We are busy people, always wanting more, living a fast life. It's easy to imagine that business is very demanding nowadays and failing fast is a very important thing - there is no time to measure everything and spend months on product design when no one knows if it's even going to succeed.
For these situations hackathons were introduced. All you need is a room with office stuff like tables and chairs, the Internet connection and 24-54 hours of hard work. The most popular hackathon is named Startup Weekend. During such a weekend people have 54 hours to work on their MVP - a minimal viable product that will be presented to investors. There is no time to polish every detail so people need to focus on what's the core of their business idea and they need to make it work. It begins with pitches, where an individual with an idea tries to tell in 90 seconds why other people (designers, programmers or other valuable resources!) should join his/her team and explains how this idea will be turned into some product. After teams are formed, hard work begins, some people work for all 54 hours straight and it's possible thanks to caffeine running through their veins and passion present at the venue. Typically, hackathons are limited by the work-specific requirements (Internet and electricity access) and are held in universities or offices. Despite these limitations sometimes there are even hundreds of people taking part in this crazy game.
Of course there are more types of hackathons. SocHack.pl is famous for events which connect developers with people from NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) and other activists. Together during events such as SocHack: Edu or Random Hacks of Kindness these people are working on solving real problems proposed by NGOs and local communities. Projects I remember from previous meetings include: an online map for places to leave old batteries, a website for exchanging tips for people with cancer and their families, a handbook about privacy on social media, a map of bike routes in Warsaw and many more.
The picture below shows me with some friends during the Startup Weekend Warsaw, November 2011. The photo is presented thanks to the courtesy of Grandessa.
Live-demo
There is a time when people get bored of watching slides over and over again and want to see something more dynamic and a live-demo is a type of presentation which is supposed to fulfill this desire. No slides, all action - this is the main principle of live-demo. Demos may be dedicated to writing software in front of audience - line by line - as you can expect - it's VERY difficult. But it's not only about software, it may be repairing a car or other activity which presents some real-time challenges that people can find in their everyday life. We can say that a failure is something thathappens quite often during demos - very often something is going wrong and the speaker needs to fight with entropy :)
The photo taken during one of live-demos. As you can see there are some lines of code presented there. Photo by AppCamp.pl
Q&A session
Sometimes during a meeting there is somebody with very deep knowledge on a certain topic, but the audience is so fragmented in their competence that it's difficult to target all their needs in one presentation. A questions and answers session is a good way to address totally different questions and get immediate answers to problems people are concerned about. It's also more personal and by asking a clever question attendee can get some attention himself/herself. It's very popular to add Q&A session at the end of the presentation, no matter if it's a conference, a barcamp or a lecture.
This is how waiting in the queue to have a chance to ask a question may look like:
Copyrights: The Guardian.
Questions:
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteI haven’t attended any hackathon never before. I have to admit it is very interesting way to spend “free time”. It is way for busy people, I think there is no place for lazy people. In your presentation you mentioned about several factors which are necessary to organise hackathons and one of theme is 24-54 continuous hard work combined with caffeine. Caffeine this is the biggest problem for me because I hate coffee and caffeine in a different form too. Maybe in the future if I learn to drink coffee I will take part in hackathon :)
What do you think about Q&A sessions?
Q&A sessions are very interesting. I never take a part in this kind of sessions and I think it is very inventive. In my live I have seen a lot of different queues but I have never seen queue to ask a question. Shyness is very dangerous nowadays, because it can destroy our life. Deep knowledge hidden behind the shyness may have never discovered.
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
In my opinion organizing events is necessary for people who begin their career. Some of events are very helpful and help make difficult decisions. Events also show young students new horizons of action. Organized meetings are not pointless, their task is to show many interesting things. Of course we can divide organized meetings into interesting and boring. If you find a boring meeting you can go sleep maybe you will have cognitive dream.
Michal, you should try "yerba mate", it tastes like some kind of weird tea, but I know many people who are big fans of this drink.
ReplyDeleteToday I'm very calm so again - I agree :) It's difficult time for shy people now, everybody needs to shine and show off. It's easy to see that at University, too. Unfortunately, shy people often achieve less than others only because they are quiet.
yes, I also agree. shy people really have harder .. above all, it seems to me that they loose a lot.. and it;s all true that they achieve less.. because they're shy...it's very sad..but it's true.. I think they should fight with themselfs..
ReplyDeleteHave you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteNo I never did. But it's similar to GameJam events – if I had more time I would probably take part in such an event.
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
Asking questions is always better and faster way of solving problems than actually trying to solve them on your own so of course it is a great idea. Yeah I have no problem with that even when my question seems stupid. And if you're shy, you can always try on the internet forums where you can be anonymous in some way to other users. It is a form of asking a question in public but every person is hidden behind his screen.
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't attended.
