# Introduction Hello fellow M24's and beyond. It seems like us, you are also on the path to create your very own Minerva Hackathon! What an amazing dedication. During the 2019-2020 year, us M23's as a team of 5 (+ our amazing Civic Partner Capri) went on a journey of hardship and fun to create the second Minerva Hackathon. Unfortunately due to the sad event that you might have heard of that is called *the global coronavirus pandemic* we had to cancel our hackathon at the last minute. However we learned a lot, and would to like to share that with you! This guide includes what we have learned and the mistakes we have made. For a more technical perspective, you can also check out the [MLH Guide](https://guide.mlh.io/), which is *the* guide for making hackathons. Nevertheless we think the stuff we've learned wasn't included anywhere, including the mistakes we've made. So read on! So hop on tight as we explain what we have learned, what mistakes we've made, and what resources we have available for you all to enjoy. ## What is a Hackathon? To start with, what is a hackathon anyways? [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackathon) explains it as: > A **hackathon** (also known as a **hack day**, **hackfest** or **codefest**; a [portmanteau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau) of hacking marathon) is a [design sprint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_sprint)-like event; often, in which [computer programmers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programmer) and others involved in [software development](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_development), including [graphic designers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_designer), [interface designers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface_design), [project managers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_manager), domain experts, and others collaborate intensively on [software](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software) projects. > > The goal of a hackathon is to create functioning software or hardware by the end of the event.[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackathon#cite_note-autogenerated1-1) Hackathons tend to have a specific focus, which can include the [programming language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language) used, the [operating system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system), an application, an [API](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API), or the subject and the demographic group of the programmers. In other cases, there is no restriction on the type of software being created. For our intent and purposes, a **student-led hackathon** is a 24-72 hour event where students and possibly industry experts from nearby or far away places gather to create projects for *tracks* or prize-driven categories. Some of the tracks are usually set by the organizers to create the general theme of the hackathon and the rest are set by the sponsors to solve their problems or to push people to use their APIs and technologies. ## Who is this guide for? We are aiming this guide to be mainly for the upcoming Minervans, hence we will use Minerva specific language like #audience and possibly inside jokes.\[1] However this guide can be used by anyone, as many of our experiences will be applicable to any hackathon organizers. ## How to use this guide? This guide generally follows chronological order of how you should handle everything. You will most likely have to find a venue before finding sponsors, and you need some sponsors before attempting to get the applicants. We recommend skimming through the whole guide at the beginning of the year, and referencing back to the relevant sections as the time comes. Also included below is a Gantt chart of how things should be, *and how they actually turned out for us.* So now ready yourselves for a fun and challenging \~8 months, and get reading! ![Click to enlarge, or go to the link below](https://924700715-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M4uR6hAlrRrrBTBc7c0%2F-M5U03r13usKQWOBAk9R%2F-M5UERclin11Zswsve5R%2FHackatapod%20gantt%20chart.png?alt=media\&token=bb7206af-3ff6-458e-b780-fe53fb139006) View the Gantt chart in Google Sheets [here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-A77Ku6L1QCeKTsJiBx0Am3a8CEH0V3LSjomdqSOcU8/edit?usp=sharing). > HC Footnotes: > > Wow what is this section? This is the footnote section of course! > > As this paper is also our final project, we need to footnote our HC applications, stuff we learned about in class, so that our lovely professor can see that we used this HCs properly and consciously. These also will provide some 'insider' info into how we did some of the things we did, so you hopefully they will be helpful to you as well. > > However there will be some terminology here you may not be familiar with, so don't be shy and use google ;) > > Here is the first one: > > \[1] #**audience**: While generating this guide, we aimed at the audience of m24's. This meant that we could use the HC terminology freely in the paper, and talk about Minerva specific things. Also our audience is college kids with short attention spans, so we made our writing quite informal and possibly humorous. We expect a minimum level of knowledge from the 'elite minervans' and know that they will lookup the terms they don't know like "principled negotiation." As we also were new freshman at the time, we aimed to write at our past selves. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://minerva-hackathon.gitbook.io/minerva-hackathon-organizers-guide/master.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.