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Hackathon Hacks for Organizers

62 points by AlexeyMK 14y ago

vitno 14y ago
went to pennApps... even a little attention to gluten-free would have been nice.
- jrubinovitz 14y ago
  In the past, PennApps organizers went out of the way to cater to my dietary needs (dairy-free), but I think it was too big for that this year. Maybe allergen inclusion on the registration form could have informed organizers on the ratio of different foods they could get?
gailees 14y ago
I rallied together and went with about 25 Michigan Hackers to PennApps this past year....what an amazing experience. Many of the students had never built anything outside of class and almost all of them left the event feeling inspired beyond belief; one of the first-time teams won an award and has since turned their hack into a full-fledged startup here at the TechArb in Ann Arbor! Great post - will definitely take this into account when planning the hackathons here at Michigan!
- jrubinovitz 14y ago
  Please write a blog post. I saw some Michigan hackers at hackNY as well and would love to hear more about the Michigan hackathon tour and where it's taking you guys.
- zan2434 14y ago
  I'm loving what you Michigan guys are doing; met you guys at PennApps and HackNY. Great work at both hackathons. Which hack from PennApps are they turning into a full-fledged startup?
theyCallMeSwift 14y ago
Couldn't agree more with everything said in this article. Well done. I want to reiterate on the fact that multi-tier demoing just does not work. While the prizes and judging are important pieces of every hackathon, they really are not the main focus. These events are about enabling hackers to show off their skills and experiment in a fun, safe enviornment. When you start grouping hacks into "the best" and "the rest", you end up with the focus being on the product rather than the people. And that fundamentally sucks.
- pulak 14y ago
  A number of hackathons have done this to great success. If you want to expand a hackathon beyond ~40 teams, you do need to figure out a way to structure demos better, since less 2 minutes per demo is too little time to really show off what you built, in my opinion. And I don't think it's a poor idea to go beyond 40 teams for a hackathon like this (because then you have to start being super selective of who you let in, which sucks for teams who are new to hackathons).
  - theyCallMeSwift 14y ago
    I totally agree that short demos don't do these hackers justice and that being selective on admission also not an attractive option either. In fact, I'm not sure if there actually is a best answer for how to handle the situation. On some level, you always end up having to pick the lesser of three evils and somebody always ends up getting left out because of it. If I do come up with a good system, I assure you, you'll be the first to know!
ggopman 14y ago
Great post by Alexey, but I must admit I'm disappointed he didn't incorporate any of the insights we use at AngelHack to sustain hackathons of 400+ attendees( walkie talkies, rated video submissions for cutting down demos, hackathon.io for team building and seamless communications, helicopters and nerf guns for fun, massage tables and endless candy as added amenities). There's also a lot to be said for the handholding that goes into working with sponsors. Those sponsor dollars don't come as easy as you would think. Perhaps there'll be a follow-up post :)
- missechokit 14y ago
  I wonder if that's as true for hackathons, like Alexey's, that don't charge attendees $70 a pop.
  - ggopman 14y ago
    Most hackathons, like the Greylock one mentioned, are organized with large budgets in hopes of bringing in talent to find recruits for their companies. Independently organized hackathons like AngelHack need to charge to ensure long-term sustainability of the event and ensure you're getting certain amenities that you should expect from a quality hack. If you've ever been to a Facebook hackathon you can tell they spend easily 20k between setup, employees, food costs, travel, and prizes. If PenApps isn't charging yet, then that's because they are being subsidized by UPenn, which is an awesome luxury that most potential organizers will not have.
    - pulak 14y ago
      PennApps is funded solely through our awesome sponsors! No money from Penn at all :)
      - ggopman 14y ago
        Pen Apps not getting money from UPenn!!! Pulak, I thought your hustle was stronger than that ;)
      - 14y ago
jefflinwood 14y ago
Just did the TwilioCon hackathon on Wednesday - the organizers set it up with two demo stands (left and right sides of the stage) and a dedicated A/V guy - while one team was demoing, they were getting the other side set up. As soon as one was done, the next team was introduced and the video was switched. AFAICT it worked perfectly. That hackathon got through 47 demos in about an hour - 60 seconds for a 6 hour hack was actually probably the right amount of time.
- jf 14y ago
  Well, it didn't go _perfectly_ but I'm glad that it appeared that way! The fixed setup that Alexey proposes in his article is totally the way to go. I totally agree with him when he says not to plug in "somebody else's laptop into the projector." He is correct when he says that "Pain this way lies." Frankly, the only reason we were able to pull off the TwilioCon presentations is because we had 9+ people dedicated to them: 1 MC, 4 presentation assistants (2 per podium), 1 A/V guy up front, 2 A/V guys in back (1 to run the switching equipment, 1 to run the timer), and 1 other A/V guy to mix the sound. (A good A/V tech is worth their weight in gold. Make sure you always let your A/V techs know how much you appreciate their work.)

