Couldn't agree more with everything said in this article. Well done.<p>I want to reiterate on the fact that multi-tier demoing just does not work. While the prizes and judging are important pieces of every hackathon, they really are not the main focus. These events are about enabling hackers to show off their skills and experiment in a fun, safe enviornment. When you start grouping hacks into "the best" and "the rest", you end up with the focus being on the product rather than the people. And that fundamentally sucks.
I rallied together and went with about 25 Michigan Hackers to PennApps this past year....what an amazing experience.<p>Many of the students had never built anything outside of class and almost all of them left the event feeling inspired beyond belief; one of the first-time teams won an award and has since turned their hack into a full-fledged startup here at the TechArb in Ann Arbor!<p>Great post - will definitely take this into account when planning the hackathons here at Michigan!
Just did the TwilioCon hackathon on Wednesday - the organizers set it up with two demo stands (left and right sides of the stage) and a dedicated A/V guy - while one team was demoing, they were getting the other side set up. As soon as one was done, the next team was introduced and the video was switched. AFAICT it worked perfectly.<p>That hackathon got through 47 demos in about an hour - 60 seconds for a 6 hour hack was actually probably the right amount of time.
Great post by Alexey, but I must admit I'm disappointed he didn't incorporate any of the insights we use at AngelHack to sustain hackathons of 400+ attendees( walkie talkies, rated video submissions for cutting down demos, hackathon.io for team building and seamless communications, helicopters and nerf guns for fun, massage tables and endless candy as added amenities).<p>There's also a lot to be said for the handholding that goes into working with sponsors. Those sponsor dollars don't come as easy as you would think. Perhaps there'll be a follow-up post :)