“How to start your own Hackathon” featuring Chi Hacks | Episode 4

Published in

ART + marketing

5 min readFeb 25, 2018

“Chicago Hacks is a non-profit organization that aims to bring computer science to every student in the Midwest area.” — Bhargav Yadavalli, Founder of Chicago Hacks

So what we do we host an event every year called a hackathon which is a 24-hour competition and kids can join for free and build something within 24 hours and present it to tech leaders that are judges.

From this video, the founders of the largest high school hackathon in the midwest gave us their insights into the best way to start and run a hackathon… From scratch! Below are the golden nugget tips from the video on how to do it.

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How often should you at least host a hackathon?

On average most people host hackathons about once a year. If you decide to launch a hackathon, you should really do your best to bring as much value to your members without expecting much in return. In this case, Chi Hack’s goal was to lead the hackathon knowing the attendees had fun and truly felt the value of computer science.

What should you consider while preparing for the hackathon?

You will need to manage the financial aspects (food, drinks, venues, etc.) . You will need to find sponsors to help support your event (especially if you’re a non-profit such as Chi Hacks) always remembering to check if you are financially stable.

As the lead organizer of the hackathon, what should be your priorities?

As the leader, you are to control how the whole hackathon is going. Think to yourself and ask “How the team is doing? “What are the initiatives?” “Are things getting accomplished?” “Are we executing the event how we planned, if not, why?”.

How should go about finding sponsors?

Chi Hacks found their sponsors by:

Emailing 100’s of businesses and pitching their mission.

How did Chi Hacks pitch their startup to sponsors?

Using an email template and re-editting it to emphasize that the sponsors would be supporting an initiative of youth computer science.

Securing these sponsorships, Chi Hacks would…

Talk with partners to go past the surface level of details and push for their broader vision.
Constantly networked and asked for referrals, every single day — just in case.

What value did Chi Hacks give to sponsors as a hackathon host?

If sponsors supported student at the Chi Hacks hackathon, those students will remember and note the sponsors. Looking into the future, some of the students who go on to become software engineers will have those companies come to mind when looking for positions. The idea was that the sponsors could potentially tap into a pool of potential future engineers.

How to keep your hackathon organized?

A hackathon can be a really crowded event and many things can go wrong but, don’t fear because Chi Hacks has a trick for you. → Break down your event into 15-minute increments so you can keep up and stay on track. Also, let everyone in your team stay in control of assigned tasks, constantly throughout the event to prevent slip-ups.
You can use any simple spreadsheet.
15-minute increments allow the whole team to plan in detail.

How to find a venue?

Venues are particularly expensive, keep educated on what is a good deal while you receive quotes from organizations you’ve reached out to.
Ask any sponsors you’ve secured if they have a space in you’re city/area they’d be willing to let you use.

How to keep the event going (and fun)?

Games
Beginner’s workshop
Website workshops
Themes for the competitons

Consider this:

If you trying to host a hackathon or an event throw in some fun incentives like free shirts, gifts etc.
Free t-shirts give your attendees something to bring back regardless of if they won some prize or not. They are kind of a standard anyway…

Remember when you’re pitching to sponsors → express how important your idea or product, the value your providing to who attends your event, and how that’s relevant to the sponsor (what they get in return).

Avoid:

Don’t only worry about establishing complete credibility. Be open about what things you’re working on making better or are having difficultly with.
Don’t plan things late! Keep ahead of your hackathon, it will go fast!