A suggested flow for a short hackathon is included below. Organisations can shrink / expand the activities as required based on the time they have catered for the hackathon. The specific activities will be described subsequently.
During the pre-briefing, participants are given the opportunity to learn more about the hackathon and its objectives, including the problem statement(s) they will be addressing. This is also an opportunity for organizers to provide an overview of the rules, resources, and any other relevant details that participants need to know to successfully take part in the hackathon.
Participants’ registration information can be confirmed and other admin details can be processed at this event.
By attending the pre-briefing, participants can gain a better understanding of the hackathon and the challenges they will be tackling. This can help them to prepare for the competition and ensure that they have the necessary resources and skills to develop innovative solutions to the problem statement.
For participants who did not join with a ready team, you should plan some networking and icebreaker events for individuals to meet and form teams. Alternatively, you can assign individuals into teams based on their backgrounds (e.g. to ensure every team has a developer or a designer in it).
Overall, pre-briefing is an essential part of any hackathon, as it helps to set the stage for a successful competition. By providing participants with the information they need to succeed, organizers can help to ensure that the hackathon is productive, engaging, and rewarding for everyone involved.
Once the participants have registered, the actual hackathon will typically take place over a set period of time, ranging from a few hours to a few days. In the preliminary ideation stage, participants can engage stakeholders, form teams, brainstorm ideas, and receive feedback or inputs from experts on their draft ideas. During this time, participants will work on developing their solutions to the problem statement(s).
A useful model to follow for the ideation stages is Design Thinking / Design Sprint. Organise short events that mirror each stage of the Design Thinking process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9j049IRSnM
A suggested flow for a short hackathon is included below:
| Activity | Remarks |
|---|---|
| ICEBREAKERS | Getting to know the other team members, their interests, skills, etc. |
| UNDERSTAND | Teams should research their problem statement / social issue online. Find academic perspectives, social worker perspectives, “victim/user” perspectives, data, and other material to shape your views. If possible, the organiser can bring in expert speakers to address the audience on the issue. Teams should explore what others have tried doing to solve this. |
| Optional activities: Crafting a “https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/phase1-understand/hmw-sharing-and-affinity-mapping” statement. | |
| DEFINE | Teams should define the specific goals that they hope to achieve with their project. |
| Optional activities: Craft a “https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/phase2-define/future-press-release” | |
| SKETCH | Teams should rapidly come up with as many different ideas as they can for the solution, using “https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/phase3-sketch/crazy-8s” |
| DECIDE | Teams should decide which direction / ideas / features are desirable through https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/phase4-decide/silent-review-and-vote. |
| PROTOTYPE | Using the ideas from the SKETCH / DECIDE phase, assemble a simple mockup (no code) that can be shown during the Pitch Finale event. |
| Optional tools: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jLBNKsFR6JgPUUvKc7q4R_41k3kiVOMaKoSUvGqWA08/edit or https://figma.com for the interface design. | |
| VALIDATE (Optional) | Teams can find real users (from the office, or members of the public) and ask them to use the prototype and give feedback |
| Optional tool: Google survey form | |
| PITCH DECK PREP | Prepare the Pitch Deck to the requirements for the Final event. |