Run a Learning Hackathon

in Less than a Day!Darren Nerland

Erin Peterschick

Darren NerlandHead Mucker

dnerland

Erin PeterschickSenior Mucker

ejpeterschick

To Hack or Not to Hack…

WHAT IS A HACKATHON?

Maybe it

could be

like this…

or this...

or this…

What is a hackathon?

Hacking is creative

problem solving. (It does

not have to be about

technology.)

A hackathon is any event

of any duration where

people come together to

solve problems.

Participants form groups

of about 5-10 individuals

dive into problems.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

“The strongest solutions happen through the

process, not in a moment at the end of

the process”

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Who runs Hackathons

and Why?

Running a

Hackathon

Build

Excitement

Pick a Date &

Location

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Set-Up &

Logistics

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Themes and Team

Formation

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Time & Agenda (Sample)

8:30 AM Doors open, check-in begins, breakfast is served

9:00-9:30 AM Event kickoff

9:30-10:00 AM Themes (problems) and group formation

10:00 AM Hacking begins!

12:00-1:00PM Lunch is served

4:00 PM 30 minute warning!

4:30-5:00 PM Project demos

5:00-5:15 PM Judges confer on their top picks

5:15-5:30 PM Prizes awarded, closing statements

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Gallery

Walk

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

The Rules

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Darren NerlandHead Mucker

dnerland

Erin PeterschickSenior Mucker

ejpeterschick

Hack the Day

Time & Agenda (Sample)

8:30 AM Doors open, check-in begins, breakfast is served

9:00-9:30 AM Event kickoff

9:30-10:00 AM Themes (problems) and group formation

10:00 AM Hacking begins!

12:00-1:00PM Lunch is served

4:00 PM 30 minute warning!

4:30-5:00 PM Project demos

5:00-5:15 PM Judges confer on their top picks

5:15-5:30 PM Prizes awarded, closing statements

Kick off the event

The kickoff sets the tone for the whole event.

Introduce yourself and the other event organizers.

Review the schedule, goals, and rules for the event.

If you have a team(s) or community representatives there who have come

with problems they need help solving, give them a chance to present their

case.

(Optional) Give everyone a chance to introduce themselves.

Themes and Team Formation

Keeping Things Moving Along

Have table captains or advisors roam and make sure people aren’t stuck or

have questions.

Keep everybody well hydrated and caffeinated.

Don’t break for lunch. Announce that lunch is available, and either ask teams

to go up one by one or pace themselves so that the line doesn’t get too long.

Have a hard stop when development should be completed, and make sure

people know that it’s coming. Nothing provides motivation like a deadline.

Presentations and Judging

Get your judges ready, call everybody back into the main room, and get ready for teams to show

off their work.

Each team should receive between three and five minutes to describe their theme (problem),

how they intended to solve it, and demo what they came up with. Make sure teams know that

it’s a hard limit, and don’t be afraid to cut off teams that go long.

It’s up to you whether or not to allow Q&A, which tends to consume a lot of time. For larger

events, it’s often better to ask people to save questions for later, or only allow the judges to ask

questions.

Keep things moving. Part of the competition is being able to concisely describe what you did.

After the demos, move all the judges into another room and have them discuss each team and

rank them. It’s okay to be a little subjective – it’s hard to judge based on scores alone. Once the

judges are done, gather everybody together again and announce your winners!

Post-Event & Follow Up

After the event, follow up with an email to all attendees thanking them for

their attendance. Make sure you provide information about any shared ideas,

pictures of demo posters, and other information from your hackathon.

You can use Google Docs, Etherpad or a wiki. Make sure that all attendees

have write access and can concurrently edit. Plan for the hack listing to stay

around as a historical record.

Some Pointers

The most successful company hackathons take place when there’s a diverse

perspective from different company functions and teams.

If you have budget - make sure everyone who shows up gets some swag. Free

T-shirts, coffee mugs or stickers help make those involved feel their

participation was worthwhile.

Freedom should be given to explore any idea imaginable, whether it relates

to the business or not.

The Other Stuff

(Appendix)

Intellectual property

The intellectual property rights of hacks produced at the event should belong

to the attendees, and not to the organisers, sponsors, or partners, with the

obvious exception of (a) hack days based around the further development of

an open source project, or (b) commercially run hacks.

Intellectual property can be a big issue; it is best to make expectations clear

in advance, both to developers and to sponsors or data providers.

More Rules

Our hackathon is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of the following.

gender

gender identity and expression

age

sexual orientation

disability

physical appearance

body size

race

ethnicity

nationality

religion

previous hackathon attendance or lack of

Links and Inputs

http://hackdaymanifesto.com/

https://socrata.com/

Onboarding hackathonDisrupting how we onboard new hires

Get to Know your Table Colleagues

Who are they?

What is their role and where do they work?

What’s their level of experience?

Is there a life or work hack you’ve successfully implemented in your own life?

Expectation?

Thank you to our sponsors

Thank you to our Hosts

Call for volunteers: sharing today’s

learning

Let us know if you’d like to help collate results

Publishing a report and sharing with participants

Biz card/index card with your contact information for follow-up

agenda

7:45 – 8:30 Check-in & Networking

8:30 – 8:45 Getting to know your tables & Instructions

8:45 – 9:30 Act 1

9:30 – 10:15 Act 2

10:15 – 10:45 Prep for Presentations

10:45 – 11:15 Gallery Walk & Leaders Meet

11:15 – 11:45 Team Presentations

11:45 – 12:00 Wrap Up

Housekeeping

Take breaks as you need them

Snacks & Beverages

Restrooms

Notetaking, Research, & Questions encouraged

FUN! encouraged

WHAT IS A HACKATHON?

EXPECTATIONS

Photo Credit: Tomasz

Stasiuk

The Themes

Cost, technology, & resource deficits

Consistency with onboarding across teams and geography

Compliance vs. culture

Employee, team, manager assimilation

WRAP-UP

What did you learn?

What did you accomplish?