The truly creative and inspirational efforts for NCAAW always begin with some serious brainstorming. One of the first things you will want to do with your committee is to sit around and dream a little bit. What things would you like to accomplish? If you could do anything, what would you do?

For many committees, brainstorming begins with a theme. You want to find a theme that will frame your activities for the entire week. You want something memorable, marketable, and fun. A good way to begin this process is to get a flip chart and some markers. The only rule is that there are no dumb ideas. Committee members can make suggestions until an overall theme appears. As your committee members get excited about an idea, start a new sheet and refine it until it takes the desired form. Acronyms can be developed around fun words. Parts of songs or poems can be incorporated. Historical quotations can be used. It is up to you!

If you are searching for your own unique theme, there are an infinite number of directions your brainstorming might take. Some themes that other campuses have successfully promoted include:

• OkSOBERfest
  
• Sober Safari
  
• Get SMART!
  (Students Making Alcohol Responsibility Today)
  
• You Hold the Key to Success
  
• Just Do It Healthy!
  
• Risky Business
  
• Be a Part From the START
  (Students Taking Action & Responsibility for Tomorrow)
  
• The Magic of Life
  
• FREAK Out!
  (Finding Responsible and Entertaining Alternatives on Kampus)
  
• Seize the Day, Take Back Your Nights!
  
• Making the Right Connections
  
• I Have a Choice
  
• How the Health Are You?
  
• R-E-S-P-E-C-T
  (Find Out What It Means To Me)

Its also great to build themes around popular television shows, summer blockbuster movies, or current song titles. This is where the students on your committee can be particularly helpful! They know what their friends watch and listen to! Maybe you want to use the theme of this book and use an Olympic theme as an anchor for your week. Here is a quick list of things you could do to support NCAAW:

• Favorite Mocktail Recipe Reception - Discuss the importance of serving non-alcoholic beverages at any social event.
  
• Send out a brief fact sheet about alcohol behavior and effects of alcohol on the body. The next day in the student newspaper, do a brief quiz where students have to turn in their answers for a drawing for dinner at a faculty members house. Secure faculty in advance as a means to promote NCAAW and to find out what they might serve for dinner.
  
• Have a progressive dinner of foods from around the world (Olympic team countries) at different locations of the campus as a social event. Have many organizations or offices sponsor each stop.
  
• Sponsor an Olympic competition between groups using interactive games.
  
• Sponsor a contest for an idea that would promote greater communication or Olympic spirit within your campus community.
  
• Put together some nutritional facts about calories, fat content, and consuming alcohol.
  
• Have a Hosting a Party to Remember Workshop and talk about server or host training methods for a successful party.
  
• Run a photo contest for pictures of students having fun as they make healthy choices.
  
• Work with student athletes to develop a program about how alcohol abuse affects performance.

Your theme will be the lasting memory of your week. It will be your calling card next year when you go looking for support for NCAAW 2002! It will appear on your posters, your T-shirts, and in the titles of your educational programs.

Brainstorming is just what the word applies - a storm of ideas that are offered first and evaluated later. We naturally judge and categorize things immediately. Our brains are trained to sort things as good ideas or bad, worthwhile or not. The key to brainstorming is to turn off that judging process so that ideas flow freely without anyone trying to figure out whether or not they will work, if it costs too much money, etc.

Suspending judgment on ideas gives the people who are brainstorming creative input and empowerment without worrying about saying something stupid. People are often reluctant to offer ideas, fearing the criticism of others. If you conduct a productive brainstorming session, people will feel comfortable blurting out any thought.