How to make the best of the Odyssey Hackathon — The Nature 2.0 Way
Tips and tricks to have a great time at the Odyssey Hackathon, no matter what.
Forewords
In a few days, you will take part in the Odyssey Hackathon. An event branded as the World Biggest Blockchain and AI Hackathon.
Beyond the branding aspect of this gathering, it is very likely that this event will be graved in your memories for a very long time, for the better or the worst.
At Nature 2.0, we are asking you to create the Unimaginable but Buildable, and this is tough, and we know it.
This event will make you go through a lot of ups and downs, as you will go through a whole creation process, and we thought it would be of good value to gather some piece of advice for you and your teams to deal with the hards in the best possible way and to enjoy the ups in the most memorable way.
Before reading, keep in mind that those are only advice, meaning that you are quite literally allowed to deal with them in whichever way fits you best.
That being said, here are the points, ranked chronologically first, by topics then.
The days before the hackathon
Captain Obvious here. Those might seem obvious, but just in case, it would be a shame to miss them.
1- Get. Some. SLEEP.
On Friday, you will enter 48h of an experience that will require all your senses to be at maximal attention and energy level. Your future you will thank you for having gone to bed instead of spending hours binge-watching the seven seasons of Game of Thrones or the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
2- Get all your material. If you can, double it.
Make a list, per person, of all the pieces of equipment you will need. Screen, mouse, cables, USB stick, warm clothes, food, drinks, LIST IT ALL! Get it all down on paper (or computer), and check if you have it all.
There is a saying from the army or some survival groups that goes: “If you have only one, you have none”. Quite literal and explicit, it simply means that when it comes to crucial equipment, if you can, get a backup. There is no such thing as “it will never break”. And during a hackathon, there is no good time for some material to go down. So get a back-up. If it is important, and it going down could bring your flow down, bring a spare.
“If you have one, you have none” — army saying
3- Pack in advance, avoid unnecessary stress at all costs.
As a late packer, I know a lot of the fun there is in last-minute packing. The adrenaline of missing the train for not finding that one jumper I like so much is priceless.
This time, though, not finding what you need and having to leave without it because you are running late, or forgetting some important pieces of equipment and remembering it once on the way might end up costing a lot of money or stress, the latest one being the one element you want to avoid in the hours coming towards the hackathon. For the adrenaline addicts among us, do not be worried, the hackathon will bring you a lot of it already!
So following the list you made in the point above, pack everything if possible a day before your departure for the hackathon, and make sure you have everything upon arrival!
4- If you can, come together with your team in the hours before the hackathon for a last briefing and moment together.
We often forget it because of the excitement, potential outcome, emulation, however, this gathering is a team effort, from the weeks before to the months after, not forgetting its most intense milestone, the hackathon itself. Your team is your tribe, your inner circle. They are the ones you will work with, cry with and hectically celebrate with when this all ends. In short, your team is your core, and building its bonds might be part of the make-or-break of this unforgettable experience.
Your team is your tribe, your inner circle
Optional, but potential lifesavers.
1- Find a code word for team gathering(s).
There are so many reasons you might need that one, from important discoveries to celebrations, from putting a hold to a brawl to making an important decision and many more. In brief, there will be a time when you will need your team to stop it all and come together, and a code word, music or sound might save you a lot of time in doing so.
2- Assign buddies to each other.
We are all human, this is a fact. And like all humans, we can go down for one reason or another. To avoid one element of a team breaking and taking the whole synergy down in the process, you can assign buddies to each other. There is no one rule for doing so, apart from making it clear who is responsible for who, and who can rely on who.
Make it clear who is responsible for who, and who can rely on who
3- Find mascot and recognizable apparel.
What are you again? Oh, yeah, a TEAM! And what does a team have? A mascot, and a jersey with some particular colors and symbols/signs/drawing. No need to go NBA-level here, but there has been proof that mascots in companies and teams bring attention, awareness, make you friendly or recognizable in the mass. So think a bit, and come up with the next Linux Penguin or Firefox Fox!
4- Find a theme song and/or a battle cry.
Those are purely for energy and momentum building. Who has not shouted “Aouh! Aouh!” after a viewing of 300, the (slightly) fictional Homeric movie from Zack Snyder? Now, the accuracy aside, it is undeniable that this war cry is more energizing than ten cans of your favorite energy drinks. So brainstorm for a while, get one, practice it and make it real. There is no such thing as being ridiculous during a hackathon, so just do it!
The time of the hackathon
Practicalities.
Talking about underrated elements here, but they do affect us! As much as a computer needs electricity to serve its purpose, we need to get fuel in to get things done.
1- Do not forget to drink…
… WATER! Yes, sorry, but I mean water. I know most of you will go to a coffee and/or energy drink diet during the 48h of the hackathon, however, it is water that is the one most powerful fluid our body can take!
2- Do not forget to eat.
I might sound like your mom here, but you will want to give some literal fuel for your muscles to work. (Not) Eating will affect your level of performance during this very intense experience! Think energy bars, fruits, carbohydrates, and so on…
3- Do not forget to breathe.
