How to Attend Conferences, Hackathons, and Travel the World in College

16 min readMay 15, 2015

Growing up in a family that runs a small business in southeastern Virginia, I learned the value of entrepreneurialism from a young age. I realized that if I wanted to change something in my life, only I could take the initiative to get there. With this mindset, I set out to accomplish four main goals in college:

1. Become a better software engineer

2. Meet many ambitious, entrepreneurial, and fascinating students from around the world

3. Learn from the best leaders in tech and business

4. Travel to different parts of the world

I have been able to reach all of these goals through attending hackathons, tech and entrepreneurship events, and global conferences, and with the right amount of strategizing, my travel and attendance fees were almost always covered.

I cannot emphasize enough the influence and value that these events have provided in terms of gaining new technical skills, securing opportunities for internships, collaborations, and mentoring, and making go-getter friends from all over the world. And yet, not many students seem to know about these events, or think that they are too expensive to attend.

I am writing this article to share resources so that ambitious students with similar goals can exponentially enrich their college experience.

Below, I’ve divided the events that college students are eligible to attend into three categories: hackathons, tech and entrepreneurship events, and global conferences.

Hackathons.

In terms of age demographics, there are two main types of hackathons: ones for students and ones open to all demographics.

To those outside of the tech world, there is this aura of mystery surrounding hackathons, but there really shouldn’t be. Hackathons are rich environments for working with the latest tech products and for creating solutions that could potentially create an impact on the world in 24–48 hours. Although the majority of attendees are formally trained engineers, you don’t have to be one to attend. A friend of mine who didn’t know how to code before learned Node.js and other JavaScript libraries to implement a motion tracking game in a weekend at a hackathon. This shows that all you need to start out with is conviction and a strong desire to learn.

AngelHack Silicon Valley

Experience: This was my first hackathon, and it proved to be a great weekend partnering with friends. We built an educational game that we demoed to several company sponsors. AngelHack is an organization that arranges hackathons around the world.
When and where: Various international locations. I attended the one in San Jose, California.
Funding: It usually costs money to attend their hackathons, but a friend from E-Bootcamp (talked about later) provided me a code for a free ticket for university students. Try to see if there are discount codes available to certain groups that you can use for non-college specific hackathons. Because my entrance ticket was covered, I only needed to pay for the local Caltrain.
Application deadline and link: Varies depending on which hackathon, http://angelhack.com/

JP Morgan Code for Good

Experience: This is JP Morgan’s event to combine tech and social impact. They fly approximately 100 hackers to either their New York City or London offices to collaborate with a nonprofit and hack on an idea for 36 hours. I’ve found that smaller hackathons have a higher level of mentoring and are generally very well organized. Since I had never been to a hackathon inside of a large bank, it was also interesting to nap in marble rooms all around their office where investment bankers usually work. My team and I worked with the Coalition for the Homeless to build a game for students to learn more about homelessness in New York City.
When and where: October in New York City and London
Funding: JP Morgan will pay for all flights, food, coffee, and Red Bull, which is all you need for a hackathon.
Application deadline and link: Applications for 2015 haven’t opened up, but keep checking here: http://bit.ly/1ADCdW0. I applied in September.

HackDuke

Experience: This was the first college hackathon that I attended. College hackathons are always free, and almost all attendees are in college, which makes them different from some company-sponsored ones. We built a system to easily display the latest information from startup companies from CrunchBase using various APIs.
When and where: November in Durham, North Carolina
Funding: My school organized a free bus to drive to Durham. Check to see if your school or any nearby school is organizing buses to drive to the hackathon that you want to attend.
Application deadline and link: Fall, http://www.hackduke.com/

greylock hackfest

Experience: greylock is a venture capital firm that organized this hackathon in San Francisco at Medium’s HQ. It was geared towards college students, and they accepted around 150 attendees. It was one of the best organized hackathons that I have attended with awesome prizes such as drones, $10,000, electric scooters, and GoPros. Afterwards, they even organized a small Bitcoin fireside chat with Wences Casares, the founder of Xapo and the first ISP in Argentina, at their office in San Francisco.
When and where: July in San Francisco, California
Funding: Since I was already in San Francisco, I only needed to pay for local transportation. All of the hackers I met were living or interning in the area, so I’m not sure if they paid for any flights.
Application deadline and link: June 17, http://greylocku.com/hackfest/

Y Combinator (YC) Hacks

Experience: This was held down at YC’s Mountain View offices. I couldn’t attend the entire hackathon, but I was able to use this opportunity to meet with a YC Partner for coffee afterwards. To elaborate, Y Combinator is a top incubator and seed fund for startups. I believe that they’re organizing this again for 2015.
When and where: August in Mountain View, California
Funding: Same as greylock hackfest
Application deadline and link: June, http://bit.ly/1cT0wLq

