Hackathons/Hackathon tips for organizers

This page is a work in progress and is not complete! Please feel free to edit it with your own thoughts and add more sections below that you want to address or that should be addressed by someone else.

Also see:

Hackathons/Pre-hackathon Checklist for Organizers

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.

Typical Example Questions: Tips/Ideas:
 * 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
 * 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

Event Team/Volunteers
Each event will probably have a team of volunteers helping participants find what they need.
 * Have a meeting in advance with all event volunteers
 * Daily meet-up (what went wrong what could be better)
 * Facebook or whats-up group for volunteers to communicate issues easily
 * Find a special way to thank volunteers

Name Badges
Event name badges are very helpful. They are used by event staff to recognize participants, and for participants to recognize and get information about each-other easily. The main purpose is to reduce the stress of having to remember dozens of new names, therefore the names on the badges should be huge—at least 1.5 centimeters high.


 * Information to Include on the Badge
 * Name
 * User Name/Nick Name
 * Interest area(s)
 * Event logo
 * Languages spoken (optional)
 * Affiliation (optional)
 * Empty area, for participants to write in (optional)


 * Tips and details
 * The badge should be two sided - the two sides can be different or identical, but each side should have the participants name at the very least.
 * Emphasize the person's given name, which is what you actually use to talk to them.
 * Include an area for interests (for example, "Mediawiki Core", "Bots", or "Wikisource").
 * Any information that isn't big enough to read from several meters away, won't actually be useful.
 * Consider including a schedule, or local maps, inside the event badge.
 * The badges are generally worn around a participants neck, on a lanyard.
 * Consider using 2 or 3 colors of lanyard. One standard (white or black), one for event staff/helpers (maybe yellow/green/blue), one for "no photos please" participants (red/orange).


 * Alternative to badges
 * If you have a very small event or don't have enough time to print name badges, you should at least provide "hi my name is" stickers and pens, so that people can write their own names and still be identified.


 * Other ideas
 * There is ongoing work to produce a printable & customizable babel sticker. See: T128722.
 * Consider making the badge four sided, two visible sides with the participants name and interests, two hidden inside pages with useful reference information like the Wi-Fi password, contact information for the organizers, and highlights from the schedule
 * For other advice, see "6 inspiring conference badges" and Mike Davidson's "Building a better conference badge".

Help for attendees the day after the event
Make sure that there are staff, volunteers, or local experts scheduled to be available the day after the event ends. People will need help getting to the airport, checking out of accommodations, and dealing with any travel issues that come up. People may also have local-tourism questions.

Food
Hackathons are international events, and the attendees often have a wide verity of tastes and dietary restrictions.

A common complaint is that vegetarian meals are often overlooked, and consist of just a salad and a side dish. It is nice to make sure that vegetarians have multiple options, including actual entrée options.

If there is only have one meat option and one vegetarian option, there will probably still be people who dislike (or are not able to eat) what is available.


 * Tips
 * Buffets are generally the best options, as people can pick and choose what they like and don't like.
 * Vegetarian main dish examples: Pastas, rice dishes, grilled mushrooms, lentils, and other warm/substantial dishes.
 * Other eating preferences/restrictions to consider: Gluten free, lactose intolerance, vegan, kosher.
 * It is good practice to ask what people's eating restrictions are during registration, so that it is not a surprise at the event.
 * Use signs on the tables to label food with all their ingredients, so that people know what they are eating and don't have to ask.
 * Keep the main meal's food available for long periods of time, so that people don't have to rush (breaking their workflow) and create a large crowd, to get it.
 * Don't serve the same thing multiple times in a row; try to have a variety of food.
 * If the event is in a location known for its food, you should serve the speciality at least once!


 * Snacks
 * There should be various snacks available 24 hours a day: something sweet, something salty, and something healthy (fruit or granola bar).
 * There should be coffee available at all times. The better the quality of coffee is, the happier many of the participants will be.
 * There should be multiple types of soda and juice available at all times.
 * Overestimate the amount of snacks people need, have them available in multiple locations, provide variety.
 * Make sure there is plenty of water. Having the option of choosing a glass or bottle is nice; Bottles allow people to not worry about spilling on their laptops, and glasses allow people to not waste plastic. A large water dispenser can be used to fill both bottles and glasses, so is ideal.

Emergency Information for Participants
Make sure people know how to get help when something goes wrong! Pre-planning in this area is very important, and will save a lot of time, stress, and effort, in the event of an emergency.