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
It difficult question for me, because I'm shy and I don't very often ask questions in public. Q&A session is good if you know topic and realy know what about you want to ask.
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
What events? :)
1. Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteNo. I'm sorry, but I'm not a 'hacker'.
2. What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public?
I think it is OK. Asking other people is normal. You can quickly find out what You need :)
3. What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
Speak louder, so that more people have heard Your question :)
4. What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
And "our" Institute organize something different than collecting money? From that I know all events was organized by students, educators or scientific circles...
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteNo I never attended on any hackthon but I have heard about one. I was really interesting. It was about developing platform game.(GameJam?) People can any amount of money that was earmarked for charity and watched hackthon team working and download their game.
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
No, I don't but in my opinion Q&A sessions could be very interesting. I don't have problems to ask a questions in public. My advice for shy people is that it is always better to ask a stupid question than don't know a important answer.
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
I was once on Kansei http://polishiasummit.com/ few years ago. It is a conference about usability in IT and it was quite interesting.
@Natalia about events organized by PJWSTK :)
ReplyDeletehttp://polishiasummit.com/
I have not heard about hackhathon but it looks like a nice idea from what you have written.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the Q&A sessions - I think that asking a question is always a very good idea. As polish adage says: kto pyta nie błądzi. Ofcourse question has to be smart, and it should be addressed to someone who can answer it. But going back to the begging, the presetation has to be good to catch someones attetion so he will come up with some questions connected with given topic. A lot of lectures in our univeristy are so boring (or are presented in such way) that it is hard to focus on it, and at the end to ask some question
There has never participated in the hackathon and would rather not hear about these types of events.
ReplyDeleteThe presentation is quite interesting because probably neico delves into the subject, it sounds pretty interesting :)
What do you think about Q & A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
I have never participated in these sessions and I'm probably not their advocate. I have a lot of resistance from public statements and the stress of this meeting is very big for me.
I can not speak before a large audience because it is crippling for me;/
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteNo. I think it's for computer maniacs :)
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
I have never tried but I think it's good idea. Shy people should always regret being shy. There's no need to regret anything. It's very difficult to give any advice to shy people, because thay may be too shy to hear you.
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
They can be usefull, but are they? ;)Sometimes someone learns something from this.
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't and I also hear about it for the first time now :)
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
This is very good and logical way. But unfortunatelly I'm one of these shy people who are afraid to ask questions in public, so I don't have any tips :)
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
Hard to say, because I attended only one, last year there was a lecture with Yadzia Williams (love this woman<3). But I hear that there are a lot of lectures in PJWSTK, so it's good.
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteI haven't attended. I thing it may be tiring, so many hours spend before the computer..
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
I think I am too shy to as a question public. I don't know any tip that have worked for me :(
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
They are interesting and various :) Everyone can find something for them, but sometimes they are in hours that I cannot come :(
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteI never heard of a thing like that until today.
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
I think is a very good idea to find out information. Regarding the other questions I did and I get the information I wanted. For those who are shy it will be a very hard thing to do but the best way is to get a grip of yourself and just ask.
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
They can be very nice and useful.
At the very beginning I have to admit, I've never attended any hackathon, so I am probably not the best person to comment on that. At a first glance it sounds like a great idea. Random groups of enthusiasts working together to solve some problems. On the other hand the event seems to have some major shortcomings. In my opinion the formula works only for certain groups of people with certain traits. For instance, as it was already mentioned in the previous comments - you cannot be a shy person. Moreover I am not sure, whether this style of work is efficient for every task one can think of (the author mentioned 24-54 hours - I assume there are some breaks ;) ). If the problem is very difficult, sometimes it is not such a good idea to keep thinking about it all the time. It may be more beneficial to take a break or switch to some other task. After some time you realize, that the solution is in fact very straightforward. The real problem was your inability to look at it from a different perspective. Personally I don't think, I am a hackathon-compatible person due to the style of work I prefer and great aversion to caffeine, but perhaps I should give it a try ;) .
ReplyDeleteHave you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteNo - never. I do not exactly believe in the phrase "talk is cheap, show me the code".
What do you think about Q&A sessions?
In most cases, it is very helpful. The exceptions are geeks conferences where some of the questions are asked to reduce lecturer status.
Have you ever tried to ask a question in public?
Yes - very interesting feeling.
What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
Sometimes questions are asked through microblogging service like twitter or blip. It's a good first step to feel that your question make sense - after that it's always easier to speak.
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
I've never participated in any (but maybe one day).
I've never attended a Hackathon myself, in fact I've never even heard about it. I wonder where the name for the event comes from. I get the 'marathon' reference, but what about the 'hacking' part? To me that would imply programming, but maybe that's just because I'm a programmer, perhaps other types of hackathons exist. I have to say though, for programming this could certainly work and be an effective way of learning something new quickly, at least as far as the basics go (hopefully with some hard to come by practical tips coming from the pros). Then again, programmers tend to go all digital and network connected so the idea of physically going someplace might not be so appealing after all.
