You must be careful not to narrow the focus too much as this reduces the opportunities to innovate, but you must constrain it enough so that any prototypes or concepts produced are relevant to your company. Adding an element of diversity is likely to increase the levels of innovation, but the teams will still need to have the right mix of skills to produce a working prototype at the end. You might want to restrict entries to certain departments, specific roles or include different levels of seniority for example, to encourage skill sharing between senior and entry-level employees.
Traditionally, hackathons have been associated with coding teams working through the night and would typically go on for hours. Decide on start and finish times for your hackathon and enforce them to make the experience a positive one for the whole team. Give your team a focused brief at least a few weeks in advance. This will allow your team time to think about what they want to work on, share ideas for possible projects and keep them in line with your goal for the event. What must each team produce by the end of the hackathon, to qualify for completion?
It could be a working prototype, a piece of code or a video proposal. Getting everyone together in one place, setting them up with the tech they need, supplying food and drink and possibly even paying travel expenses — all while taking your team away from their regular projects — can be an expensive business.
Namedrop the success stories: Companies who are renowned for innovation, like Google, Amazon, Netflix and Twitter, have all made hackathons a part of their corporate culture. Organising your hackathon for a date that suits everyone is imperative. Look at project schedules as far in advance as you can and once you set the date, keep that time sacred. If you can, leave a bit of wiggle room around the week leading up to the event just in case projects do end up running over time.
You can definitely hold your hackathon on-site. Alternatively, hiring an external venue can be an easy way to create a buzz around your event and contribute to a novel atmosphere on the day.
Make sure there is enough physical space for everyone along with the equipment needed. Depending on your office culture, you might want to have a music system hooked up for the hackathon or quiet spaces for teams to retreat to when they want to focus in silence.
Do you want to offer a cash prize, a piece of tech or the support to move a project forward? Cash prizes are a good draw but can cause overly competitive behaviour and sour the atmosphere at your event very quickly. Offering the resources a developer needs to further their project is a positive but effective motivator and may be more appropriate. Think about giving away technical support, access to equipment or the chance to present the idea to senior stakeholders, as the winning prize.
If you work in a large organisation, you can probably make up a judging panel of senior stakeholders. But, providing that confidentiality will allow for it, inviting a panel of industry experts can be a great way to drum up interest for your event and goes a long way to improving the turn out.
Next, you will need to set your criteria. Otherwise, you run the risk of turning your hackathon into an internal popularity contest which is a sure-fire way to sap motivation from the room. Start early but be careful not to bore people with the idea. Allow enough lead time before your event to generate those all-important ideas; at least two weeks is usually the ideal amount of time.
But the first step towards tapping into the full potential of a hackathon is by not thinking of it as a sprint but a marathon. It is not a hour-long technology talent showcase or a PR gig; it is a premeditated strategy that has the potential to add long-term value to a company. Hackathons are one of the most common ammunition that MNCs and other companies deploy to establish themselves as innovation leaders in the market and attract young talent.
Several companies have hackathons listed as one of the most effective hiring strategies. Before charting a plan for a hackathon, having a clear objective and planning for it is half the battle won. Idea or Solution Discovery: Often, companies conduct hackathons that are centered around their key offerings. Companies also use hackathons to find newer and unique problem statements in the market that they can solve for in the future. Problem Discovery: Hackathons are also conducted with the intent of gaining feedback on a product and getting real-time inputs from customers.
The intent is to seek feedback from a large group concurrently and iterate on the product features accordingly. Talent Discovery: While employer branding is one focus area, identifying talent quickly and at scale is a key win during recruitment. Hackathons help in attracting top talent and are also increasingly becoming popular as tools for engaging with employees, especially with the Gen Z workforce.
Many companies are leveraging hackathons as a means of familiarizing employees with new and emerging technology concepts. While it is very important for companies to have a defined objective before planning a hackathon, it is also necessary to think of a hackathon as a strategic initiative that can reap long-term benefits. For this, companies must look at hackathons as a B2C activity, where the key focus should be on delivering a good customer experience to the developers who participate in the hackathon.
This will help companies derive maximum value from their hackathons. Companies today, are highly focused on customer centricity; however, they often overlook the crucial narrative of treating their employees as customers. If companies chart a hackathon, it would be much more impactful for employees as well as developers. Perceiving the developers participating in the hackathon as customers can help companies plan the pre-, during, and post-hackathon activities more effectively.
The first principle is to consistently think of a customer journey as a circle and complete the circle. From getting the developer onboard to their experience during the hackathon, and following up with them post the event — all this is part of the journey.
Pre-hackathon: Before the hackathon, the first step is to choose a theme and create a checklist of all the to-dos. Marketing is one of the most important elements that runs horizontally throughout the hackathon pre-, during, and post-. However, the role of marketing is most crucial before the event. Please correct the errors and submit again. By selecting "Submit," I authorize Rasmussen University to contact me by email, phone or text message at the number provided.
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Department of Education. What is a hackathon? What do people do at a hackathon? The benefits of participating in a hackathon For anyone looking to enter the tech field, participating in a hackathon can be a great learning experience and offers a unique opportunity to build a powerful network. What do you need to participate in a hackathon? How to find a hackathon near you Hackathons are happening all of the time all over the world. Here are a few to keep tabs on: Hackathon.
Get your game face on Now that you know what a hackathon is and the benefits of collaborative coding are you ready to join in on the action? Not if You Have these 7 Characteristics. Request More Information.
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