 * Recommended Pre-plans
 * Publish a list of local emergency phone numbers on the event wikipage, and also distribute it to all event organizers.
 * Provide info about the nearest hospital - contact info, directions, and information on how they would deal with international patients.
 * Choose an emergency contact number, that will be given to all event attendees.
 * The number should be a local number that will be monitored 24 hours by a local organizer, or rotating shift of local organizers.
 * Event attendees can call this number if they become ill, have legal trouble, there is a sexual assault, they are lost in the city, etc.
 * Pre-plan how the organizers and attendees should respond in various situations:
 * Does your area have high probability for natural disasters? You should publish what to do in case of the event (examples: earthquake, flood, tsunami, hurricane).
 * Fire at the event.
 * Terrorist related event nearby.
 * Violence, a fight, or harassment taking place at the event.
 * Have all participants agree during registration to the Friendly Space Policy.

A/V setup
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.

Having a stage and microphone with projector in the main hacking space is helpful for even 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.

Wifi
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 on T124809.

Pre-Event Social Events
It is nice to plan a social event the evening before the main hackathon starts. People will be arriving into town and will likely want to meet other participants. This is a good opportunity to have some type of event where people can mingle, have fun together, and meet each other.

Past examples:
 * Quiz night
 * Informal designated bar meeting spot
 * lobby of the hostel or hotel if it is a nice place to spend time

Hackathon Social Events
Part of the value of hackathons are the informal discussions/introductions, the fun that is had, and the friendships that are built. Holding social events each evening allow people to more easily find something to do and spend time with other hackathon participants. Use your imagination and local knowledge to come up with new fun ideas.

Past examples of successful social events: Tips:
 * Renting arcade and video game equipment for night time at the event venue
 * Boat tour of Amsterdam canals
 * Dance parties (make sure to also provide space for people who don't want to dance to socialize)
 * Renting out a restaurant/bar
 * Karaoke (make sure to also provide space for people who don't want to dance to socialize)
 * Nice dinner parties "Gala Dinners"
 * Keep the main hackathon space open in the evening (24 hours if possible) so that people who don't want to socialize or who want to continue to to hack have a quite place to go to get work done. If the hacking space can not be open 24 hours make sure that the hostel / hotel have good enough wifi that people can continue to work there.
 * If Hackathon social events are not organized many participants will leave the venue and go out into the city on their own or in small groups and end up not spending time building community and getting to know each other.
 * Make sure to include options, drinks and fun for people who do not drink alcohol.
 * Make sure that any offsite venue you choose will be able to cater to all your attendees. For example some bar-venues in the USA only allow people over the age of 21 to enter, but we almost always have hackathon participants under the age of 21.
 * The closer to the venue the social event, the higher percentage of participation. Ideally some of the social events should even be onsite.
 * Including an optional evening city or museum tour is often highly appreciated by attendees, they otherwise often sneak away on their own to do this if it is not formalized.
 * If alcohol is not provided (or available for sale) at social events, many participants will often leave to find it on their own. It is OK to include this in your social events but should not be the centralized theme.
 * Often if you get in touch with the city in the place you will be holding the event they will have good suggestions and sometimes even provide free or comped options for you because they want to support the tourism, non-profit & wikimedia movement that you are brining to their city. Example: WMCH was already providing event attendees with free Zurich public transportation passes. They choose to do a lake tour social event on a public transportation ferry. This was free of any extra cost.

Opening & Closing Sessions
The opening and closing sessions are for all hackathon participants. This is an example of a program

Opening Closing
 * Welcome / introduce the event by local host
 * Welcome / introduce the event by WMF co-organizer
 * If historically interesting introduce the venue
 * How to navigate the event (phab, wikis, sessions sign up, etc)
 * Logistics (social events, timing, transportation, help desk, etc)
 * Save at least 20 minutes for participants to introduce their projects
 * Thank you to hosts
 * Thank you to volunteers!!!!
 * Showcase of projects
 * See you next year! Announce next location if it has been decided!

Don't print schedule of sessions in advance
Hackathons sessions are not all scheduled in advance. Many sessions are schedule on the first day of the conference or even an hour before the session will take place. If you print out a hard copy of the session schedule it will be out of date very quickly, but participants will still check it to see what is going on and miss out on session opportunities.

Tips:
 * Projecting the schedule onto a TV screen or well directly from the wikipage (and reloading it regularly) is appreciated. Whenever we don't have this, multiple people request it.
 * You can print out a hard copy of the schedule that does not include specific sessions but instead has meal times, opening/closing session times, social events, and breakout room information.
 * If you can not project the schedule somewhere (reminder to only do this if the page automatically refreshes every five minuites) you can create a large paper schedule at the help desk and have your help-desk-staff check every half hour and write in sessions as they are scheduled.
 * Announce in the opening of the event that they best place for up to date schedule information is on the event wiki

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

Examples of things that can be posted Tips
 * 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.

