After years of participating in hackathons, you’ve decided to enter the fray and organize your very first one. Congratulations! For 24- or 48-hours, developers, designers, product managers, and entrepreneurs will come together to develop new skills and build valuable professional and personal relationships in a collaborative, fast-paced environment. We’ve seen former participants get career opportunities after these events.
So now that you’ve gotten to the “I want to start my own Hackathon” moment, now comes the fun part: putting it all together. Here are a few steps to consider as you prepare to see your dream of creating your hackathon come to life.
- Plan your date and location
Before you do anything, you’ll need to pick a date and location that work for your target audience. Choose a venue with good infrastructure (enough space to accommodate participants, plenty of power outlets, good lighting, breakout or quiet areas, etc.). If you decide to have a Hackathon that’s virtual or hybrid, make sure you’ve chosen a platform and format so your audience knows what to expect.
Once your date and location are locked in, you should start spreading the word about your hackathon to potential participants. Share the date on your social media channels, create social media accounts for the name of your hackathon, and make sure your event is registered on event pages for local schools and developer organizations like Major League Hacking. The sooner you start building out promotion, the sooner your hackathon will gain momentum.
- Preparation
Now that you’ve secured your date and venue, it’s time to move into preparation mode. This may include logistics, registration, promotion, and ensuring the foundational infrastructure is stable. Make sure things like Wi-Fi/back-end tech are ready to go (because any lags or outages can kill momentum).
As I said in step one, set up registration and RSVP tracking so you know how many participants to expect, what skills they’re offering, and what they’ll need to bring to the hackathon itself.
An additional tip: to avoid any mishaps during the event, it’s best to create a run-of-show and have a contingency plan (for tech failures, schedule delays, etc.)
- Event execution
When the day (or weekend) of your hackathon arrives, execution is everything. Your final preparations should include setting up the space, testing the Wi-Fi / AV, briefing your team on check-in, and judging. Having a timeline from 1 week before, 1 day before, and game-day checklists will be vital. You’ve rehearsed this so many times; this list will serve as that guide.
Kick-off: Start off by welcoming participants. They’re heading into an unfamiliar place for 24 or 48 hours, so warming them up will smooth over any worries they might have. Then, you should explain the goals and rules, introduce mentors/judges, and start forming teams. During the hackathon, ensure mentors are available, teams are aware of key milestones, and that you monitor progress and morale (food breaks, short updates, and encouragement are all important to everyone).
Then, when time is up, it’s on to demos, judging, and announcing the winner. Judges should have a clear criterion for the categories they’re judging (innovation, business value, technical implementation, or presentation), and the closing ceremony is an opportunity to celebrate results.
Throughout the hackathon, make sure you have some recording of the entire event, including the pitch demos. Consider live-share on social media like Instagram and X if relevant (or allowed to). If so, ensure that participants sign a waiver when they RSVP to the hackathon, and capture the energy of the event.
- Post-event
Now that the hackathon is officially done, the work isn’t over. The post-event phase is important for sustaining momentum. Right off the bat, send thank-you notes to all the participants, mentors, sponsors, volunteers, and judges for the time they invested in the event. Include a link to a survey for feedback: what worked, what didn’t, and what they’d like next time. This builds rapport and goodwill for future events. While doing this, review the content from the event (blog post, recap email, photos/videos of the projects and winners) and start posting on your hackathon’s social media channels. This will keep the event freshly top-of-mind for not only those who took part in the event, but those who wished they could have been there.
If some project ideas have potential beyond the hackathon, consider next steps (e.g., further development, incubation, or showcasing). That turns a hackathon from just a weekend into a pipeline for innovation.
- Reflect and iterate
This final step is applicable for any hackathon: reflect on what you’ve learned, review your metrics (number of participants, projects completed, feedback ratings, media/social reach), and identify areas for improvement for next time. Documenting what worked and didn’t is a positive reflection that will help you scale up or refine your next hackathon.
