Hackathons are a lucrative way to drive innovation. These recurring events are great for enterprises to scour for talent and provide them with the platform and capital to bring their idea to fruition. The significance of internal hackathons at the organizational level is unbeatable which is why companies conduct hackathon to support their technological advancements.
Hackathon’s collaborative platform enables corporate employees to think creatively, generate path-breaking ideas, and leverage their capabilities in developing successful products or services for their company.
The United States itself hosts over 350 hackathons each year, out of which 50% of them are conducted by private companies, and the remainder is organized by universities, non-profits, and government organizations.
If you are scouring the internet and looking for ways to organize a successful hackathon to drive sustained innovation within your organization, this blog is for you.
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- Deciding the Hackathon Theme
The uniqueness of every hackathon lies in its theme. There are entrepreneurial hackathons, cloud computing hackathons, gaming hackathons, and so many more.
The organization of any event can’t proceed without a niche or a theme. The same applies to hackathons as well. Deciding on the theme also streamlines the next step, which involves acquiring the participants, contacting stakeholder involvement, etc. For instance, if you are an IT company migrating to the cloud, then your cloud computing hackathon idea must revolve around the challenges you are facing in your cloud adoption journey.
- Deciding the Competition Style
The primary objective of a hackathon is to provide innovative individuals with a platform to exercise their creativity and present their ideas in front of industry thought leaders, corporate heads, and organization owners.
The decision about the competition style and compensation or prize for the hackathons is the next thing organizers need to prioritize. Some hackathons with good footfall offer cash prizes, while some go the route of gadgets, start-up coaching, corporate training, etc.
- Deciding on the Duration of the Event
Most of the leading hackathons that happen across the globe are a 48-hours event. These can be non-stop, no-break events or ones that happen over multiple days.
Ideally, having a clear idea about the duration of the event sorts out booking arrangements and organizing the entire event from the first day to the last. In most cases, the duration of the event involves a lot of back and forth with the committee members and the organizers involved in the hackathon.
- Participant Recruitment
Once the basic processing of the hackathon is over, the next step is to reel in the participants. If you are conducting an internal hackathon, then your participants will comprise your employees, but if you are conducting recruitment hackathons to hire talent, then you need to spread the word to potential participants. This can be done via multiple methods, including:
- Creating an information hub with details about the hackathon
- Contacting local universities
- Start-up hubs
- Reaching out to tech companies
- Contacting government agencies to better spread the word
The success of a corporate hackathon depends on the number of participants you have. The more attendees, the better gets the competition and the resulting solution.
- Feedback and Constant Check-ins
A hackathon’s backbone is on the organizers. If it is you and your team, chances are that a lot is riding on your shoulders.
Once the event kicks off, it is necessary that you check in with every segment in the hackathon. Be it with the attendance of the participants, the involved games, or even the prizes, every aspect of the event should be in check until the very last minute. Constant monitoring is hence a crucial part of executing a successful hackathon.
Conclusion
This Hackathon guide involves every crucial detail you need to know to organize a successful event. From the initial steppingstone to the final nail in the process, there’s a lot that factors into the success of a hackathon. We hope this gives you all the insights you need to kickstart that journey.
If you need expert assistance in conducting corporate hackathons for your company, then you can reach out to CloudThat who can help organize a customized event aligned to your business goals