Hacking Table Labels
Hackers working in small groups need to have a way to non-verbally communicate to others what they are working on and talking about.

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 table whiteboards and passed them on to WMAT for the 2017 event. Maybe this tradition can continue!

Sessions not edited until event
As an event organizer, don't worry if you have lots of meeting rooms and breakout spaces that look like they will be empty during the event. About half of sessions are not scheduled in advance of the hackathon and the more space you have the more ways people will find to use it. It is better to have more space and a few rooms that go empty sometimes than no space for people to do spur of the moment meetings.

If you end up having breakout room space left over you can still put it to good use
 * Quite room, a room away from noise where talking is not allowed. If you can dedicate a room to this for the entire event.
 * Loud groups can move to their own space
 * Your own planning breakout sessions
 * If the weather is nice and wifi works, some people like to move their sessions, disccusions and hacking outside

Public Transportation Tickets
Ideally hackathons allow people to travel to and from the airport and around the host city for free. WMDE and WMCH were able to work with their local governments / transportation agencies and find ways to provide attendees with hackathon name badges that also included public transportation passes. WMCH even was able to email these passes out in advance of the event. Whenever possible, we like to spare costs to event attendees.

Kindergarten/Support of Family travel
WMFR had a very successful Kindergarten/Day Care space for people attending the event with their families. They hired a local agency to be around to take care of the children so their parents could focus on the Hackathon. This was very appreciated and if you choose to do it at your event it is nice to announce it before or during registration so that families can plan ahead.

It is also nice to provide housing options for couples and families traveling together. Examples: Rooms with one large bed, shared rooms with multiple beds

Be very specific about how you expect the significant others of you event to eat. Can they join the event at meal times and eat for free? Will they need to pay a small "family" registration fee to cover the cost of their meals? Do they need to find their own meals?

Lessons from WMFR Organizer:
 * Already provided at previous Wikimanias
 * Other colleagues unsure about this (is it necessary?)
 * Hire a daycare person through a company
 * English skills important for the person hired
 * Ask age and nationalities of children (might influence choice of hired person)
 * Open from 10 am to 6 pm
 * 1200 € in total

Local Fundraising and Recruting
Considering adding someone to your organizing team who is locally well connected to the open source community and can help recruit volunteers, qualified attendees and can help with fundraising. This person may also be able to help you with local IT solutions.

Fundraising Ideas from WMFR Organizer: Local Recruting ideas from WMFR Organizer:
 * Use Twitter by directly contacting the companies you think would be willing to pledge - works a lot better than writing them emails
 * Contact partnership or Marketing or Public Relation department
 * Especially international companies
 * Mention that many enablers are coming to the event, might interest companies
 * Ask foundations, mention Wikipedia
 * It might also be to thank Wikipedia. It’s free and cool.
 * Convey some urgency (only this year in this country, moves somewhere else next year)
 * Asked Google for 10.000 € (got it)
 * Targeted schools in Lyon
 * Approach hackers via “hackers top100 list”)
 * Contact journalists and newspapers
 * Match newcomers with number of employees of WMF that attend the event
 * Feedback should have 80% satisfaction with newcomers (i.e. would you come to this event again if it took place here next year?)
 * 30 visitors per day (who were not registered for the Hackathon) that get shown around, enables contacts in the digital community of Lyon

Budget
For the Lyon Hackathon, ¾ of the budget went to food and venue

Links to past hackathon budgets:

Lyon, Zurich, Amsterdam

PR Document Example
WMFR: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17_cDA9WV5qkpZffkb_h0ZHyxYUqGTZkXMXEj8XIhOwY/edit

Scholarships
Lessons from WMFR Organizer:
 * Ask every chapter to send ppl to the hackathon with scholarships
 * Committee with the stake holders (i.e. the chapters that contributed money or material to the hackathon)
 * Registration form
 * French form with link to CiviCRM was errorprone
 * Registration wizards with several steps (split them up thematically)
 * 45 ppl applied for scholarship, 40 were admitted
 * Flights for scholarship recipients organised by WMFR
 * Should be organised by a travel agency