10x10 Hackathon

Experience: I almost went to Croatia for this education-themed hackathon. Unfortunately, something went awry with their travel sponsors, so it didn’t seem very organized in the end. Not sure if they’re re-organizing this, but I still plan on going to Croatia in the near future!
When and where: September in Split, Croatia
Funding: 10x10 was going to pay for all flights to Europe and accommodations
Application deadline and link: August, http://bit.ly/WByE6l

MHacks

Experience: This is one of the largest college hackathons in the United States hosted by the University of Michigan. There were over 1000 hackers in attendance. They provide buses for areas with a concentration of attending schools, so I took a bus up for the weekend in January. I taught myself Ruby on Rails and built a web application.
When and where: September and January in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Funding: MHacks organizes free buses for hackers to take to Ann Arbor.
Application deadline and link: Summer for September and late Fall for January, http://mhacks.org/

TreeHacks

Experience: 2015 was the first year that Stanford organized a hackathon. It had about 400 in state hackers plus 100 out of state hackers that they flew out. It was a very well organized hackathon with great mentors and sponsors. An entire team of Apple developers was there 24/7 to help, so that was a wonderful resource to learn Swift and Objective C in a weekend. We built an iPhone app to monitor a person’s heartbeat using the phone’s camera and flashlight features.
When and where: February in Palo Alto, California
Funding: Stanford paid for my flight and ground transportation since I was an out-of-state participant.
Application deadline and link: December, https://www.treehacks.com/

Global Hackathon Seoul

Experience: This is an epic hackathon that will be happening in South Korea. The South Korean government is flying in 1,000 international hackers to hack together with 1,000 Korean hackers. It seems like they’re trying to combine a hackathon with a tech conference to raise awareness about South Korean tech. I will be attending and am pumped for this.
When and where: July in Seoul, South Korea
Funding: They will pay for international flights but $200 dollars will be deducted to cover for accommodation and food for the event. It’s still a great deal.
Application deadline and link: Closed for this year, but perhaps next Spring again, https://seoul.globalhackathon.io/

There are many other college hackathons on a local, regional, and nationwide scale that I didn’t mention but are equally as fun to attend. Don’t be intimidated by the size or the amount of experience some hackers have. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Demoing our heartbeat measuring iPhone app at TreeHacks. Photo credit to Major League Hacking

Tech and entrepreneurship events.

To make the most of these conferences, don’t focus on obtaining and distributing business cards. Instead, focus on developing long-term relationships that will impact you down the road. There are many passionate, driven, and curious individuals at these events who want to impact the world in a big way.

Go in with the topics that you would like to learn more about and research beforehand which speakers are going to be at the conference. Go in with an open mind and don’t be afraid to find and talk to the speakers after their panels. You never know what opportunities might arise out of those conversations.

Clinton Global Initiative University

Experience: This is an annual conference for student social entrepreneurs organized by CGI and former President Clinton. This was the first conference that I attended back in 2012, and I decided that it was worth the investment to split one hotel room with two other attendees and buy an Amtrak train ticket to Washington DC. There were several celebrities that came, including Usher, Kristen Bell, and Jon Stewart, which was fun, but more importantly, it provided my first dose of inspiration about creating social impact. You have to apply with a project that you are working on, which for me was a sustainability-themed festival that I organized at my university.
When and where: March, location varies every year but always in the United States
Funding: This was one of the two events for which I paid for long-distance transportation. I bought an Amtrak ticket from Virginia to Washington DC and paid $50 for a hotel room that was split with two other attendees. Many universities that are a part of the CGI U network will now provide grants for their students to attend.
Application deadline and link: November for travel assistance and around January for the regular applications, http://www.cgiu.org/

Stanford E-Bootcamp

Experience: After starting my own company in college, I found out about this “bootcamp” where Stanford’s BASES organization flew out 100 student entrepreneurs from around the world for a multi-day intensive workshop and startup event with various CEOs and investors. All attendees had to have their own startup company. It was where I met the venture capitalist that got me one of my internships for that summer and the CEO of a healthcare startup company that I also interned for. Unfortunately, this event is no longer being organized.
When and where: April in Palo Alto, California
Funding: BASES paid for my flight and hotel.
Application deadline and link: N/A, http://bases.stanford.edu/e-bootcamp/

Thiel Summit

Experience: After going through the application process for the Thiel Fellowship to potentially drop out of college to pursue startup ideas, I attended the Thiel Summit in San Francisco since I was already interning in the area that summer. Throughout the Summit, there are speakers, workshops, and many chances to meet young changemakers. This year’s San Francisco Summit is happening from June 6–7.
When and where: June for San Francisco, California and Fall for Las Vegas, Nevada
Funding: Since I was already in San Francisco, I only needed to pay for local transportation. They do not pay for flights or accommodations.
Application deadline and link: End of December for the Thiel Fellowship, http://summit.thielfellowship.org/

