Main Website
Your hackathon's face to the external world!
After you have set up your placeholder website, your team should immediately start to work on the main hackathon website. This website should be carefully designed, keeping in mind that it will reflect your hackathon's goals and is the face of your hackathon to the whole community. Not just that, great design language helps set up a brand that will severely affect the perceived worth of your hackathon in front of the attendees.
A typical hackathon website contains the following sections:
Landing Page: The landing page consists of your hackathon name, logo, dates and most importantly the registration button for your attendees. Majority of the times, we have also seen organizers including their judging & mentorship interest forms on the website as well.
About the Hackathon: This section generally contains all the major information you want your attendees to know like the goals of the event, your motivation, a short reference of your team, etc.
Sponsors: This section is very crucial in terms of increase the brand presence of your hackathon as well as for the companies investing in it. Including the name, tiers and links to the sponsor website can be a great way to thank them for their support.
FAQ: An essential section for any newbie attending your hackathon. This will also help you to significantly reduce the load off your support emails. These are written to be easy to copy and paste, but you should customize as needed to fit your event.
Is the event free to attend?
Yes! Food will be provided for the duration of the event. We will also have swag and prizes!
Where is the event? Is it in person or virtual? Where can I park?
The event is located in the XXXX Building at INSERT STREET ADDRESS
You can park in Lot X,Y, Z which you can see on this campus parking site - LINK
Who can attend? What if I don't have any experience? Do I have to be 18?
This event is open to any students. It is beginner friendly, with workshops to help you learn during the event, and mentors available to help you as you work on your project.
Attendees must be at least 13 years old due to child privacy laws. If under 18, you can attend, but will need to fill out a liability form from the university.
What is the team size limit?
You can be on teams of up to 4. We will have a team building activity right after opening ceremony if you need to find team members!
Are there travel reimbursements?
We are not able to provide travel reimbursements at this time.
What should I bring?
Your laptop, charger, headphones, deodorant, pillow/blanket
When can we start working on our project? Can I work on a previous project?
You cannot start until after opening ceremony. You may come up with ideas, but are not allowed to start coding. You cannot work on a previous project, but can use frameworks if you clearly credit them in your readme and differentiate what you made vs what you used.
How many challenges can I apply for?
As many as you want!
Do I have to stay overnight?
No, you can leave and come back if you would prefer to go to bed.
What kind of activities will there be?
We will post the schedule closer to the event. There will be workshops and activities to take a break and meet other hackers and our wonderful sponsors.
What is a hackathon? Will there be actual hacking?
A hackathon is an event where students "hack" together and create an app, website, game, etc. in 24-48 hours. There will be no malicious "hacking".
Will hardware be available?
We do not have hardware available, but you are welcome to bring your own. Due to building fire codes, please do not bring soldering kits
Are you sending out acceptances? Is there a deadline to apply? Is there a waitlist?
We will send out acceptances XX days before the event. If you need to know before then to book travel, please reach out to our team for an early review. Applications will be closing once we reach the maximum amount of hackers we can support, but we will have a waitlist the day of the event for any local hackers who want to fill the spots of any accepted hackers who do not end up attending.
How do I sign up to be a mentor/judge/volunteer?
You can sign up here - LINK
I still have a question!
Email us at team@hackathon.com
Footnotes: This section generally contains all the important documentation of your hackathon including the rules, code of conduct, support emails and/ or any contact form.
Adding the Day-of Information
Ideally, you’ve been updating your site on a rolling basis as more information and sponsorships are finalized. Adding in new sections about different improvements and updates is a great way to keep your hackers engaged and a motivation for them to check out the different offerings at your hackathon.
About a month before, you want to have the following sections in place for a great experience for your hackers
Schedule: This is a great way to increase visibility and to keep hackers informed what to expect at different times during your hackathon.
Venue: An address can help hackers from other universities find your building.
Link to your Hackathon Chat Channel: Set up a single channel of communication for day-of updates
Prizes: Get your hackers excited by revealing the prizes from time to time as they get finalized!
Tracks: Let hackers know about the different themes they can work upon during the hackathon.
Speakers, Judges & Mentors: It's best to include information about the different people attending your hackathon with different roles, to thank them as well as to let hackers know of their presence. This will also help on the day of to manage hacker interaction.
MLH Tips:
You should update this site on a rolling basis as you land speakers and sponsors, create your schedule, confirm transportation offerings, etc.
As early as possible, celebrate what differentiates your event.
It's never too early to open registration. Check out MyMLH for an awesome single sign on solution to make signing up for your hackathon really simple!
MLH-Hackathon-Boilerplate - Boilerplate code for any new MLH Member Hackathon looking to build a website integrated with MyMLH. Written entirely in Jekyll, which GitHub pages automatically compiles to make hosting seamless.
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