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BUILDING DEVELOPER COMMUNITY THROUGH
HACKATHONS
@SarahJaneMorrisDeveloper Community Manager
Intel Services/Mashery
#cmxseries
😍💻 📱
@SarahJaneMorris?• Marketing and community for 10+ years
• Developer community building for the last 5 years
• Built out an early stage developer community at Context.IO in Montreal
• Moved to SF in 2012 to manage Intel Mashery’s community of 342,000 devs. They’ve built over 99K active apps! <3
• Sponsored, helped to organize and/or produced over 200 hackathons since 2011
How do Developer Communities Differ
from Consumer Communities?
SOLUTIONS FOCUSEDDevelopers engage in community in an effort to discover tools, exchange knowledge and
solve problems.@SarahJaneMorris#cmxseries
How delighted is she!
KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGEFor both online and offline community building:
solid docs, sample apps, lightning fast tech support, forum presence and knowledge gathering/sharing@SarahJaneMorris
#cmxseries
My man Rex St. John sharing his skillz
SWAG! STARDOM! <3! Developers love the spotlight too, and they
love free stuff!
img courtesy: TechCrunch
@SarahJaneMorris#cmxseries
<3 Neil <3
PROTIP:If they’re spelling it Hack-a-thon, think long
and hard about participating@SarahJaneMorris
#cmxseries
What Makes a Great Hackathon?
COLLEGIATELarge scale, 1000+ students. Great for
recruitment, tinkering and engaging with upcoming developers to build community
img courtesy: TechCrunch
@SarahJaneMorris#cmxseries
BRAND HACKATHONSAnywhere from 80-300 developers and designers, building apps around specific
branded APIs and partners. Large prizes. @SarahJaneMorris#cmxseries
INDEPENDENT/THEMEAnywhere from 80-300 developers, usually brand agnostic w/ a
handful of sponsors and a theme. Great for open-minded devs, API adoption and a fun weekend!@SarahJaneMorris
#cmxseries
SOCIAL GOOD HACKATHONS
50-200 developers hacking for a cause@SarahJaneMorris
#cmxseries
FOR PROFIT HACKATHONSSometimes charge developers to attend,
large cash prizes, major sponsorship fees
img courtesy: BrightSideofNews
@SarahJaneMorris#cmxseries
HOW TO GAUGE HACKATHON SUCCESS?
• How much feedback did you gather from developers?
• How many API keys/new accounts were created?
• How many applications built leveraged your technology?
SO, YOU WANT TO HOST A HACKATHON?• Start small: one location, one
targeted group
• MVPs/functional prototypes only! No PowerPoint!
• Icebreaking: Developers can be introverts. Plan to help with team formation
• Minimize Friction: simple/no T/Cs, clear judging criteria
• Fun prizes! Experiential, unique and tangible always beats cash
• Hackathons are at their best with your API/Tech tool friends
@SarahJaneMorris#cmxseries
• DON’T ALLOW EXISTING CODE
• Make it so much fun, and make it comfy!
• Make it inclusive and remember to be professional
