- The costs are split up by the number of participants.
- A bunch of teams participate.
- Everyone builds whatever they want, and they own it.
- There can be multiple show-and-tells, to allow teams to ask / answer questions, get to know each-other, and iterate.
- Everyone walks away having made some wonderful new friends, having learned a thing or two, and also maybe even some useful code.
If someone else is organizing, and you're participating for free, then it will always come with strings attached. Remember, if you're not the customer, then you're the product!
A Hackathon cost less money than you'd think. Typically for a day long event you can rent the place, get 3 meals, drinks and snacks including time spent for 40-50 people for about $2k. Which for a business isn't really all that much.
Disclaimer I help organize the described at the bottom of the article.
I think it depends where, when and who you are organising it for. I organised a student hackathon in London last year and it cost about £4K/$6K but we had the venue free and some sponsors paying for a meal or two. We had 150 students at the event. If the venue wasn't free we would be looking at another £2K/$3K at the least. The numbers stack up very quickly.
Absolutely - the low cost per participant makes hackathons a great channel. $2k paid for by a single entity isn't insignificant. Your hackathons probably offer more to participants than others.
We can have a hackathon where:
- The costs are split up by the number of participants.
- A bunch of teams participate.
- Everyone builds whatever they want, and they own it.
- There can be multiple show-and-tells, to allow teams to ask / answer questions, get to know each-other, and iterate.
- Everyone walks away having made some wonderful new friends, having learned a thing or two, and also maybe even some useful code.
If someone else is organizing, and you're participating for free, then it will always come with strings attached. Remember, if you're not the customer, then you're the product!