In case of stress, migraine, tiredness, tension, and many more, the one and only key element you might be missing could be air! So get up, and go for a walk. Weather will be chilly, but sunny this weekend, or said differently: perfect for a break from the warm and dark Suikerfabriek! And this is not even mentioning the effect it could have on your brainstorms, so yes, every now and then, get up and get out!
In case of stress, get up, and go for a walk
4- Do not forget to sleep.
Obviously not talking here of the lazy Sunday sleep, but you will want to get some power naps every now and then, to give your head a break and get back with rested eyes, ears, and brain, ready to rock it better than ever!
Design
We are talking ideation and creation here. Some tips on HOW to build the unimaginable: like in French Butter, by leaving homo economics out in the cold for a while, shutting your ears to all the “Yes, but…”.
As long as it adheres to the laws of physics it is possible, right? When arriving in Groningen, try to feel you can aim for the moon and you will have chances to find you landing amongst the stars.
Those are some pieces of advice from our most experienced and wisest lions…
Shut your ears to all the “Yes, but…”
1- Think beyond the business model.
A simple phrase, yet such a tough command. You know it now, with Nature 2.0 you are pushed to think beyond the business models. To think without the money and its incentives. It will not be easy, and you might want to get this sentence printed and stuck on everybody’s computer. It is a radical mind-shift we are asking you to do here, but it is for your best. It is when you will be capable of pulling out the businesswoman/man inside you that you will be able to create the simplest most efficient passionate idea. Get rid of the money, and welcome the passion. If in need, rewatch Jan-Peter’s talk on the 7 steps toward the creation of a commons as well as the short presentation video, they could be of great use in this quest of “Thinking beyond the business model”.
Get rid of the money, and welcome the Passion
2- Don’t stay stuck on your idea.
Last year, some teams came in the hackathon process with an idea they held onto and tried to fit and force in the track. This just does not work. You want to be prepared to have your idea expanded, reduced, chopped, combined and many other scary terms for one who has a bit too much ego in keeping his or her idea as it is. There is a reason for one of our sessions with you as a team during the hackathon being named a “Pressure cooker”. A time when you will need to show us what you got, and we will listen and roast the code out of you!
To put it simply, your ideas will be cooked. And as in the art and beauty of French Cuisine, where the bests chefs are the ones able to reassess their recipes continuously, the best teams will be the ones able to let go off their ego, letting creativity take their idea from a simple beautiful ingredient to a delicious meal worthy of the best Parisian Tables.
Your ideas will be cooked
3- Give enough attention to your canvas.
As you can see in the graph below, the canvas is quite simply one of the first things you will start working with. It is that simple. Your canvas will be one of the cornerstones of your project, an anchor of for your ship. You want it good, well-formulated and clear. A strong canvas will help you to fall softly back on your feet when hitting a wall. And we can guarantee you, you will hit some, that is very likely. So get your canvas, get it crystal clear and done before working on the rest.
There will be some iterations of this canvas. Give attention to them during the weekend even though it might seem pointless at such a late stage. And if the first canvas is here and important to get you started and on track as early as possible, the iterations are at least as important as they will have the difficult yet crucial role to keep you going and on the tracks to success.
When done with canvas, don’t come back to it every now and then unless really necessary. They are here to bring stability and steadiness to your course, not to turn your stairway to heaven into a highway to hell. The temptation will be high, and frequently worthy of attention, however, it is for your own sake and for one of the ones supporting you to stay as clear as possible in the way you are taking. Going back and forth is usually not the best way to bring clarity, and clarity will be an important factor of success as it simplifies a lot of the challenges you will go through.
4- Get a clear idea of what you are building as soon as possible, and get that MVP going as soon as possible
This is a very tough one, and we know it. It, however, revealed to be decisive for teams to get going with their MVP (Minimal Viable Product) as early as possible. As shown in the graph above, you want to get coding in the very first hours of the weekend. To bring it back to hearth, there is no such thing as “too much time to code”.
A famous saying in design goes: “If you are done early, you probably did not give it all. If you are not, you should have started earlier or planned better”. This weekend, all teams will be able to start coding at the same time, nevertheless, not all will start doing so at the same time, and this will have a determinant effect on their final deliverable.
“If you are done early, you probably did not give it all. If you are not, you should have started earlier or planned better”
5- Get help from external tools if you can, but don’t lose too much time trying to
You might know it already, but for those who do not, here is a scoop: you will not be alone coding during the hackathon. As a matter of fact, you will be surrounded by many track supports, experts in their fields, tools genius and other accelerators of all kinds.
To avoid any misunderstanding, let’s be clear: you want to listen to what they have to tell you, especially if some come with useful tools and techs that could be the missing fragment of your puzzle.
The point of warning here is for you not to get lost in trying to make fit a tool that ends up not working for your idea. It is quite heartbreaking not to be able to use the latest tech in a certain field when you have the opportunity to, however, it might cost you a great deal of time and wasting time is not such a great idea during a hackathon.
