DigiTech Magazine - UK CIO2020 - Spring 2015 | Page 9

- A - th k c o a ...................................................................................................................................................................................... TRAVELSPORTGAMES 8 At the end of the hacking period, give teams the opportunity to showcase their projects in five minute demos to the rest of the participants and the judging panel 9 Build the judging panel from your Senior Technology and Business Leaders 10 Create award categories such HOW TO RUN YOUR HACKATHON: At North Highland we have experience of holding hackathons to develop ideas for ourselves and also at our client sites. Our Digital team has put together their top tips for putting on a hackathon, so read on to find out how! 3 Run your hackathons off-site, in a creative dynamic location over two days 4 Give teams a specific challenge or theme for the event e.g. mobile apps or customer engagement. Set clear goals around these! 5 You need flawless Wi-Fi throughout the event. This can make or break your event. It also takes more power than you think to host a hackathon. Aim to have at least two power sockets for every seat as people often bring more than one device 1 For hackathons it is best to use your “big idea” people, taking them away from the confines of their day job and provide the environment to develop innovative solutions. 2 Allow participants time to think of initial ideas prior to the event and let them form teams amongst themselves, which include creative and technical representatives. Suggest they connect via social media or online organising tools to prepare, build relationships and get energised Remember after kicking off with your big bang hackathon it is key to think of your hackathon as not being a single event, but a continuous bi-weekly or monthly gathering in which participants meet to work on their innovative ideas. Meeting consistently helps build momentum for a project, and make it more likely to reach some level of maturity. Good luck on your hackathon! 6 Kick start the day with a guest speaker on a creative topic relevant to the challenge to inspire the participants 7 Encourage teams to develop and prototype their ideas w ithin the main event and enable their creativity, innovation and imagination to run free! WHY RUN A HACKATHON IN YOUR ORGANISATION? Motivation as “Best Overall Solution”, “Most Technically Impressive”, “Most Commercial” and “Crowd Favourite” Allows employees to demonstrate their innovative potential Collaboration Peer idea exchange, gain valuable insight from fellow teams and network with colleagues If you would like North Highland to help you run a Hackathon or need more advice – get in touch with Jiten Kachhela: [email protected] Innovation Speedily generate and develop ideas that could drive revenue Learning Unofficial research and development And overall To empower your people! CIO Magazine Spring 2015 Issue 9