Hackathon Organizer Guide
  • Introduction
  • overview
    • What is a Hackathon?
    • What is MLH?
    • MLH Hackcon
    • MLH Community Values
    • Event Types
      • Digital Events
        • Digital Mini Events
          • Marble Races
          • Pokemon Showdown
          • Wiki Races
          • Hacker Hangouts
        • Streamyard
  • General Information
    • Hackathon Timeline
    • Finding the Date and Purpose
    • Build Your Leadership Team
    • Locking Down a Venue
    • Hackathon Budgeting
      • Legal Considerations
    • Getting Sponsorship
      • Introduction to Fundraising
      • Understanding Your Sponsors
        • Evaluating In-kind Sponsorships
      • Potential Sponsor Perks
      • Sponsorship Prospectus
      • The 5-Step MLH Sponsorship Process
      • Cheat Sheet: Emailing Your Sponsors
    • Hackathon Website
      • Making an Accessible Design
      • Placeholder Website
      • Main Website
    • Marketing Your Event
      • Promoting Your Event
        • Marketing Email Template
      • Marketing Goals & Timelines
    • Managing Registrations
      • Registrations
      • Free Registration Tool - OrganizerHQ (OHQ)
      • Sending Reminders
        • Email Templates
      • Check-in Process
    • Event Logistics
      • Hackathon Communication Platform
      • Project Challenges
      • Ordering Swag and Prizes
      • Set Up Your Event
      • Working with Food Vendors
      • Hosting Hackers with Dietary Restrictions
      • Distributing Meals
      • Transportation/Travel Plans
      • Hardware
      • Prepare Your Emergency Plan
    • Judging and Submissions
      • Rules for Your Hackathon
      • Judging Plan
      • Cheating Check
      • Judges Communication and Recruiting
      • Hackathon Submission Portal
        • Using Devpost
        • Using Devfolio
        • Using DoraHacks
    • Hackathon Scheduling
      • Detailed Run of Show
      • Run-Through with the Team
      • MLH Tips and Templates
    • Mentorship
    • Day of Logistics and Hacker Experience
      • Help Desk Recommendations
      • Fun Mini Events
      • Workshops
      • Opening Ceremony
      • Closing Ceremony
    • After the Event
  • Organizer Resources
    • Template Links
    • Getting Support from Others
    • Leadership Resources
    • Marketing Resources
    • Registrations Resources
      • GDPR in Europe
    • Host Exciting Mini-Events
      • Cup Stacking
      • MLH Mini Events
        • WereWolf
        • Slideshow Karaoke
        • !Light
        • MS Paint Bob Ross
    • Keeping Records
    • Software for Hackathons
  • Contributors
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On this page
  • Planning your workshops
  • Team Building/Brainstorming Project Ideas Workshop
  • Pitch Session
  • Hosting your workshops
  • After the workshop

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  1. General Information
  2. Day of Logistics and Hacker Experience

Workshops

Workshops are a great way to get your hackers in the mood of working on something new, something they have not experienced or tried before and help your sponsors as well by increasing their product awareness. Having workshops, webinars etc. works extremely well when it comes to facilitating a conversation within the hackathon!

Planning your workshops

In addition to your normal preparations for a workshop, we’re recommending you consider the following areas.

Workshop Examples:

  • Resume Building/Cracking the Technical Interview

  • Day in the life of a software dev

  • Intro to Python/GitHub/C#/AI/ML/Insert tech topic

  • Intro to *insert API*

Team Building/Brainstorming Project Ideas Workshop

Brainstorming a project idea is the most important part of the hacker's experience at a hackathon, and for some hackers, it's also the most difficult.

Usually, hackers take one of two approaches:

  • Start with a problem they want to solve and then develop an idea to solve it. Hackers who want to focus on improving an aspect of their lives or hacking for social impact might prefer this route.

  • Start with a technology they want to use in their hack and then develop a hack around it. Hackers who want to learn about a popular or emerging

    technology might prefer this route.

Running a hands-on workshop covering brainstorming techniques at the start of your hackathon will enable them to hit the ground running.

Pitch Session

Most events have a pitch session as part of their team-building session. A pitch session is a structured event where hackers who have ideas for hacks and are looking for teammates present their ideas to an audience. Typically, presenters describe the problem or technology they want to design their hack around and what skill set they're looking for. Hackers who are looking for teams and have the matching skill set can offer to join the presenter.

Hosting your workshops

You should prompt your attendees for active participation. You’ll need to focus on keeping your participants engaged and active.

For workshops with fewer attendees, we recommend starting with an icebreaker to ensure everyone knows each other. One of our favorite ice breakers is to ask each attendee to share their name, where they go to school, and something cool they learned about recently. You should also build time into your schedule to do breakout sessions, troubleshooting, and questions.

As you’re working through the workshop content, be extremely aware of how intimidating code reviews and questions will be for participants. Remind participants that if they’re facing an issue others probably are as well. You might want to have a backup speaker walking around to help troubleshoot for those who start falling behind and ask them to share their screen to troubleshoot their issues.

After the workshop

When you finish the material in your presentation make sure to sign off and thank everyone for their participation. Encourage the presenter to continue hanging out with attendees. Have a channel in slack/Discord so hackers can ask follow-up questions about the workshop topic after it ends.

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Last updated 2 months ago

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