What's a Hack? What's a Hackathon? And how do I survive, and better yet, succeed at a Hackathon? This presentation is an introduction to hacking and hackathons (also known as hack days), and contains valuable tips for the novice and experienced hacker alike to make the most effective use of their time at a hackathon, and to prepare their hack and presentation to make the best impression on audiences and judges.

1. Hackathon Survival Guide
Ching-Wei Chen (@cweichen)
Director of Developer Program, Gracenote

2. What's a Hack?

3. A solution to a
problem

4. Made with available tools

5. That works!

6. What's a Hackathon?

7. Gracenote Hackathon '12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md0KlGwwtRU

8. A Day In The Life

9. A Typical Hackathon Schedule
Day 1
9:00am - Registration/Breakfast
10:00am - Welcome/API Presentations
11:00am - Start Hacking!
12:00pm - Lunch
6:00pm - Dinner
7:00pm - Keep Hacking!
Day 2
8:00am - Breakfast
12:00pm - Lunch
1:30pm - Stop Hacking!
2:00pm - Presentations
5:00pm - Judging and Awards
6:00pm - The End!

10. 11:00am - Start Hacking!
~24 hours to make something happen!
1:30pm - Stop Hacking!

11. The 5 Stages of Hacking

12. Stage 1:
The Big Idea

13. Stage 1: The Big Idea
• "This
is going to change the
world!"
• You
want to solve the big
problems, use every API, and do
something no one has ever done
before
• Sometimes
the best idea is one
that scratches your own itch

14. Stage 2:Action Plan

15. Stage 2: Action Plan
• Figure
help
o
out which APIs and data can
Mashape, Programmable Web, Google, Yahoo
• Design
the hack
• (If
working in a team) Divide and
conquer
o
o
Identify strengths of each team member,
and divide up the work
Define clear interfaces, inputs and
outputs, between each component

16. Stage 3: Digging In

17. Stage 3: Digging In
• Time
o
o
o
Google, Google, Google
API Docs, Tutorials, Stack Overflow
The more you dig, the deeper you go
• Baby
o
o
to get down to serious hacking
steps
"Hello world!" first
Make sure you have something to show every
step of the way - printfs, beeps, blinks,
anything! This way you can climb out of
holes without losing everything.
• Dig
far enough, and you'll
eventually reach...

18. Stage 4:
Stage 4:

19. Stage 4: "Recalculating!"
• Some
things don't work as you
originally thought, some
assumptions are completely wrong,
you'll think there's no way out
• But
there is usually something else
that does something pretty close
• Stay
open minded, and revisit the
original idea and design

20. Stage 5: Panic

21. Stage 5: Panic
• Time's
almost up, and it's not
totally working yet!
• Even
things that were working
usually stop working around an
hour before hacking ends
• What
do I do??!!

23. Start with your
pitch, and work
backwards

24. The 4 “Be’s”

25. Be Concise

26. Be Concise
• Create
a short, memorable name
and tagline that crystallizes
your entire hack
• Craft
o
o
o
o
a focused storyline:
What is the one problem you are trying
to solve?
Why does it matter and why do you care?
How does your hack solve the problem?
Don’t complicate the story with endless
lists of possible enhancements

27. Be Focused

28. Be Focused
•
Your only goal is to pitch
•
A completed hack that does just
one thing well is better than a
hack that does lots of things
poorly
•
Don't be afraid to make
assumptions or mock-up data

29. Be Prepared

30. Be Prepared
• Run through lots of examples to
find one or two that work well
•
Make a video or screencast as soon
as everything is working
•
What will you do if Wifi is down?
•
Do an A/V test

31. Be Interesting

32. Be Interesting
•
•
•
•
This isn’t a design review, it's a hack!
SHOW, don't tell. Dive right into your
live demo ASAP. Explanations can come
later.
Avoid slides if you can. If you must,
make them fun and engaging - use videos,
music, pictures and humor liberally.
Get the audience to participate.

33. If you follow this guide...

35. https://developer.gracenote.com
@gracenotedev
Ching-Wei Chen (@cweichen)
Director of Developer Program