A presentation at DevRelCon London in in London, UK by Kevin Lewis
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Getting the most from running a hackathon
Hi, I’m Kevin (@_phzn) 🎟 👨💻 🎲
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) In the next ~20 minutes we will: Understand hackathons as an event format Some common reasons for running hackathons Cover the ‘ingredients’ in running hackathons Talk about how those ingredients should be changed in relation to the goals of the event See some common recipes I’ve found work in the past See some photos of my dog
What are hackathons?
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn)
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Run of Show
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Run of Show
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) 4 - 36 Hours
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn)
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn)
The art of the challenge
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn)
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Still allow creativity Framing the desired outcome
You need to have a goal
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Research & Development “How can we improve the customer experience for fans coming to Wimbledon - both during and after their visit?”
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Building Communities Communities need a cause or reason to be getting together
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Driving Adoption Make it memorable and easy. It won’t go forgotten.
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Gathering Feedback For pre-release or general release products
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Recruitment Technical | Communication | Teamwork Prioritisation | Problem Solving
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Supporting Sales Use Product Y to provide novel experiences for customers in Avanti train coaches
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Skills Increase “Use today to try out new technologies”
Sometimes hackathons are not the answer
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Have a specific scope? Just hire people for delivery.
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Expecting deploymentready solutions? Hackathon projects are rough around the edges.
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) You want to own what is built, without paying people. If you were hoping for some positive community feels, this is not the way to do it.
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Improve Brand Awareness Go support existing established events. Getting attendees requires audience-building.
How to run a hackathon
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Core Ingredients Space Date People Theme & Challenge Additional Toppings Food Content Prizes Follow-Up Activities
Designing hackathons for our specific goals
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) R&D Community Building Driving Adoption Support Sales Feedback Recruitment Skills Increase
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Space Date Theme & Challenge Content Prizes People Food Follow-Up
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Research & Development Actual solutions to actual business issues
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Research & Development The right makeup of attendees Equip hackers with suitable industry knowledge through content & mentorship Keep stakeholders involved
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Research & Development Best on weekdays Smaller attendance & space Pay people! Food if you can 🤷 Content is 🔑 to ensuring effective hackers Follow-Up Activities: Further development workshops, engaging stakeholders with ‘redux’ events
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Building Communities Around a cause or theme
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Building Communities Focus on the environment - small, thoughtful touches go a long way Encourage people to stay engaged after the event
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Building Communities Weekends are best, when fewer people work The more the merrier 🎅 Food is generally expected, so say if you can’t Content should be helpful for beginners to a topic Follow-Up Activities: Online conversation spaces, more laid-back socials
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Supporting Sales Through contextually-appropriate challenges
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Supporting Sales Make sure hackers know the purpose of the event Make sure stakeholders from all sides are involved Include sales engineers as part of the hacking team Make sure to have a record of projects built Pay people for their time!
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Supporting Sales Weekdays work best (for stakeholders) Try and find a venue on neutral ground Ensure the right makeup of skills, and pay people! Food: Remember this is a professional event Content: Prep hackers before the event if possible
Let’s get in the kitchen and talk recipes 👨🍳
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Community Hackathons Application-Based Hackathons Internal hackathons
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Community Hackathons
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Pros Cons More capacity Harder to recruit for Wider range of hackers Unknown skills More project ideas Less complete projects Cheaper to run Projects aren’t yours Can involve more Need larger spaces stakeholders Opportunity for great vibe ‘Hacker entitlement’
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Application-Based Hackathons
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) Pros Everyone is working to a common goal Correct skills makeup More prepared hackers Project ideas belong to you NDAs, etc Cons Much smaller (10-20) More expensive Without known outcomes, a harder ‘sell’ internally
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) There are so many variations
Kevin Lewis (@_phzn) How did we do? Understand hackathons as an event format Some common reasons for running hackathons Cover the ‘ingredients’ in running hackathons Talk about how those ingredients should be changed in relation to the goals of the event See some common recipes I’ve found work in the past See some photos of my dog
Thank You! @_phzn lws.io/drc
Hackathons are invention marathons which bring together practitioners to solve challenges in a fixed period of time. While at the core hackathons have the same format, organisations running them often have different goals in mind that they hope to achieve by doing so.
With these goals in mind, we’ll be exploring the different variants in these events, how to identify which is most appropriate and what to do to get the most from them.
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
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