Piazza Silicon Valley Tour

Experience: Piazza selected 10 women studying computer science to visit various companies in the area. I was part of the inaugural program last August, and we visited Palantir, Pinterest, Yelp, VMWare, Airbnb, and of course Piazza. Towards the end of the tour, we heard Pooja Sankar, the CEO of Piazza, talk about her background. She is one inspiring, open, and honest entrepreneur. It’s no longer open exclusively to women, and anyone with a Piazza account can apply.
When and where: August and December in the Silicon Valley area, California
Funding: Piazza paid for all flights and hotel rooms.
Application deadline and link: August for the summer tour, apply through your Piazza account

Grace Hopper Conference

Experience: Facebook selected 25 women studying computer science to receive scholarships to attend this incredible computer science conference in Phoenix, Arizona. It seemed like every tech company was in attendance, and I heard some really great speakers talk. One that stuck with me was Yoky Matsuoka’s (Nest’s VP of Technology) talk about what she does at Nest and her background. Her presentation resonated with me so much that she has now become one of my role models.
When and where: October, varies every year
Funding: Facebook paid for the conference fee, all flights, food, and hotel rooms. Other tech companies such as Google also offer travel grants.
Application deadline and link: June. This was last year’s application page for Facebook’s scholarship: http://bit.ly/1cUcODe. Be on the lookout for this year’s application, which should be coming out soon.

Start @ a Startup

Experience: This was a short one and a half day event hosted by Sequoia Capital, Dropbox, and Princeton’s Business Today (BT) where various CEOs, CTOs, venture capitalists, and startup leaders came and spoke to 100 (mostly computer science) students. The latter half of the event consisted of interviewing with the various startup companies that were in attendance.
When and where: October in New York City
Funding: Business Today provided $100 to put towards a flight, so I just had Facebook fly me out from Grace Hopper to New York City since Start @ a Startup began the next day after Grace Hopper ended. I used the $100 for my return flight back to Virginia. BT paid for all hotel rooms.
Application deadline and link: July, http://startup.businesstoday.org/

Dublin Web Summit

Experience: This was one of the coolest, largest tech events that I have attended simply because of the international scale of things and the people who were in attendance. I heard about their Student Scholars program over the summer and decided to apply since it waived the conference fee (worth a few thousand dollars), and I got to experience the conference with a group of 99 other student entrepreneurs. This group was probably one of the most impressive groups of students gathered together. Not only did we learn from each other, travel together, and do rad things like meet Drew Houston of Dropbox on a private Guinness Storehouse tour, we also heard many top tech leaders speak about their experiences and about cutting edge technologies over the three days that the Summit took place.
When and where: November in Dublin, Ireland
Funding: The conference fee was waived, but I did have to find a sponsor to pay for my flight to Europe and hotel.
Application deadline and link: Applications will most likely open over the summer, so keep checking here: https://websummit.net/ or here http://blog.websummit.net/

MIT Global Startup Workshop

Experience: If I was able to get funding to attend and if it wasn’t during such a hectic academic period, I would have attended. MIT organized this in Guatemala, and also had a Student program where they waived the application fee. I believe that they’re planning on organizing this again next year.
When and where: March in Guatemala City, Guatemala
Funding: Not applicable since I didn’t attend.
Application deadline and link: February, http://mitgsw.org/2015/

Dublin Web Summit Student Scholars at the Lord Mayor of Dublin’s Mansion House

Global conferences.

These were generally very international in terms of attendees and more business focused.

World Business Dialogue

Experience: Since I was already studying in Europe last Spring, I decided that it wasn’t too far away to attend. I’m very glad that I went. Over 60 countries and 200 delegates were in attendance, an extremely rare and exciting environment to be in, listening to mostly European speakers over the course of 2 days.
When and where: March in Cologne, Germany
Funding: In 2014, I paid 30 euros for a flight to Brussels and 20 euros for a train to Cologne. Nearly a year later, I had the opportunity to work with Accenture Germany to complete a “Dialogue Project” with teammates from 5 other countries and 4 other continents. They sponsored us to fly to Germany for this year’s conference to present our findings.
Application deadline and link: Applications open in the summer, www.world-business-dialogue.com/

Business Today International Conference (BTIC)

Experience: This was set up by the same organization behind Start @ a Startup, Business Today. I heard Stephen Schwarzman (CEO of Blackstone), Mark Thompson (CEO of New York Times), Wendy Kopp (Teach for America), Steve Forbes, and Andrea Jung (CEO of Grameen America and former CEO of Avon) speak as well as had a small roundtable discussion with a Partner of Ares Capital. We also participated in a case competition hosted by Deloitte. The entire conference was held in the upscale Grand Hyatt Hotel in midtown Manhattan.
When and where: November in New York City
Funding: Business Today paid for all flights, food, and rooms in the Grand Hyatt.
Application deadline and link: Summer for first round, September 7th for second round, http://bit.ly/1Jd6imY

