Hackathon event checklist
A checklist for activities required in the run-up to a hackathon event
An at-a-glace guide to the key activities required when organising a hackathon, including links to relevant resources and templates.
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| 4 months before | Engage with JASMIN, check dates do not clash with other events and timescales are workable |
| Request research topic idea from researchers | |
| 3 months before | Finalise proposed research topics |
| Publish participant application form | |
| Send advertising email | |
| Promote on social media | |
| 2 months before | Deadline for participant applications |
| 1.5 months before | Finalise participants and provisionally allocate projects |
| Send accept emails and decline emails to applicants | |
| Request confirmation of attendance at hackathon and pre-hackathon meeting from participants | |
| Ensure project leads have created a JASMIN account | |
| Send calendar invites for pre-hackathon meetings and hackathon to project leads and participants | |
| 2 weeks before | Finalise example notebooks / repositories |
| Ensure that a Group Workspace has been created for the hackathon | |
| Hold pre-hackathon meetings with project leads (1 hour) and participants (1.5 hours), outlining how the hackathon will run and the hackathon agenda | |
| Create recurring Zoom meeting for hackathon, with pre-allocated breakout rooms for projects, ensuring participants are muted on entry, can connect without host present and can move freely between breakout rooms | |
| Create Slack workspace, with channels for each project | |
| Create GitHub repository for each project, using template repository | |
| Create shared documents for online collaboration | |
| Send project allocations, Slack invite and participant guide to project leads and participants | |
| Ensure participants with their own JASMIN accounts have requested access to the required services | |
| Provide list of participants to JASMIN (both those requiring a training account and those already with an account) | |
| Add GitHub usernames of participants to their project repositories | |
| 1 week before | Training accounts set-up by JASMIN |
| Provide drop-in sessions with participants, ensuring they can connect | |
| Check there are contingencies in case of connection issues, including alternate host on Zoom | |
| Hackathon date | Make sure the Zoom meeting can be joined without going via the waiting room |
| Ensure the code of conduct is signposted at the start | |
| Monitor #help channel on Slack and shared mailbox for queries or code of conduct issues | |
| Made sure the feedback form is sent round at the end | |
| 1 week after | Remind participants to move data off system |