Hackathons are fast paced events where organizers must coordinate many logistical components in a short period of time. These include participant check in, team formation, event schedules, volunteer coordination, mentor availability, judging logistics, and final project submissions. As hackathons grow in size, keeping track of this information becomes increasingly difficult, especially when organizers are often students or volunteers managing the event alongside other responsibilities. Small organizational mistakes can easily lead to confusion, missed deadlines, or an uneven experience for participants.
Currently, hackathon organizers rely on a mix of disconnected tools such as Google Sheets for team lists, Google Docs for schedules and rules, Discord or Slack for announcements, and separate platforms for project submissions. While these tools are flexible, they are not designed to function as a single, cohesive system. Important information is spread across multiple platforms, making it difficult for organizers to quickly assess the state of the event, identify logistical gaps, or respond to last minute changes. Existing hackathon platforms like Devpost tend to focus on participant submissions rather than the behind the scenes coordination required to run the event smoothly.
As a result, organizers often spend significant time managing tools instead of focusing on creating a positive and inclusive event experience. There is an opportunity for an organizer focused web application that centralizes logistical information, supports real time updates, and reduces coordination overhead. A purpose built system could help organizers better manage teams, track internal responsibilities, and ensure submission requirements are met, leading to a more organized and less stressful hackathon experience.
This project proposes a web application designed to help hackathon organizers plan and organize a hackathon from the beginning. The users of this application are organizers and volunteers who are responsible for setting up the event, not the participants themselves. The goal of the app is to give organizers one place to keep track of planning information instead of using many different tools that are not connected.
When organizing a hackathon, there are a lot of tasks that need to be done before the event even starts. These include planning the timeline, assigning responsibilities to different organizing teams, coordinating sponsors, setting up workshops, and preparing judging logistics. The application will include the following interactive features:
The app will also store planning information like sponsor details, planned prizes, workshop schedules, and judging criteria. All data will be saved to a database so organizers can access their information across multiple sessions and from different devices. By focusing on pre-event planning into one system, this application helps organizers stay organized, reduce confusion, and better prepare for a successful hackathon.