ReplyDeleteAs for hackathons – I’ve never really heard about them. As far as entrepreneurship is concerned I’m just familiar with Inkubatory Przedsiębiorczości – available to Polish young people. I think the hackathon is an interesting idea but I’m not quite sure how effective working under such time pressure is (especially with sleep deprivation). For me at least, good ideas need time to mature and when problem solving for example, it is with time that everything falls magically into place. Q&A sessions on the other hand are great – the ones I attended most often were at the Warsaw International Film Festival after screenings, where the film directors answered the viewer’s questions on their intentions etc. It was very helpful as it made the interpretation of the film even fuller. An assertive moderator in such discussions is necessary however, because some people just do not want to stop asking questions.
ReplyDelete1- Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteNo I never attended any hackathon. I only heard st about hackathon.
2- What do you think about Q&A sessions?
I thing it’s pretty good idea. can be very helpful in understanding the subject.
3- Have you ever tried to ask a question in public?
Yes – few times
3- What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
Hard to say it’s depending on the personality. The main thing is to know most inportatn think in or for the more timid is the opportunity to ask questions via e-mail.
4- What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
It can by very useful for many people.
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteAlmost, there was a plan at one temat with i work to take part with one idea but unfortunetly it did't worked out. The one we were planning to attend was organised by google. I find idea of hackathon very interesting and looking forward to actaully take part in one in the future.
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
Depends of definition of public, generally if less then 30, then yes, if not no :) As for tips i think first thing is to think it over and be confident that the question have a sense. From my experience a lot of people which are not generally shy are asking questions on this kind of events which they do not think over before ...
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
never been on any... and generaly didn't heard about any that was in my area of interest
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteI have never attended hackaton in my life, but some time ago I got invitation for WOWZAP hackaton by PJWSTK mailing. As I remember it was hackaton connected with programming applications for Windows 8.
I would like to take a part in such event but nowadays I think that hackatons are a form of advertising for companies organizing them instead of being a form for creation something really useful – so I would like to check personally if I’m right. One from programmers adages says that creating the first 90% of code takes 90% of project time, creating last 10% also takes 90% of project time so I feel that successes on hackatons are announced to early.
What do you think about Q&A sessions?
I think that Q&A questions are good. But I slightly disagree with opinions before mine that questions are the fastest way for finding solutions for our problems. I think that answers should be treated only as opinions of answering person. I believe that we can find solutions for simple problems without Q&A questions and for complicated problems we probably won’t have time for describing them in accurate enough way.
Have you ever tried to ask a question in public?
Yes, I have.
What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
If you do not ask your questions you will not learn anything new, so if you ask you can only win.
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
I answer shortly and truly – I am not interested in events organized by our institute because I live 350 from Warsaw and simply don’t have time for them.
As I said earlier, somehow I do not like such meetings. I love my Computer, but I spend too much time with my PC. For all questions my answers are the same as like half a year ago :)
ReplyDeleteHave you ever attended any hackathon or known about one? If so - what was its name and what was it about?
ReplyDeleteNo. I've attended some conferences regarding software or hardware. Conferences seem much more commercial compares hackatons.
Nowadays there is a plenty of different conferences. Most of them are driven by the products.
Usually it is waste of time. It is quite hard to find an event that would be valuable.
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
If you ask a question in front of the people that are ready to follow you (have deep topic knowledge) and if they have time to listen/answer to your question - then it is ok.
It would end up in finding some new ideas or at least answers for the given questions.
Asking people a question is pointless if they are not willing to or are not able to give you the answer.
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
You mean PJ?
I cannot give you any answer. I've never been to one.
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one?
ReplyDeleteNot a single one, sorry.
What do you think about Q&A sessions?
It's a great way to share knowledge among people of same interest.
Have you ever tried to ask a question in public?
Of course I had a chance or two.
What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
Remember that questions asked by the audience will make the host happy. He will appreciate the crowd being interested in what he said enough to ask questions.
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
Few years ago I had a pleasure to co-organize The AI Lectures From Tokyo event in the Institute and have to say it was a great experience for everybody involved. Huge popularity of this cycle of sessions was achieved by joining unique technology (Polycom hosted multi-party conference) and interesting Artificial Intelligence topic.
Have you ever attended any hackathon or known about one?
ReplyDeleteNo never but I think it is a nice idea.
What do you think about Q&A sessions? Have you ever tried to ask a question in public? What tips would you give to people who are too shy to ask a question this way?
Of course I asked many question in public. I think questions and answers session are good occasion to get deep knowledge and better understanding of many topics.
What do you think about events organized by our Institute?
I don’t have opinion about that because I've never been on any event organized by our institute.