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Ask HN: What Makes a Hackathon Successful?

5 points by shreythecray ↗ HN
I am hosting a month long hackathon starting next week and am looking for your suggestions on what I can do to make it an AMAZING experience for hackers.

Here are some questions I have: - What makes a hackathon engaging? - What type of support would you look for as a hacker?

Any advice is appreciated!

7 comments

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bhu1st
I used to run hackathons when I was a community manager for local developers group. Apart from being technical and challenging a successful hackathon will present a lot of opportunities for networking between the participants and help them make connections. Not only within a team but also cross-team and amongst the whole participants.
evanwolf
It's a social experience, so look for moments throughout the thon for people to come up from their screens, discover new friends, interact among strangers, and together as a community.

Also look for ways to continue and extend relationships past the event. Discord channels that start at the event that persist. Listservs, repos, etc.

minhmeoke
If the people participating don't know each other yet, setup a team matching / speed-dating-style activity where people can introduce themselves, and brainstorm and share ideas.

Invite a few guest speakers and possibly organize some events (eg: yoga, snack time, improv exercises, video game break) to break up the monotony of everyone just staring at their screens.

Setup a support staff / helpdesk queue with mentors (either more senior students or staff, or possibly volunteers from industry) to help out teams that get stuck.

And make it easy to share contact info (eg: QR code badges which you can use to share email or chat information) for networking purposes.

askafriend
Making it a month long is a mistake. Make it 24hrs, or a weekend max.
shreythecray
What is the issue with having a monthly hackathon? Is it just the lack of urgency to complete the project?
mmsnberbar66
To be clear they didn't write monthly but rather month long, implying it lasts 30 days
mejutoco
The best hackathons I attended had a very clear set of rules, freedom in how to achieve them, and generous prizes.