Hackathon Planning Guide

Find a location for your event, and book a date and time. Try contacting your school, your local library, your neighborhood community center.

Make sure to ask about the maximum number of attendees you can have. This will inform your registration limit for your hackathon.

Be on the lookout for venues with:

• Technical equipment
• Is there wifi? Is it free? Is it fast enough to accommodate all your attendees?
• Are there enough power outlets for everyone attending? Do you need to bring additional power strips and extension cords?
• Is there AV (audio visual) equipment? Is there a microphone or PA system you can use to talk to the entire group at once? Is there a projector you and teams can use to present?
• A variety of workspaces (a large room where you can present to all attendees at once, smaller breakout spaces where individual teams can work on their projects)

See if you can answer the following questions.

• Number of People: How many people will attend? (This will largely be decided by your venue)
• Theme of Hackathon: What will you choose the theme to be?
• Requirements of the Hackathon project
• What hardware will you be providing?
• Will there be judging?
• Will you provide snacks?
• What is your hackathon Code of Conduct

Decide on the roles each individual in the club will take, especially day of hackathon roles. A couple suggestions for possible teams are below. Make sure you decide a point person for each team.

• Budget Team
• Logistics Team
• Marketing Team

Build a webpage with the following information easily accessible

• Location with date and time included
• Hackathon Theme and Project Requirements
• Hackathon Code of Conduct
• Hardware provided
• Food provided (optional)
• Prizes (optional)

You may have sponsors interested in your event. Create a list of companies in your local area that you could potentially reach out to for donations for prizes or food for the event.

You can do some of the following to market your hackathon

• Facebook Event Page
• Flyers
• School Newspaper

There are several ways in which to send invites to attendees of the Hackathon. Make sure the invite links to a form that will be used to determine student interests in projects they want to look into.

• Facebook Event
• Evite.com
• Google form

Create an expected event agenda that you will send out in the week or month before your hackathon. We've provided you with a sample to see what it could potentially look like.

Get a final headcount of guests so that you can determine food costs, number of power strips necessary, number of tables to set up, and any other details.

• Determine food costs
• Determine number of power strips needed
• Determine number of tables needed to set up
• Determine whether accessibility requirements are met

Send a logistical email containing all the information below

• Location with date and time included
• Directions on how to get to the Hackathon and include instructions for parking or entering the building
• Hackathon Theme and Project Requirements
• Hackathon Code of Conduct
• Hardware provided
• Food provided (optional)
• Prizes (optional)
• Point of contact for any questions about the event participants might have
• The link to the website of the hackathon

Make sure teams are properly prepped for day of responsibilities and everyone is participating in the days events in some way. Here is a sample list of possible teams to set up to handle day of hackathon issues.

• Set-up Team
• Clean-up Team
• Emcee
• Registration Team
• Food provided (optional)
• Prizes (optional)