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Evangelizing Your “Thing”At Hardware Hackathons
by Rex St. John (@rexstjohn)
Rex St. John (@rexstjohn)Internet of Things Evangelist, Intel
I take Intel IoT tech to hackathons and help developers build hardware projects
Why do “things” need evangelizing?
Developers engage like this(taken at MoDevHack)
No one reads at a hackathonFace-to-Face matters more than ever
Evangelists engage developersWe are your ambassadors in the developer community
Why do hackathons matter?
Hackathons are now a college sport(and students are in charge)
“1,500 hackathons planned in 2014”–Vivek Ravisankar (@rvivek)
*a non-complete list of sponsors for HackGT, in it’s first year!
Competition for developer attention is intense
Attendence Total Prize Value
MHacks ~1,300 ~$31,000
PennApps X ~1,300 ~$30,000
CalHacks ~1,200 ???
HackGT ~700 ~$60,000+
HackRU ~700 ~$10,000+
DubHacks ~500 (capped) ~$10,000+
HackTX ~500 ???
Attendance is taking off(a few events we attended this year)
Hardware + wearables stand outBe the first device students learn to hack on
Developers cross-pollinate + talkStudents may attend dozens of events before graduating (travel
reimbursements)
Knowlege transfer
Intel® Edison College RoadshowWe took Edison to more than 30 events in the last 6 months
Developer Success Is The Only Metric
Developer Success Is The Only MetricDeveloper Success Is The Only Metric
Developer Success Is The Only Metric
Developer Success Is The Only MetricDeveloper Success Is The Only Metric
Developer Success Is The Only Metric
Developer Success Is The Only MetricDeveloper Success Is The Only Metric
Developer Success Is The Only Metric
Developer Success Is The Only MetricDeveloper Success Is The Only Metric
Developer Success Is The Only Metric
Lesson #1: Developer Success Is The Only Thing That Matters
Not impressions, conversions, devices distributed etc
Lesson #2: “Hackathon ready” is a higher standard of ready
If your product is “hackathon ready,” then it is ready.
Lesson #3: Hackathons are not a branding exercise
Looks like marketing, smells like marketing, sounds like marketing…not marketing
“We traveled 2,000 miles to be here and spent 72 hours for nothing because of you”
Lesson #4: Your device can ruin a team’s entire event
DXDeveloper Experience
Introducing HDXHardware Developer Experience
HDX is synonymous with strong performance at hackathons
How do you achieve HDX?
Work backwards from “hackathon conditions” to your product
8-36 hours to get build a wearable project with your hardware
Power on, Wi-Fi, BLE in less than 10 minutes
Expect HTML based login screens, isolation mode to be turned on
Your “thing” must handle bad Wi-Fi gracefully, be useful regardless
BLE is the “hackathon protocol”BLE goes where Wi-Fi won’t, strongly consider iOS and Android SDKs
Start developers 30-50% of the way to their goal
Sample code and prefabs for common use cases
Finished Projects = Happy Developers
This is the only marketing you need to worry about
Tactics and Strategies
Ration hardware (conditional loans)Hardware is for teams who are building, not stuffing in backpacks
Set up a supply tableExpect people to show up with nothing
Document, share relentlesslyDon’t let your success disappear down the “memory hole”
Tell stories about your productBe prepared to inspire developers with ideas
Final thought
Developer Success = Your SuccessDeveloper success is the only metric
More Reading
•So Many Platforms, So Few Developers• http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/06/so-many-platforms-so-few-developers/
•Corporate America, Your Future Engineers Aren’t Attending Career Fairs Anymore• http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/11/corporate-america-your-future-engineers-arent-attending-career-fairs-anymore/
•Venture money flows into hardware startups• http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/
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