CMX Series - Building Developer Community Through Hackathons

BUILDING DEVELOPER COMMUNITY THROUGH

HACKATHONS

@SarahJaneMorris Developer 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

http://truthforhumanity.com

SOCIAL GOOD HACKATHONS50-200 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

THANKYOU!@SarahJaneMorris

http://sarah-janemorris.com [email protected]

@HerbieTLPug facebook.com/herbiethelovepug