To put it literally and to bring it back to French Cuisine, if mussels and strawberries are great on their own, you would not want to combine them, right? Well, it is the same with some ideas and tools. Some just do not go together. And you will need to get over it.
Do not waste your time trying to prove the world wrong.
6- The last moments.
Make time for your pitch. As most of you know it already, Jonathan Talbott, our very own TEDx Talk Coach will be here with us this weekend, just for you to get the best of hints on how to build the best possible pitch for your project. Remember, you can have the best idea ever if you and your team are not able to phrase it in a way that can please the jury, your chances to make it to the winning will be greatly diminished! So in the hours before the end, make time for the pitch, as it will be a great way for us to judge your work!
Make your story fit your technological creation and not the other way around! Not an obvious one, yet a determinant asset. By the end of the hackathon, your creation might differ greatly from the story you had as you stepped in the Suikerfabriek, some hours before. When working on your pitch, you will want to make some shifts in the story to make it fit the creation, because changing the creation to make it fit the story will prove itself to be a lot too time-consuming and close to impossible.
Your team and your time
1- Communicate, communicate, communicate.
If you handle this one well, your weekend will be a piece of cake. If you do not, well, we might end up witnessing a kitchen nightmares episode without the assistance of the great Gordon Ramsay. No joke. It might be the one and only element with which you want to “lose a bit of time” as miscommunication can end up being a lot more time-consuming than those ten more minutes spent making sure that all team members are on the same line.
2- Do not waste time.
This one will not be repeated enough. Time will be your precious this weekend. You will have many opportunities to lose it and close to none to win it back. Make great use of it, plan your weekend if you can and like, remain flexible and most importantly do not get mad or stressed if you happen to lose some, as doing so rarely ends up in getting back that lost resource.
3- Handle the stress.
Some of us like it. Some others hate it. Others are indifferent to its appearance. One point is certain: we will all face it this weekend. And handling it well (or not) will ascertain a lot more than we would like to.
4- When lost, come back to your core reason: The Passion.
It is point zero of our 7-steps to the creation of a commons. The most important feature of your idea. Passion for the cause, the idea, the reason will be the lighthouse in the dark stormy sea that will prove to be this hackathon from time to time. If not done yet, please take some time to reflect on the passion in you, the one you have for this project, for its people. Because you will get lost. And when lost, passion might be the one and only help for you to find your way home like a lighthouse seen from afar in a tormented sea, the one element allowing you to come out of the cave, like Luke Skywalker in Empire Strikes Back.
Passion will be your lighthouse in a tormented sea
5- In a digital weekend, hold onto your humanity.
The stress, the momentum, the euphoria, the outcomes, the prize money are all in themselves good enough reasons for you to lose it all and to shoot at someone, yell at someone, get rid of your empathy, your kindness or your love. In one word, your humanity. All the reasons named above should not make you forget one simple crucial element: the Odyssey Hackathon is a Human Experience before being anything else. Made by humans, for humans, and of humans. Being heartless, selfish and greedy will lead you nowhere. Empathy, kindness, and love, on another hand, might have the power to make you and your team come up with the next commons.
The Odyssey Hackathon is a Human Experience before being anything else
6- Have FUN!
All those words, and not once this one was mentioned. What a shame! More seriously, please, have fun :). Close to 100 teams will enter this hackathon, all heading for the big title of winner. Some will win it, some will not. It should not impeach you from having a ton load of fun with the ones around you, with your team and with yourself!
Last bits — Bonus hints
Balance it all.
Everything you just read, discard it all. No, just kidding. However, please take it with a grain of salt. As going pedal-on-the-metal in one direction is usually not the way to go if one wants to succeed in an odyssey. Those insights which you just read, balance them.
“Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.” — Bruce Lee
Remember it’s all for fun.
I said it already, but it matters a lot so here it comes again: Have fun! Do not go full drama, and remember that ultimately, we are all in for the fun of it!
You’re part of Nature 2.0, so the crazier it gets, the better!
Some weeks ago, you signed up for the Nature 2.0 track. Probably one of your most important decision so far this year, at least. We will do everything in our power to make this journey one you will never forget, and we can guarantee you one detail: it is going to be crazy. But be worried, you should not, as crazy is the one bit we go for, and when it comes to the Odyssey Hackathon, the crazier it will get, the better!
CELEBRATE!
Not only when you will have your trophy in your hands on Sunday afternoon, no no no… You need to celebrate every single important milestone. Some are extremely good in re-creating unhealthy boring 9-to-5 work atmosphere even during a hackathon, and they are usually not the ones creating great ideas. The ones, on another hand, who are able to celebrate their achievements, make fun of each and every moment and to enjoy the road. Those ones, well, those are the ones who create magic. So let it go, grab your cape, and Wizard Up!
This is it. You made it to the end of this post, so KUDOS to you already! Give yourself a tap on the back!
That being said, I wish you a great time in Groningen this weekend and a great adventure at the Odyssey Hackathon!
Lots of hugs,
Mad Max
