How to participate in and facilitate a hackathon: insights from the CommonVC Coronavirus Hackathon

“The world will never return to the way that it was; together, we can bring about change and invent a bright new future.”

This was the premise that brought together hundreds of people from every continent and across every timezone together on April 18-19 for the Coronavirus Hackathon: a bold initiative by CommonVC to catalyse new businesses and solutions that are capable of addressing the changes endured in a post-COVID-19 world.

For an insightful look at the Coronavirus Hackathon as a global initiative, also be sure to read the retrospective authored by my teammate, Scott Sallée.

With nine challenge areas, such as Jobs & Employment, Supply Chain & Manufacturing and Arts & Entertainment, the Hackathon set a broad scope that attracted people across industries, across cultures and across generations to create truly unique combinations of teams – the sort that really become possible when you leverage just how connected (and mutually stuck at home) our world is.

With no prior experience of what a hackathon is like, I sent in my application with the goals of benefiting my fellow participants with my expertise as a public speaking trainer and professional coach, of forging new partnerships (also known in layman’s terms as “making friends”), and of forming an exciting solution over the course of the two days. Not necessarily the next unicorn, mind you, but an exciting solution, nonetheless.

So, from my experience of the Coronavirus Hackathon, what advice can I share with you when it comes to either taking part in or even hosting your first hackathon?

Looking to participate in a hackathon? Here are my biggest learnings.

So much to get done, yet so little time! What can you do to support your team and make the most out of your hackathon experience? Here’s why my first hackathon experience taught me.

1. Don’t be afraid to take a step back.

Halfway through the first day, my team and I felt stuck: we had done well in generating ideas early on, yet we were struggling to do much with what we had. While we kept trying to find a way to make what we had work, however, it wasn’t until we entertained the idea of “going back a few steps” that we were able to come up with new ideas that were more tangible and exciting. Using what we had learned from our initial ideation, we were able to take a step back, reconsider, redo, and proceed stronger than before.

Don’t be so busy chopping down trees that you neglect to sharpen the axe; or, don’t get so caught up in doing, doing, doing that you neglect refining your process. When you feel energy begin to dip, take that as a sign to check-in with your team and re-evaluate your approach. You’ll be thankful that you did.

2. Look over at other groups and see what they’re up to.

During the Coronavirus Hackathon, every team was allocated a idea board on Viima, a virtual collaboration platform. Whilst most teams stuck to their boards, however, we were free to explore all other active boards – including ones in different challenge areas. This proved not only to be a source of valuable inspiration at times, but progress benchmarking when we got stuck.

A hackathon is, by nature, a collaborative sport – so why not rise beyond the limits of your team? During the hackathon, integrating new viewpoints can lead to a breakthrough for your project; post-hackathon, you can get the most value out of your participation by delving into the output of the most successful teams, as one of my teammates did. Think outside the box; go beyond your immediate circle.

3. Identify a niche and stick to it.

With the problem frame established and the criteria for solutions laid out, one of the key focuses of our initial plenary was the creation and identification of avatars – or, archetypal consumers that serve to represent and bring market segments to life. To create an effective solution, we had to speak directly to at least one of these avatars – and when we forgot to, the effect was very apparent.

Without a niche, your solution will be conceptual. A solution that can equally help all people will not suitably delve into and resolve the specific problems faced by a particular demographic. It’s not a novel concept for many professionals, yet common knowledge is not always common practice. When it comes to your solution, make sure you have a good idea of who you’re serving. Likewise, make sure that this is true of your own business beyond the event, too!

Beyond collaboration, hackathons are an opportunity for leadership and a veritable font of business insight. Come prepared to make the best out of it.

Looking to run a hackathon? Here are my top tips.

Maximise the value you provide, and you will maximise the value you receive. What can you do to strengthen the hackathon experience you deliver? Here are my top tips as a facilitator following my experiences from the event.

1. Facilitation is the key to your success.

As a host of a hackathon, your job is not to a source of ideas but to be a guardian of the creative process. While you can provide inspiration and ideas to build on, it is ultimately your ability to provide the right questions and encourage the right conversations at the right time that will propel teams to success.

When running a digital event, consider how to deal with multiple breakout rooms. When you are managing nine different rooms at once as my team’s facilitator was, providing balanced input to all teams at once can be challenging, if not outright impossible. Consider how you can bring teams together at regular intervals for regular sharing around current accomplishments, challenges and requests for support to make your job easier and to facilitate a sense of camaraderie between and within teams.

2. Set-up the first hour of teamwork to be highly productive.

When my team started to get to work on identifying problems, we got unusually fixated on one aspect of human behaviour: Food & Drink. Was this because we had a particular interest in it? Not at all. Rather, it was that it was set up as an example for the exercise that we, and a number of teams, believed to be our assigned topic. Only after several hours did we realise the hole we’d fallen into and start to realign with our interests. By then half of the day had already gone, however, and the prospect of starting from square one was daunting.

An unclear brief and a short timebox don’t synergise well, and a rough start can lead to a rough final proposal at the end of something as short as a hackathon. Set teams up with a strong footing from the beginning and you’ll set the stage for a natural velocity to build and thought leadership to emerge.

3. Provide unstructured time for your participants to use.

Were I to have hosted a hackathon before taking part in the Coronavirus Hackathon, I would have felt the need to create meticulous agenda ensuring that participants always had something to focus on throughout the weekend. Yet, it wasn’t until my team set the agenda to the side and took half an hour to hone in on what really motivated, interested and excited us that we made real progress.

Starting off with too much structure can be hindering. In my experience, by starting off with too narrow a focus on simply writing down problems and solutions, teams can miss out on the opportunity both to connect with one another and to identify what problems will excite them enough to keep them engaged throughout the event. As long as you facilitate the objectives and set clear time constraints, unstructured time can be one of the most valuable elements of your hackathon. 

Hackathons have the potential to bring brilliant minds together and forge innovative solutions. Whether you choose to participate in a hackathon or facilitate one, I hope my reflections will help you and your teams in going that extra mile.

What’s been your greatest learning from taking part in a hackathon? Let me know in the comments below.