1. Judging
We had an alright criteria, but it took too long to start the process and lacked a clear rundown on how that was supposed to happen. Waited too long to put clear guidelines on DevPost, most of the judging was handled night before should have had the expo web app up much faster. We are happy with the winners but didn’t expect how to handle the sponsor processes of judging. We felt that in some cases some winners took home too many things. (Need to discuss) Had around 20 people in the conference room which lead to the judging room being really crowded. (It really was) Judges spent too long talking to teams… made the event ran beyond schedule.
2. Marketing
We should have done a better job describing what a hackathon is to people of different backgrounds. The previous team spent time talking about the event to people who already knew about the style of event that was being hosted. We needed to have a better campaign to reach out to traditionally logistical folks in other majors while we were getting signups. While during the event, we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities to market all the opportunities the companies had to offer.
3. Design
The logo looks like a chili (Juan could be heard crying from a distance), and we should have done a better job with the layout of the event to improve attendee experience. Many of the signs became missing. We could have a done a better job informing our participants on where things were located. The live and the main site could have communicated announcements better.
4. Sponsor Relations
We got enough money, but we need to be better liaisons with the sponsors we were able to bring in. We spent too long of a time communicating with our existing sponsors, we didn’t have all the documents ready at all times. The process was easily bottle-necked because we had only one person on point for sponsorship. This was mostly a team size issue.
5. Inclusiveness
More folks of every background. Miami is a diverse city by nature however the folks that left tended to be underrepresented folks. What do we do to work on the attrition of 300 folks to 200.
…Other things to note, mentors and workshops should have a more polish, long queues for check-in.