Ask HN: What makes a good hackathon?

There is a lot of good advice here, but let me add my 2 cents

1. good wifi - a lot of hackathons are not prepared for the number of devices connected when 100 people arrive...

2. set a clear schedule. My favorite is Fri night - intro session, people present ideas, team building Sat morning - starting to work 10am workshops at 11am end of coding Sun at 12pm presentations Sun 1-3pm Judgement - 4pm

3. team building is a critical part in the event. I normally have a few people from the organizing team helping people find who to work with. We have tried using colored stickers for different expertise - developers, designers, ideas, FEDs, etc. Most hackathons do not have sufficient designers.

4. Food - keep in mind that Pizza is great for males. But women may like lighter food. Given you have an over-night event, you need to take care of that. Same goes for beer - have a wine option

5. As many organizers as possible in the event. People have questions and need help all the time. The more people you have to help the better.

@idbthor I run a wearable/iOT hackathon called WearHacks.com and I tried reason from first principles.

What is essential for a hackathon? 0- Branding: Sponsorship Decks and "About us" documentation. 1- A Venue 2- A Food provider 3- Sponsors 4- Judges 5- Mentors

Make Three teams:

Operations: In Charge of the schedule/logistics and 1,2

Sponsorship: In charge of 3,4,5

Community/Marketing: In charge of getting the hackers and can help get community mentors.

Hope I helped! If you have any other questions email me at shehaaz @ WearHacks.com