62 points by AlexeyMK 14y ago

vitno 14y ago

went to pennApps... even a little attention to gluten-free would have been nice.

jrubinovitz 14y ago
In the past, PennApps organizers went out of the way to cater to my dietary needs (dairy-free), but I think it was too big for that this year. Maybe allergen inclusion on the registration form could have informed organizers on the ratio of different foods they could get?

gailees 14y ago

I rallied together and went with about 25 Michigan Hackers to PennApps this past year....what an amazing experience. Many of the students had never built anything outside of class and almost all of them left the event feeling inspired beyond belief; one of the first-time teams won an award and has since turned their hack into a full-fledged startup here at the TechArb in Ann Arbor! Great post - will definitely take this into account when planning the hackathons here at Michigan!

jrubinovitz 14y ago
Please write a blog post. I saw some Michigan hackers at hackNY as well and would love to hear more about the Michigan hackathon tour and where it's taking you guys.
zan2434 14y ago
I'm loving what you Michigan guys are doing; met you guys at PennApps and HackNY. Great work at both hackathons. Which hack from PennApps are they turning into a full-fledged startup?

theyCallMeSwift 14y ago

Couldn't agree more with everything said in this article. Well done. I want to reiterate on the fact that multi-tier demoing just does not work. While the prizes and judging are important pieces of every hackathon, they really are not the main focus. These events are about enabling hackers to show off their skills and experiment in a fun, safe enviornment. When you start grouping hacks into "the best" and "the rest", you end up with the focus being on the product rather than the people. And that fundamentally sucks.

pulak 14y ago
A number of hackathons have done this to great success. If you want to expand a hackathon beyond ~40 teams, you do need to figure out a way to structure demos better, since less 2 minutes per demo is too little time to really show off what you built, in my opinion. And I don't think it's a poor idea to go beyond 40 teams for a hackathon like this (because then you have to start being super selective of who you let in, which sucks for teams who are new to hackathons).
- theyCallMeSwift 14y ago
  I totally agree that short demos don't do these hackers justice and that being selective on admission also not an attractive option either. In fact, I'm not sure if there actually is a best answer for how to handle the situation. On some level, you always end up having to pick the lesser of three evils and somebody always ends up getting left out because of it. If I do come up with a good system, I assure you, you'll be the first to know!

ggopman 14y ago

Great post by Alexey, but I must admit I'm disappointed he didn't incorporate any of the insights we use at AngelHack to sustain hackathons of 400+ attendees( walkie talkies, rated video submissions for cutting down demos, hackathon.io for team building and seamless communications, helicopters and nerf guns for fun, massage tables and endless candy as added amenities). There's also a lot to be said for the handholding that goes into working with sponsors. Those sponsor dollars don't come as easy as you would think. Perhaps there'll be a follow-up post :)

missechokit 14y ago
I wonder if that's as true for hackathons, like Alexey's, that don't charge attendees $70 a pop.
- ggopman 14y ago
  Most hackathons, like the Greylock one mentioned, are organized with large budgets in hopes of bringing in talent to find recruits for their companies. Independently organized hackathons like AngelHack need to charge to ensure long-term sustainability of the event and ensure you're getting certain amenities that you should expect from a quality hack. If you've ever been to a Facebook hackathon you can tell they spend easily 20k between setup, employees, food costs, travel, and prizes. If PenApps isn't charging yet, then that's because they are being subsidized by UPenn, which is an awesome luxury that most potential organizers will not have.
  - pulak 14y ago
    PennApps is funded solely through our awesome sponsors! No money from Penn at all :)
    - ggopman 14y ago
      Pen Apps not getting money from UPenn!!! Pulak, I thought your hustle was stronger than that ;)
    - 14y ago

jefflinwood 14y ago

Just did the TwilioCon hackathon on Wednesday - the organizers set it up with two demo stands (left and right sides of the stage) and a dedicated A/V guy - while one team was demoing, they were getting the other side set up. As soon as one was done, the next team was introduced and the video was switched. AFAICT it worked perfectly. That hackathon got through 47 demos in about an hour - 60 seconds for a 6 hour hack was actually probably the right amount of time.

jf 14y ago
Well, it didn't go _perfectly_ but I'm glad that it appeared that way! The fixed setup that Alexey proposes in his article is totally the way to go. I totally agree with him when he says not to plug in "somebody else's laptop into the projector." He is correct when he says that "Pain this way lies." Frankly, the only reason we were able to pull off the TwilioCon presentations is because we had 9+ people dedicated to them: 1 MC, 4 presentation assistants (2 per podium), 1 A/V guy up front, 2 A/V guys in back (1 to run the switching equipment, 1 to run the timer), and 1 other A/V guy to mix the sound. (A good A/V tech is worth their weight in gold. Make sure you always let your A/V techs know how much you appreciate their work.)