Intro

A several hours/days to a week event. People usually gather together to accomplish a programming task.

Examples to illustrate

• Building of addons/themes/personas
• Building HTML 5/CSS 3/JS web apps/sites
• Producing Videos / Short movies using Popcorn / Maker
• Localization sprints
• Supporting sprints (SUMO)
• Documentation (or doc localization) sprints (MDN)

Optimal size

From 5 to 20 for the small events and from 40 to 100 for the big events.

Time needed to plan

From a couple of months to a couple of days depends on size and duration of the event. Time to rent the room to gather.

Budget required

On those types of events, we are expected to provide people with food and drinks, due to the long running nature of them (many hours). Depending on number of participants those amenities could cost from 100 USD to 500 USD overall. Room renting should be included in the budget if no free space can be used (but try to find a free one)

Staff involvement

No particular need for it. Event organizer can contact specifc mozilla staff to attend (even remotely) the event and present on specifc topic if needed.

Objectives/desirable outcomes

• Motivate people to use new technologies for implementing their ideas.
• Socializing and collaborating with others and obtain communication skills.
• Focus, discover and reach the limits of new technologies and tools.
• Promoting creativity skills.
• Produce useful results (addons, movies etc).

Steps to produce

Also take a look at the Doc sprint planning guide. Many of the ideas apply to other types of events, as well as doc sprints.

Organize

1. Decide the type and aim of the hackathon.
2. Decide the length of the hackathon.
3. Find the place where the people will gather together.

Budget request

File the appropriate Budget Request if needed.

Swag Request

File the appropriate Swag Request if needed.

Page creation

1. Create a new event on the Reps website: ReMo Event Form
2. Fill out all information to the best of your knowledge :)
3. Press "Save event"
4. You are done! The site takes care of the rest! Now go check out the Events page. It will have your event listed alongside the other awesome ReMo events!

Agenda & speakers

There is the option for one speaker to make an introduction about the aim of the event and/or the tools that can be used. Also can give some directions. Also one wrap up speech is important. The main course of the event will be hacking time. During this time make sure you have regular breaks so people can chill out for a bit and regroup. If event is day-long make sure to have a regrouping session for half an hour in the middle of the event.

Spreading the word

Quotes you can use:

• Let hacking new technology with all Mozillian!
• Hack with Mozilla!
• You have a day? We have a project!

Publicity

• Social media SOP
  • Tweet for the event!
  • Announce on community Facebook page
  • Announce on local media if this is possible.
  • Consider posting posters and announcements on local communities and universities, colleges.

Artwork

Attractive logo and poster for gathering more people. Base you design on the project you are focusing on. Ask for help from the Mozilla Design Team or reps-general.

During the event

Arrive at the venue early in the same day. Three things are of utmost importance:

1. Make sure internet connection is stable and available.
2. Make sure power cords and extensions are as many as the participants.
3. Make sure coffee is there in enough quantities to hold hackers all day long.

Be nice and accommodating, providing fun things to do. Do not over nudge people. They are there to hack! Make sure to identify any people that are not interested on the ongoing hacking and provide alternatives.

Wrap-up & reimbursements

Make sure that you do any follow ups after the event. Also update budget request with scanned receipts and your payment details.

Report back

Once the event is over, report back as soon as possible. Your fellow Reps are eager to know what happened!

Inbound

ReMo

Make sure to update the wiki page of the event with photos, posts, and links. Write an email to reps-general with links to photos if possible. (Everyone loves photos!)

Planet

Write a post on your blog (even a short one) and make sure it appears on remo planet.

Outbound

Local Media

Make sure to update all the communication channels you used during promotion with the outcomes of the event.

Regional Communities

Best way to follow up with them is to cc them in your report to reps-general. They also love pictures!

Q & A

• Add your Questions here so we can answer them! Remember, this is a wiki, so edit away!

Appendix

Sample Agenda

• TBD

Example Events

• TBD

Budget samples

• TBD