How to Rock Your First Hackathon

Have you ever thought about going to a hackathon but weren't sure where to start? Hackathons are awesome. But...they can also be intimidating. Like any event, the more prepared you are, the more likely you are to succeed.

In this workshop, we'll guide you through the hackathon experience and help you become familiar with the tools and techniques that will help you be prepared for your first hackathon. After the workshop, we'll answer any questions you'll have, and will help you install the tools that help you save time and sanity while hacking.

How do you come up with an idea?

What should you say in your pitch?

How can you build a working demo app in a weekend?

No prior technical or programming experience necessary. All experience levels welcome.

Agenda

6:30pm - 7pm Arrive, check in, Network

7pm - 8pm Workshop

8pm - 8:30pm QnA, install tools and app

Workshop

Networking - How to connect before, during and after the hackathon.

Pitching - How to present your app idea and build a killer team.

Tools - Text editors, sharing files, github, wireframes, customer development, Heroku, mobile development

Demos - How to present your demo

If you're thinking of going to Everyone Hacks (http://everyonehacks.eventbrite.com/) (January 18th - 20th, 2013), then definitely join us for this workshop! If you're looking to get into programming, design or website development, this workshop will help you be prepared for a future hackathon as well as help you become familiar with tools and apps used by developers (and there are a ton in SF), so come either way!

If you've rocked a hackathon before and want to share your experience, we'd love to hear about it, so please send us a message.

About Your Instructor

Adria Richards is a Developer Evangelist for SendGrid and has attended over 25 hackathons. She is a frequent speaker at major conferences including SXSW, O'Reilly Web 2.0, The Lean Startup Conference and BlogHer.

Adria is known for her advocacy of cloud apps, workplace productivity and digital equality.

Previous to joining SendGrid, Adria was a technology consultant delivering training and technology services to Fortune 500 companies and startups including Apple, John Deere, Equinox and Zendesk. Her passion for technology shows with her YouTube video (http://youtube.com/adriarichards) views nearing two million views. Adria has worked with major brands to create tech videos including Dell, CDW, Motorola, Samsung and T-Mobile. Before this, Adria worked for Geeksquad and American Express as a network support engineer in Minnesota.

Sponsors

Thank you to SendGrid (http://www.sendgrid.com) for the space, snacks, and Adria Richards, Developer Evangelist, who will be the instructor for this workshop.

Scholarships Available

If you'd like to attend but cannot afford the cost, please request a GDI scholarship (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHRPTms0blNlTlo3cUpySFJENzBEdWc6MQ).