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Planning your own – Includes everything from a sponsored event, plus you are now responsible for the overarching themes, location, physical/virtual infrastructure, security, food, registration, promotion, submissions, etc.
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Problem Statements
A successful hackathon would let innovative solutions flow-in, at the same time wouldn't let problem statements go too broad.
Some points to ponder upon:
- Define the scope of every problem statement
- Define sub-themes if possible
- Call out expectations
- Consider reaching out to sponsors of the event and see if they have a problem at hand
- Establish a feedback loop from the participants to make corrections and clarifications
Physical/Virtual Infrastructure
In-Person
Find a venue that can provide:
Proper seating (see below)
One power strip per table
Wifi (is it fast and reliable? can it connect all of your participants? does it block any ports?)
Projector
A microphone, at least in large rooms
Accessible entrances and wheelchair-friendly seating space (and if there is a stage, check if it is accessible, if applicable)
Gender-neutral, single-occupancy, accessible bathrooms
Separate spaces for the number of teams that you expect
Virtual
In post-pandemic world it is common to organize remote events. Organizing and co-ordinating a virtual hackathon can be tricky. You would want to provide following:
- Call out timelines and the process in all the communications
- Organize an inaugural event, invite jury panel and participants
- A platform where participants can register and submit their ideas and solutions (for example, a google form)
- A live monitored communication channel for participants to reach out to the organizing team
Determine Prizes
Provide clear prize information, including the number of prizes being awarded, the theme for each category of prizes, the prizes that are being awarded, how developers will collect their prize(s).
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If you need support in finding other sponsors for your event, you are welcome to reach out to us at hackathons@hyperledger.org, and we can help connect you to Hyperledger member organizations who may be aligned with the goals of your event and may want to provide sponsorship.
Identify Judges
Determine who will judge submissions
Identify Mentors
Determine people who can answer technical questions about the tools that people will use to develop their applications/hacks. In addition, consider mentors who can provide insight on the applicability of the chosen use cases.
Hyperledger Technical Ambassadors are a good resource (ambassadors@lists.hyperledger.org) for Hyperledger expertise.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Establish a resource portal (website, confluence page, github docs etc).
- The hackathon portal should answer frequently asked questions.
- Be sure not to make a change to the previously answered questions. If such a case arise then consider sending out a notification to every participant about the change in rule.
Promote Event
Here are a few ways that you can promote the event:
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Few points to consider
- Call out how the evaluation will be done in case of a conflict of interest arising due to close affiliation of the jury member with the participant
- In case of a virtual event
- Setup a dial-in (with screen share and video) option
- Provide a dedicated timeslot for each team
- Give enough gap between team presentations
- Organizers to take care of evaluation confidentiality
After all of the teams have presented, provide time for the judges to deliberate amongst each other (in a separate room) to determine the winners for each of the different categories.
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