When Partnering with the WMF Engineering Community Team
This is specific information for groups who want to host and plan either the Wikimedia Hackathon or the Wikimania Hackathon in partnership with WMF Lessons from WMFR Organizer:
 * We generally use Phabricator as a task tracking tool, if you are unfamiliar with this tool we can provide training.
 * Planning in English. English is generally the official language of these events as they are international engineering events. We also generally hold our pre-event planning meetings and all spreadsheets, registration information and notes in English. There should be no problem to include track for local engineers in the local language if different than english.
 * The WMF Developer Relations Team is here to back you up whenever you run into a problem or need help, please don't hesitate to ask. It is likely that we have faced that issue before and have ideas for a solution.
 * The Developer Relations Team will work with you to manage hotel and hostel reservations for WMF staff attending the event. It is part of our travel policy that WMF staff are not required to share rooms although many of them are willing to do so. Because of this we need access to single rooms. Usually the easiest way to manage rooms for WMF staff is to reserve a block of rooms (both singles, and shared) and your contact at WMF can fill in the names of traveling WMF developers. Often we need to add a few last minute travelers (new hires, etc.), so if possible holding a some empty rooms for that would be helpful as well.
 * Generally the WMF Developer Relations Team drives the schedule, content and agenda of the event while the hosting group drives the logistics. The local team is welcome to organize a track for issues of interest local developers in the local language.
 * Registration: The local organizing team and WMF should agree on the content of the registration form. In the past we have used google forms or eventbrite successfully for registration. We have past registration forms available to copy/reuse but there will likely be a few changes each year. We open registration for this event on the wikitech-l mailing list, but can forward it anywhere else as needed. There should be a predetermined opening date for registration, a deadline for scholarships (published) and a closing date for registration. The local team and the WMF team may want to hold a few extra spots to add any last minute participants that they want to add to the the event.
 * Scholarships: WMF, the local organizing team, other Wikimedia Chapters and anyone you can convince will pool funds for scholarships. Everyone who contributed funds will have the opportunity to vote for or against scholarship recipients. The local team does flight, accommodating and visa support for scholarship recipients. It is possible for the organizing team to allow scholarship recipients to book their own travel and reimburse them after the event. There should be a plan in place for transferring money internationally for these reimbursements and the should should be completed as soon as possible after the event.
 * Biweekly hangout meetings starting 3-4 months with WMF before the conference (always in the evening at 6 pm CET)
 * Weekly hangouts during rampup to the conference (about 1 month prior)
 * Mainly contact with Rachel
 * Use phabricator as project planning tool

Reject
Thank you for applying to attend the ____ Wikimedia Hackathon in _____. We had a large more applicants this year than ever before and had to turn some qualified applicants away. We are sorry to inform you, but your scholarship application for this year's Wikimedia Hackathon has been denied.

Factors used to decide:

- Active Wikimedia Volunteer Developer

- Had not been sponsored in the past

- Well thought out plan to contribute

There are several options for you now:

* Participate without a scholarship

* Apply to participate in the upcoming Wikimania Hackathon in Esino Lario  https://wikimania2016.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

* Find a sponsor (your employer, your local Wikimedia chapter, or someone else) to cover your costs.

If we don't hear from you we consider your registration as cancelled and may re-assign your accommodation to other participates. If you end up self funding or finding another scholarship please let us know.

There will be more Wikimedia Developer events in the future. We hope to see you another time!

- Wikmedia Hackathon Organizers

Waitlist
Thank you for applying to attend the ____ Wikimedia Hackathon in _____. We had a large more applicants this year than ever before. You were not accepted in the first round of scholarships however you are on the waiting list for the second round in case we are able to find more budget. We should be able to let you know one way or the other by the end of this month.

Factors used to decide:

- Active Wikimedia Volunteer Developer

- Had not been sponsored in the past

- Well thought out plan to contribute

There are several options for you now:

* Participate without a scholarship

* Apply to participate in the upcoming Wikimania Hackathon in Esino Lario  https://wikimania2016.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

* Find a sponsor (your employer, your local Wikimedia chapter, or someone else) to cover your costs.

* Wait to see if you are accepted in round two.

There will be more Wikimedia Developer events in the future. We hope to see you another time!

- Wikmedia Hackathon Organizers

Ideas (not tested)
Nap room? If the hacking venue is not at the hostel / hotel you might consider a place for people with jet lag to nap as needed.

Pets? Can locals bring their dogs into outdoor areas?

Still Missing
(please add anything else you want to know about but is missing to this list)
 * Budget info, where it comes from and how it works
 * Ideas for raising money locally

Other Hackathon Tips

 * Talk:Hackathons
 * User:Jean-Frédéric/Hackathon handbook
 * Organizer lessons from Mexico City: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T105435
 * What Do Women Want At Hackathons? NASA Has A List