Two weeks ago, we talked about the Logistics department and the tasks they carried out, such as managing the meals and the swag. But you might have asked yourselves: where does all the money needed to do that come from?
Indeed, a hackathon needs money to run. These funds are raised by making deals with companies (our sponsors), where, in exchange for the money, we let them talk about what they do, bring their mentors and engineers to help the hackers, and provide swag (maybe the most important part for some). To reach these agreements, two departments are necessary: Sponsorship and Finance.
Sponsorship is the department that talks to the companies and works out the deals. Meanwhile, Finance is in charge of everything related to legal matters, once the details have been set. Albert, Andreu and Alaa, who work in the former, and Oscar, from the latter (he also helps in Sponsorship, though), are here to tell you all the details.
Why did you want to be organisers of HackUPC?
Albert: I’m really passionate about organising events, and HackUPC was a challenge to me. Also, the good vibes that the organising team had motivated me.
Andreu: I worked in HackUPC since the first edition as a volunteer and I really enjoyed it, so I wanted to see the event from the inside.
Alaa: I participated as a hacker in the first edition of HackUPC, Spring 2016. I was a freshman back then and this was like entering a whole new universe. By chance, I ended up chatting with Miquel Llobet, the director of that edition, in the HQ room, where he asked me if I wanted to be part of this movement. The rest is history, a good one, though!
Oscar: I really like organising events, especially knowing all about the ins and outs and how everything fits together. I had previously been a hacker, sponsor and volunteer for HackUPC so becoming an organiser was a logical next step.
How long have you been organisers?
Albert: Since June 2016. Four editions, including the one coming.
Andreu: As an organizer, since the last edition, and before that, a supervolunteer. I had been a volunteer since the first edition.
Alaa: Since May 2016, when Gonzalo interviewed me and told me how much fun I was going to have. (Gonzalo was a Logistics team member at the time. Alaa started working in that department.)
Oscar: I started out as a volunteer on October 2016 and became an organizer that same October.
What differences have you seen between attending a hackathon as a hacker and organising it?
Albert: There are a lot of differences, but the most important one is the feeling that’s transmitted when you organise it. As a hacker, you enjoy it a lot but soon it will be forgotten. Meanwhile, as an organiser, it’s like caring for your child. You want the best for them.
Andreu: It’s very different! When you’re a hacker you don’t see most of the things that happen and you can’t imagine what’s behind everything; you’re only interested in your project. As an organiser or a volunteer you see how everything works. I think that if you’re a fan of hackathons you have to be in the team some time, even if it’s as a volunteer.
Oscar: They are completely different worlds! I think the only thing they have in common is the lack of sleep you get that weekend.
Alaa: I agree with Oscar — they’re different things in so many levels (except the level of sleep quality/quantity, that’s very real haha). Being a hacker is more of a technical thing, i.e. you write lines of code, you discuss aspects of your project with your teammates and you sit and binge-eat during 36h; while being an organizer is more of a human thing, i.e. you write emails, you discuss a whole event with your teammate for hackers to enjoy as much as possible and you run around sleepy, hungry and almost dehydrated during 48h.
Which have been your favourite moments here?
Albert: Satisfaction after event. We spend a lot of hours in order to prepare the event, like a full-time job, but the hapiness of hackers makes all the efforts that we made for HackUPC useful.
Andreu: Oof, there’s a lot of them! It’s hard to choose, but I remember that in the Winter 2017 edition I worked with a very nice team organising all the activities.
Alaa: Yeah, there are sooo many! My top 3 would be (1) setting up the venue and seeing the first five hackers in the check-in queue, (2) running nonstop around the venue and see your teammates also running nonstop around the venue (that’s dedication right there!) and (3) the aftermath of the event, when you have the chance to see, calmly, every single photo that has been taken and remember every single moment it represents.
Oscar: I guess my favorite moment is when we open check-in the Friday of the event. There is so much work that has been done in order to get to that point that it feels great to be able to start checking in people.
What is exactly your job in the Sponsorship department? And in Finance?
Albert: We provide the money for the edition. We have to deal with any troubles that may happen with sponsors. Call ’em all day, all night. In conclusion, we make the edition be real because, yeah, without money there wouldn’t be HackUPC.
Andreu: We also try to find sponsors that are attractive for the hackers. It is important that sponsors are comfortable with them, and that hackers are comfortable with sponsors too.
Oscar: In the Finance department we write out the contracts that are signed between HackUPC and the Sponsor. We also generate all of the invoices for the sponsors and make sure that the other departments are staying within the budget that they have been assigned.
