Wackathon: How to Organize an Awesome and Entertaining Hackathon!
Lee la versión en español aquí.
We recently had our first Wackathon, a Hackathon competition at Wolox.
For those who do not know what a Hackathon is, it is a competition that usually lasts several days, at which many groups suggest projects and submit them in the hope that they are selected for development.
Wolox Wackathon 2015 took place over a whole weekend. We decided each team could have up to 7 members. Also, we thought that it would be great to allow not only Woloxers to participate, but also some of their friends and colleagues. This way, more people would get to know what we do and why it is awesome!
Wackathon started with the submission of ideas, out of which we selected 10. Then, participants had to choose the idea they liked the most and joined the project’s team. The objective was to transform the idea into a functional prototype for the Sunday afternoon, to pitch the project to a jury explaining the project’s differentiating attributes, the business model, and the steps to follow if the project was developed.
What’s interesting about this event is: how we convinced 33 employees that it was worth giving up their weekend to take part in Wackathon? And, how we got participants to compete with so much enthusiasm from Saturday to Sunday afternoon?
The answer is simple: fun. It is crucial to make sure all participants have a good time throughout the whole experience. These are some of the tips to meet that objective:
Loads of Swag
Who doesn’t like souvenirs? Make sure you have branded t-shirts, stickers, pens and you will be one step closer to success.
Food and Drinks
Teams spend long hours working on their projects, and so it is vital to make sure there is enough tasty food and drinks available. Fill everyone’s tummy with yummy! It is a must at any event!
Entertaining Activities
Running entertaining activities in parallel to the competition, makes the Hackathon a lot more fun. At Wackathon, we filmed each participant, giving them 30 seconds to tell the camera how they were doing and what they thought about the event. Later, we compiled the material into a video that was shown at the close of the event and highlighted how much the participants enjoyed the competition.
This is just one of the many things you can try out! Also, you can include games or any other activities that help participants clear their minds for a while.
Excellent prizes
Good rewards are appropriate incentives. Having to prove they’re the best, even in the simplest of competitions, will drive participants to put their all into the event.
Never forget to mention the prizes for winning, as this will encourage people to participate.
What’s left
We cannot stress enough that it is impossible to perform well, whether at programming, planning, or doing whatever it is that you are doing, if you do it non-stop. Your body asks, of course, for breaks. That’s why every Hackathon should have a rest area!
These are some suggestions for organizing a great Hackathon in which anyone would like to participate. Keep in mind that these kind of events cannot be organized in a couple of days: plenty of preparation time is required in order to ensure everything goes to plan. It is important to always keep the goals in mind, and have fun along the way!
Posted by Conrado Mader Blanco (cmaderblanco@wolox.com.ar)
