Organizer Checklist

Purpose

Use this hackathon organizer checklist to keep a community event clear, practical, and repeatable. It is written for public planning pages, not private operations docs, so every item should be safe for participants, speakers, volunteers, and partners to read.

The checklist works best when the event has one clear builder outcome, a short demo format, and a public follow-up plan.

Before the event

• State the theme and expected participant outcome.
• Publish the agenda and demo rules.
• Prepare public resources and starter links.
• Make accessibility and code of conduct expectations easy to find.
• Confirm the public description matches what participants will actually do.
• Link public templates such as the run of show, pitch rules, and judging rubric.
• Remove private contacts, budget notes, staffing plans, and internal partner details from public copy.

During the event

• Welcome people clearly.
• Explain the build window.
• Offer lightweight checkpoints.
• Keep demos short and supportive.
• Remind teams what a useful demo looks like.
• Keep announcements focused on information every participant can use.
• Capture public-safe highlights only after participants understand what may be shared.

After the event

• Share public highlights.
• Thank participants and volunteers.
• Add lessons learned to HackKit.
• Publish approved demo links or summaries only when teams opt in.
• Turn repeated questions into public resources.
• Keep internal retrospectives and private feedback outside the public repository.

Public page review

• The event page has one clear purpose.
• The agenda is understandable without private context.
• Demo expectations are visible before the build starts.
• Resource links are public and stable.
• No private phone numbers, emails, budgets, or assignments appear in the content.
• Partner or sponsor language is public-facing and does not reveal private terms.

Related resources

• Use Run of Show Template to publish the agenda.
• Use Judging Rubric to set fair demo criteria.
• Use Pitch Rules to help teams prepare short demos.
• Use Post-event Follow-up Templates to publish a useful recap.