Alaa: We raise dem moneyz (Sponsorship) in such a way that we don’t earn ourselves a trip to jail (Finance). Counterfeiting ain’t no joke, bruh.
What do you like about working there?
Albert: Meeting new people, learning about them and improving your communication skills. Moreover, the satisfaction of getting a sponsor that you deal with during months, and getting their happiness after the event.
Andreu: You get better at language, you learn how to say things the way you want to, and you see how, thanks to your work, a big event such as HackUPC is possible.
Alaa: There’s this usual fear of picking up the phone, calling a company and asking the reception for the contact you have been chatting through emails to ask them about the clause 2.7 of the second version of the contract. What I love about my department is the chance to overcome this fear and, better than that, get good at it.
Oscar: In the sponsorship department you get to improve your communication and negotiation skills, which is awesome, as they are skills that you don’t really get to learn at university. In the finance department you get to learn a lot about legal and fiscal issues, which, if you are interested in creating a startup, is super useful.
How do you distribute your work?
Albert: We have a long list with a lot of contacts. Before contacting them, every department member decides what companies want to carry out. We distribute them equally.
Oscar: In Finance, part of the workload we divert to our tax consultants and the rest of the work that they don’t handle gets dealt with by me as soon as it comes in as it generally is preparing document for the sponsors.
Which is the hardest part of finding sponsors?
Albert: When they don’t reply your e-mails and calls. You must be patient in this aspect and try to not be rude with your pushes. The sponsorship department has the responsibility to make HackUPC real with its funds, and we have to be very responsible.
Andreu: I’m the newest member of the department and, to me, talking to important people in companies instead of everyday people feels hard. Also, as Albert said, staying calm when they don’t answer you is complicated.
Alaa: The doubt of whether your contact is ignoring you or is truly talking to their team. Sometimes they tell you right away and other times you have to be “that tiresome guy” that keeps asking the same question. I don’t like that feeling and it’s the hardest for me to overcome.
Oscar: The hardest part of finding sponsors is being able to find the right person to contact. Most of the time you won’t find that person right away and you rely a lot on the person you have contacted to get you to the right person. Sometimes, you can contact two different people from the same company and department and get completely different responses.
Sponsorship and Finance work closely together. Which is the workflow? When does Finance enter?
Oscar: The Finance department only gets involved in the last stages of sponsorship. Basically, once the guys from Sponsorship have closed the deal with the companies, Finance steps in, creates the invoices and makes sure that we meet all of the requirements to get paid. Some companies have very strange and complicated procedures in order to pay an invoice.
Alaa: Sponsorship speaks to a possible sponsor. If they are interested, we send them our sponsorship packages and offer to further discuss them in a meeting. Usually, they ask for info and we answer, many times, until we close the deal. Then, Finance prepares the documents and we send them to their legal department. Both parties sign the documents, binding us legally, and a new, official sponsor is born!
Which are your tasks during the event?
Oscar: The sponsorship team has the responsibility of taking care of the sponsors during the event. Basically, we have to make sure they are informed of all activities that are going on. The job doesn’t end there though, as we need to check that they have everything they need and also be able to answer any questions they have. We are basically the main point of contact for the sponsors during the event.
Albert: Our duty is to make the sponsor experience the best one. We must be very attentive with them.
Finally, tell us a funny moment in the hackathons you have already organised.
Albert: In the last edition I played a match of table football with volunteers and hackers. It was really funny, as we were at least twenty people.
Andreu: I love nerf gun battles, specially with volunteers and organisers!
Oscar: Slideshare Karaoke, you get some hilarious moments from it.
Alaa: Back in Fall 2016, I was in the Logistics department and a teammate and I had to go pickup almost a ton of water. We stacked the bottles in the van, and just when we arrive at the venue, we hear something. Well…
That wasn’t funny, of course. It was the faces of all the team when we asked them for help that cracks me a smile.
When a department fails at their work, usually hackers can notice what happens: a lack of food means that there have been problems in Logistics, not receiving an answer after sending an email is Marketing being forgetful… But, if Sponsorship fails, the event might not even be held. Their work is incredibly important and it can go unnoticed. They are already giving it all for this year’s edition, so wish them luck!
Meet the team is a series of posts that tries to show the kind of people who are behind a big event like HackUPC and the work that’s required to bring it to life. You can read the rest here: Logistics, HackerXperience, New faces, Staff, Webdev, Design and Photography, Directors, Marketing
