together like IKEA furniture... just a single allen wrench tool is required." I've used these and they are very handsome in the permanent office as well. Since they move easily they can second as a divider or room barrier and then be rolled into place when needed. --KK

Nomad II Available for rent from Kinetic Energies Quartet Portable Presentation Easel 40" x 29" writing surface $190 Available from Staples