Project Background and Description
Organized by Infotech for their employees, the Hackathon is an annual event to promote innovation and continuous learning. This year, I’m leading a team of my colleagues on October 17 – 19, as we explore ways to use xAPI and Google Analytics to make learning useful.
October 16, 2018
The Hackathon has already been an amazing experience for me, and we haven’t officially started yet! I’ve pitched my idea to my colleagues, searched for volunteers, created a structure for team files and communication, and discussed scope and ideas. I plan to use this page throughout the event to post about my experience and lessons learned.
Pitch Day
All you need is an innovative idea, and the willingness to stand in front of the whole company and pitch that idea in only 60 seconds. No pressure! Ha! On October 9, 2018, this was my pitch:
“If I learn something and no one is around to share it, does it matter? I could argue that it does. But, learning becomes more useful when I can share what I’ve learned, create something new with my team, or pitch an idea to my manager.
How do I share what I’ve learned when learning happens in classes in our training room, and in YouTube tutorials, at Gainesville BarCamp and the Grace Hopper conference, while reading the latest articles posted by thought leaders to Twitter, or when experimenting with new code on GitHub.
Let’s create a tool for each of us to curate our own learning journeys and share them with our teams. Let’s make it work on a laptop, tablet and smartphone, because learning happens on all those devices. Let’s keep it outside the VPN and available even when devices aren’t connected to the internet, because learning happens everywhere.”
After 16 employees had pitched, we hung up our flipcharts and stood next to them, science-fair style, while our colleagues asked us for more detail and considered whether to volunteer.
Campaigning for Volunteers
Here’s the catch – not only do you have to pitch your idea, you have to win over enough coworkers to help you complete the project. Since I haven’t coded in years, I needed at least a couple of programmers to sign on to my team.
As you might expect, programmers are in high demand during the Hackathon. So, I tried several strategies to pique their interest, including a Slack post, or as Bob likes to call it, the Entice Them with JSON ploy!
Kickoff!
On October 17, 2018, at 2 pm ET, the Hackathon teams gathered in the atrium to get our swag bags and room assignments. Then, it was time to #HackITI18!
Lesson Learned
This Hackathon moves too quickly for a blog! It’s been great so far. But, for something this fast-paced, I’m headed to Twitter. Follow my #HackITI18 journey there.
@SaraSWalters 