Since the 2014 launch of Major League Hacking in the UK, the European hacker community has grown by leaps and bounds. We’ve been excited to watch the spread of student hackathons throughout mainland Europe, making this community accessible to thousands of new hackers. That’s why we are so proud to announce the next evolution of MLH Hackcon Europe, hosted by GitHub.
To make the MLH organizer community more accessible for all European hacker community organizers, we will be holding two different one-day MLH Hackcon Europe events in 2018. The first MLH Hackcon Europe in Berlin will happen on Saturday, September 29th and the next MLH Hackcon Europe in London is happening on Saturday October 6th.
At previous Hackcon EU conferences, we received feedback from attendees that it was too difficult to travel across the continent to one conference, this change is a direct result of that feedback.
If you weren’t able to participate before, we hope you can join us at either or both of these two new events! We can’t wait to meet you! To maintain the cohesiveness of the larger MLH organizer community in Europe, we’ll even be connecting the attendees of both events digitally before and after the conferences and we’ll be sharing learnings and sessions between the two conferences so that you can all learn from and meet each other.
We’ve also reduced ticket prices to 50 (GBP for London, EUR for Berlin) for super early bird buyers and 80 for last minute buyers. Plus, we transformed MLH Hackcon Europe into a one-day conference to make the event easier to attend for people who might have work, hackathons, or other commitments on a weekend.
Any organizers who worked on an MLH Member Event, Localhost event, or Local Hack Day will be eligible to receive discounted tickets to either MLH Hackcon Europe conference. In addition, GitHub will again be providing their scholarship fund to cover conference tickets for any organizers who require financial assistance. If you’re so inclined, we would even love to see you at both MLH Hackcon Europe events this Fall!
What Can I Expect at MLH Hackcon Europe: London and Berlin?
As an attendee you’ll get to participate in interactive workshops, talks, discussion groups, and fun activities. It’s a once-a-year opportunity for veteran organizers and newcomers alike to work together to share their perspectives and learn from one another.
If you’re curious about what we learned last year, check out some of these talks from our community members at MLH Hackcon EU III:
Jonathan Kingsley shared tips and tricks on how to put on a fun, inclusive, and well-designed hackathon that’s not all about staring at a screen.
Arielle Vaniderstine taught organizers how to run engaging workshops to inspire beginner hackers and make hackathons more welcoming.
Abdulhakim Ajetunmobi covered how to start a university hacker community from scratch with just your passion and hard work.
This year, we’ll be covering four important themes at MLH Hackcon Europe London and Berlin. We’d love for you to submit your own talk, workshop, or discussion to share your expertise on these subjects with your fellow organizers. Speakers even receive a free conference ticket!
- Supporting hackers beyond hackathons – Hackathons are only one part of being a hacker. We want you to share your expertise on how to engage your local community and help expand their skills outside of hackathons.
- Creating awesome hacker experiences – Share best practices and innovations on the hacker experience. You could cover ways to make hackers feel special, ensuring they make the most of their event experience, preventing surprises as an organizer, and more!
- Cultivating leadership – How do you build a strong team of leaders and future leaders within your community? Find leadership practices you can employ to make the best hackathon, workshops, and clubs.
- Including all hackers – Take steps to make everyone feel welcome and valued at your events and in your community. Move beyond just getting people to the party, but also asking them to dance. How do you and your team approach this and how can other organizers learn from your experience?
We can’t wait to meet you this Fall in London and Berlin and we hope you have an amazing summer!
Please reach out to our team at hackcon@mlh.io if you have any questions or concerns.