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description: You can't have a hackathon out in the open. Or can you?
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# Finding the Venue

Finding a venue is one of the first priorities in hackathon organization. In this section ,we will outline scenarios which students can face while looking for an appropriate venue.&#x20;

**1. Making a clear outline of venue requirements**

The list of the requirements for the venue is the first step in the venue-search process as it filters out a significant portion of options and allows to first isolate and then concentrate on the final targets that are left. To produce such list, the organizers need to answer some of the essential questions about the type and the scale of their hackathon:&#x20;

1. How long is it going to be?
2. How many participants will be present?
3. What is the target audience and their location?&#x20;
4. What is the budget for the hackathon?
5. What is the hackathon theme?

These 5 questions are very helpful to narrow down the list of plausible venue options: if the hackathon is overnight, then you should search only for the venues who can accommodate this request; if the budget is less than 5000$, then you should concentrate only the venues available for free as the budget would not allow to pay for the venue; if you plan to have 300 participants then you should look for the venue that can fit all of them.

However, because these requirements can significantly narrow down the list of possible options, we also should keep in mind that these 5 bullet points should be continuously revised and should be adjusted with intent to increase the number of plausible venues: a requirement to have the space enough to fit a 1000 participants would significantly decrease your chances of finding the venue, decreasing the participants number to 200 would drastically increase your chances. We will look at the specifics of requirements-readjustment technique in the next section.\


**2. Creating a list of negotiable terms**&#x20;

As was mentioned in the previous section, sometimes we need to reevaluate and readjust our basic hackathon expectations to increase the chances of finding the venue. Thus, hackathon organizers should have a list of the items they would be willing to negotiate on if the venue cannot fulfill them. Let’s look at two scenarios for the hackathon in the San Francisco:

1. A venue in San Francisco downtown that can fulfill every requirement except the number of participants: they asked us to lower the number from 300 to 150.
2. A venue that fulfills every requirement we have and is further willing to sponsor meals  and swag for the participants but is situated in the Los Angeles suburban area.&#x20;

These scenarios illustrate the items that can or cannot be negotiated: in the first case it is highly recommended to accept the offer and lower the number of participants and in the second case it is not recommended to change the location as it would bear loads of further logistical problems not only for the organizers but for the participants too. The reasons for this conclusion lie in the fact that to actually take place, the hackathon must have a certain number of very active participants. To attract more applications that will later be converted into the accepted hackers we must have a good network to conduct a strong marketing campaign. Since we are in San Francisco and we have a strong network here, the hackers residing in San Francisco will not likely apply for the weekend hackathon in LA (because of the 8-hour drive there) while our chances of attracting hackers in LA are much lower. Thus, by taking a second option we could end up having a great venue, great food and fantastic participant experience but no participants to appreciate that.&#x20;

We should be very clear on items that we can have the negotiation on and the items that we cannot. Typically, the items that are not negotiable or only slightly negotiable include price and location. Other items usually have more room for the negotiation with a venue.&#x20;

**3. Contacting previous venue providers**&#x20;

If you are an organizer of the hackathon that had happened in the past, unless you have strong objections against the previous venue, you should contact them first even if you want something better or just different this time. There are two most important reasons for that: the hackathon security and the hackathon credibility.&#x20;

You can organize a hackathon with nothing more than a venue, thus protecting yourself if sponsors do not provide any funds for it. Furthermore, the sponsors are much more likely to give you money if the hackathon already has a venue, because it strongly contributes to the credibility of the hackathon.

**4. Looking for new venues (tactics for smart search)**

There are many ways you can go about looking for the venue and the major ones were described in the previous sections. To synthesize, always have a list of negotiable and non-negotiable requirements for the venue, start looking early, contact your previous hosts (if possible) and maintain the positive attitude - the rejections are unavoidable and you will probably hear many “No’s” before the “Yes”.
