2019
Season 6
Virtual Design Master Season 6 used a webinar series and a 24 hour online hackathon, with a goal of opening hackathons to people of all backgrounds and skill levels.
Hackathons have often been aimed at developers, which left a wide audience of technologists out of the learning that can come from taking part. The VDM team wanted people to join as participants regardless of experience and background.
Sponsors for that season included RapidMatter and Diabolical Coffee.
Episodes
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Episode 1
The Idea
Before you jump into the hackathon, you need an idea. This session unpacks industry tips on how to come up with an idea and evaluate how you and your potential team can decide what product approach to build. This extends beyond a hackathon into everyday technology work.
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Episode 2
Building the Team
Now that you have your idea, it is time to think about how to recruit and assemble the team. Team building in and out of the hackathon environment needs skills matching, a clear look at personality traits and strengths, mentoring, and more.
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Episode 3
Product Management and Live Hacking Techniques
Product management and the art of being ruthlessly pragmatic is important on a long project, and it is critical during a hackathon. You and your team will need to make quick decisions and carefully manage time and capabilities to deliver a working product at the end of the coding window.
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Episode 4
Getting Ready for the Hackathon and Test Pitches
This session covers day-before and day-of logistics, how scheduling and time management work during the live event, and test pitches so people can hear a product pitch and do last-minute recruiting or find a team.
More episodes are on the DiscoPosse YouTube channel.