User:Sonkiki/Hackathons/handbook/Venue

Choose the right venue
If possible your venue and hotel/hostel should be in the same building. This creates a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere while at the same time allowing people to be more productive. Ideally your venue will be open 24 hours, especially with jet lag or if they are a roll, some people like to work through the night.

Learning Pattern for how to find your ideal venue: m:Grants:Learning patterns/Step by step guide for finding the right venue for a conference

Wifi

 * Without wifi there is not hackathon.
 * Wifi is the most important aspect of a Hackathon. If the quality of the wifi connection is poor during your event, it will not be a success. Unless there is an IT/connectivity expert on your organizing team it is recommend to hire or get help from an expert outside of your team.
 * This should be a top priority when picking an venue.
 * Enquire about having the wifi connection non-restricted if at all possible or have the list of right ports opened advance of the event, we can not hack unless we have IRC, Gerrit, and other ports open. A list of the ports needed can be found in Wikimania Handbook.
 * For the Wikimedia Hackathon 2017 in Vienna, the organizer team from WMAT contracted a company to set up a second wifi network in addition to the network already provided at the conference hotel. This made up a significant part in the budget, but the organizers considered it a solid investment.

Main hacking space

 * Each participant will need at least one electrical outlet, often having more than one available per participant (for mobile devices) is appreciated but not mandatory.
 * Participants appreciate having the outlets on top of the table (not underneath) so they don't need to crawl under the table multiple times throughout the event to plug in their devices.
 * Having a stage and microphone with projector in the main hacking space is helpful for event organizers to open/close the event and make announcements.

Breakout Rooms
More electrical outlets, you can never have too many!

Projectors (with the ability to connect with multiple types of laptops)

Microphones

Professional Video Recording, it is nice to have at least one of the breakout rooms staffed with somebody who can record sessions for later publication.

Location of Closing Ceremony and Hackathon Showcase

 * this will be the main hacking space at some events and will be a separate space at others
 * Microphone
 * Projector
 * The ability for people to quickly and easily connect their laptop to the projector. We often have a series of 1-5 minute demos and the easier and faster it is to transition between speakers the better.
 * Microphones: Preferably hand-held or lavalier - not fixed in a mic-stand - because presenters often turn towards the screen/whiteboard.

Help Desk
how rooms should be set up: Hackathons/Hackathon tips for organizers

Wikimania Hackathon Checklist
The Wikimania Hackathon is an annual two day event which takes place during the Wikimania Pre-Conference.

Technical Setup: Internet, cables, etc.


 * 2.3Help Desk:

Help desk
Have a help desk near the entrance to your event that is staffed during the entire event. Have a flexible volunteer schedule so that one person can stay at the help desk. Event attendees will have lots of questions, and it will be nice for them to have a known place to go. It can serve as the "Lost & Found" site. Having a staffed help desk at your event is very important. Many Hackathon participants will need help and have questions during the event.

Things a help desk should be prepared to help with:
 * Directions to a grocery store
 * Maps of the city
 * Directions to a pharmacy
 * Directions to an Electronics store
 * A printer
 * All public transportation options
 * A number for Taxis
 * Medicine onsite: pain killers, stomach settlers, decongestants, first aid supplies
 * Emergency Information
 * Closest Hospital
 * Closest Embassys
 * On call Doctors

Typical Example Questions:
 * Can you help my print/scan something/photo copy?
 * Where is the closest pharmacy/public transportation stop/electronics store/market/bank/cigarettes?
 * Questions about the event schedule and rooms, where are they?
 * How to get to the airport?
 * Where is the bathroom?
 * Shuttles / transportation if relevant
 * Breakout room locations / sessions
 * Everyone wants extra badges, stickers, buttons, and schedules.
 * People will ask where other event attendees are

Tips/Ideas:
 * It is nice to have local maps and public transportation options available
 * It is nice to have multiple language support at the desk
 * Put a trash can at the help desk
 * All the tech problems will be reported to the help desk
 * There are questions all day long
 * Bring extra computers, some event attendees don't bring their own computers and would like to use one
 * Extra adaptors and phone chargers
 * Have roaming volunteers asking people who look lost if they need help

Wall postings
Help people get oriented and figure out how to navigate the event


 * Examples of things that can be posted
 * Maps of the venue
 * Social media information (commons category, IRC channel: #WMHack, twitter, etc)
 * Logistics Schedule (Reminder: Don't print the session schedule in advance, it will change all the time)
 * Wifi information
 * It is also nice to have a whiteboard or paper flipchart at the questions desk/reception area that you can use to make announcements about changes/social events.
 * Friendly Space Policy / Code of Conduct reporting team

Hacking Table Labels
Hackers working in small groups need to have a way to non-verbally communicate to others which topic they'd like to discuss or what they are working on when the hacking begins (so they are not interrupted by questions in moments which require focusing).

Here are some examples from past hacking events

Ideally each table will have a number or name so that it is even easier to communicate where people are working and on what. As an example, someone can say on IRC that they are working on "mobile development at table 6" and table 6 will also have a sign that says "mobile development"

Tips:
 * If you choose to go with paper signs instead of whiteboards, print out multiple signs for each table. Sometimes the topic at the table changes.
 * If you choose to use whiteboards, provide more than one color so that participants can have fun with their sign and get creative and artistic.
 * In 2016, WMIL created some small tabletop whiteboards and passed them on to WMAT for the 2017 event. Maybe this tradition can continue!

Misc
Further "great to have" items, based on previous feedback:
 * Avoiding disruptions nearby - e.g. loud music playing during working times.
 * Making it easy to get food at any time (not being forced to get lunch within a single hour).
 * Monitor wipes, or other screen-cleaning products.
 * Bathroom baskets with various supplies (alternate list) (as found at writethedocs conf)