Asia Pacific Week (APW)

Experience: This is a more academic focused event held in Canberra, Australia with 100 international attendees learning about the political and economic situations in various Asian Pacific countries.
Location: June/July in Canberra, Australia
Funding: APW used to offer scholarships to all accepted delegates, but starting this year, they will only pay for housing and meals. I’ll be paying for my flight with a travel grant from my university.
Application deadline and link: April 30th, http://asiapacificweek.anu.edu.au/

South American Business Forum (SABF)

Experience: This is a more intimate conference with about 100 attendees in Buenos Aires, Argentina with delegates learning more about South American companies, innovation, challenges, and its future.
When and where: August in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Funding: If I am accepted, I will be paying for my flight by redirecting the international flight money from the Global Hackathon Seoul towards this flight. SABF doesn’t pay for airfare, but they take care of housing and meals during the conference.
Application deadline and link: May 3rd, www.sabf.org.ar/

Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR)

Experience: This is a larger conference with a few hundred attendees. This year’s theme will be “Confronting Asia’s Development Challenges Through Innovation,” so its topics will include a combination of economics, politics, and social innovation.
When and where: Varies every year, but this year’s event will be in Manila, Philippines in August
Funding: To be determined
Application deadline and link: March 31st (early), April 30th (regular), and May 31st (final), www.hpair.org/asia-2015/

My amazing Accenture Dialogue Project teammates from 6 countries and 5 continents at WBD. Photo credit to WBD

There are two more corporate business-themed events that I enjoyed attending after my freshman year before I focused on a more technical and entrepreneurial route.

Capital One Summit for Developing Leaders

Experience: Capital One brought in 39 freshmen and sophomores to attend a weeklong skills development workshop and case competition. The winning case team got free Kindle Fire HDs.
When and where: May in McLean, Virginia
Funding: Capital One paid for all transportation and hotel rooms and provided a very generous allowance for food and entertainment.
Application deadline and link: Applications are through your school and are due around February or March (only open to US students).

KPMG Future Diversity Leaders

Experience: KPMG flew in approximately 100 freshmen and sophomores from all over the country to attend this two day program in Los Angeles. It was my first time in Los Angeles, and I loved the experience and took advantage of the available sightseeing after the program ended. They also interviewed all attendees for internship opportunities.
When and where: July in Los Angeles, California
Funding: KPMG paid for all flights, hotel rooms, and meals.
Application deadline and link: Applications are also through your school and are due around February or March.

Funding.

Funding for all of these hackathons, conferences, and traveling can come from various sources. I’ve listed some examples below:

1. The organizer

2. Your school

3. A previous employer

4. A mentor

5. Crowdfunding

6. Credit card and airline companies

Reach out to as many people as you can at your university to ask about funding sources. It’s about building those relationships early so that various individuals become invested in your long-term success.

Additionally, if two or more of your events are occurring close to one another, think about having one organizer pay for a flight to another. Like I mentioned above, it’s how I structured my flights for Grace Hopper and Start @ a Startup since they were back-to-back events.

If you have a travel rewards credit card, it’s also possible to take advantage of reward miles you receive from flights that organizers pay for. For example, I always provided my dividend mileage rewards account number to the organizer every time they booked my flights. Through this simple method, I accumulated over 30,000 dividend miles over the short span of 6 months. Since the airline gave me 40,000 initial dividend miles when I opened the account, I was able to use the 70,000 miles for a free international flight.

Hack on.

My goal with this article is to provide entrepreneurial college students who are interested in tech and/or business with a resource to expand their perspectives globally and form relationships that will influence them for a lifetime.

I would not have learned nearly as much without the lessons imparted from these events and the deep friendships that I formed with incredible individuals who inspire me every day. To give an example of a relationship that grew out of attending these events, I will be teaming up with a talented software developer who I met through the Piazza Silicon Valley Tour for the Global Hackathon in Seoul to work on our ideas. It’s incredible to think about how I’m able to collaborate with these friends on multiple continents and in multiple countries on projects together.

By the end of this summer, I will have traveled to 4 other continents besides North America and 8 other cities in the United States solely because of these events.

To get to that point, it’s important to take initiative and start early with working on projects that you’re truly passionate about. Because of the company that I started after my freshman year, I was able to apply to the Stanford E-Bootcamp and garner new opportunities from it. If I didn’t take that initial plunge, I might not have gotten my first internships in Silicon Valley.

So, don’t be afraid to go to your first hackathon or start working on that idea. Start generating that snowball effect early and expand your global network.

As a wise individual once said,

“The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation.” -Neil deGrasse Tyson