Promoting the event

Did that hackathon really happen if no one was there to see it happen?

Promoting the event‌

Right after the venue is confirmed is the best time to start a marketing campaign for the participants because then you would be able to offer them all the necessary information about the hackathon: location, dates, duration.

We would recommend starting promoting the hackathon in your networks, inviting fellow students from other universities, or any different target audience that you can reach through your friends or professional connections.

If you are unsure about the connections you have:

1) you think that you do not have enough of them to attract a sufficient participants number

2) or you do not want to ask other people for help in looking for the participants,

you should leverage the opportunities of you being in the same location as the potential target audience.

If you aim for the field professionals or students, then you should go to meetups, tech events, or open university lectures and establish connections with more new people, also inviting them to apply for the hackathon. This strategy would work great if the expected number of hackathon attendees is less than 300. However, when you plan a more massive hackathon, you should think about leveraging the power of your networks better. For example, you could send a message to a common communication channel with a large group of people, start contacting NGOs asking their members to join as hackers or ask people who have access to wide-outreach channels to help you with promoting your hackathon.