Welcome to Garage48 Hardware & Arts 2018 hackathon! This hackathon is a very special one for our Garage48 Hardware & Arts team – it marks the 5th year in Tartu since the birth of H&A in 2014!
When H&A was first introduced, we were just dreaming of bringing the hardware, software and design communities to work together tightly in joint teams. But now it’s a reality! It’s hard to believe that there was a time when it was not that common that engineers worked together with designers like a dream team, but this was the case in the past. Now everyone with just an idea or a thought-out concept have a platform where things are somehow made come to life. The platform is the Garage48 Hardware & Arts hackathon.
Join us in our new chapter of creating and making, as we celebrate our 5th birthday in Tartu! We want to make life more interesting by giving you tools, equipment and fancy stuff to make your wildest hardware and arts related ideas happen
Product designers, UI / UX designers, electronics engineers, mechanics engineers, server programmers, mobile and web apps developers, chief marketers, defence experts and rising students are welcome to participate at our hackathon!
We welcome you also on our Facebook event page and our closed group, where we share up-to-date info and many secrets with you! ;)
PRE-EVENTS: Garage48 Ideation Flash
To make the prototyping hackathon a success for you, we’re also going to organise the pre-events of the hackathon.
Garage48 Ideation Flash will help you to prepare for the prototyping hackathon. You will be able to test your idea for the hackathon and ask questions regarding the event.
Garage48 Ideation Flash schedule:
Feb 20nd 6pm in Tartu @ University of Tartu Institute of Technology (Nooruse 1)
Feb 21st 6pm in Tallinn @ Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonia pst 7)
Feb 22nd 6pm in Riga @ TechHub Riga (Sporta iela 2)
REGISTER HERE.
BUSES
Hackathon ticket also includes transportation to the event with buses from Tallinn and Riga.
Tallinn-Tartu bus leaves at 14:15 on March 2nd from Tallinn, Mere pst 5. Register HERE.
Riga-Tartu bus leaves at 13:30 on March 2nd from Latviešu strēlnieku laukums, Centra rajons. Register HERE.
ACCOMMODATION
We will provide some floor room at the venue for accommodation - so take your mattress and sleeping bag with you.
Garage48 Hardware & Arts 2018 is organised in cooperation with the University of Tartu and the Estonian Academy of Arts.
PS. To buy a ticket from Latvia, please choose “Latvian bank links” section from the payment page. As the system does not support payments via Swedbank, clients of Swedbank can use credit card payment or select invoice option.
To buy a ticket from Lithuania, please choose "Lithuanian bank links" section from the payment page.
AGENDA
Garage48 has a flexible schedule. We have some key activities that need to be planned ahead. Here is our tentative schedule, at least you know when to show up. :)
Friday, March 2nd
17:30 - Check-in, networking & snacks
18:00 - Opening remarks
18:30 - Pitching ideas in 90"
19:30 - Refreshment Break
19:50 - Pitching ideas in 90"
20:45 - Team formation
22:00 - Team work begins!
Saturday, March 3rd
09:00 - Breakfast. Development continues
10:00 - Checkpoint #1
11:00 - Mentoring round starts
13:00 - Lunch
16:30 - Panel Discussion
17.30 - Pitch drill introduction
18:00 - Checkpoint #2. Development continues...
19:00 - Dinner
20:00 - Development continues
Sunday, March 4rd
09:00 - Breakfast. Development continues
09:30 - Checkpoint #3
10:00 - Pitch drill session #1
13:00 - Lunch
13:30 - Pitch drill session #2
15:30 - CLEANING
16:00 - Refreshment break
17:00 - Finale. Pitching session.
18:30 - Refreshment break and Jury takes the time to select winners
19:00 - Award ceremony & networking & cleaning
20:30 - Buses leave for Tallinn and Riga
NB! Schedule is tentative, changes are possible and likely to happen.
First time at Garage48 Hardware & Arts? Have a look at our small guide below to help you out:
GET READY
We'll start on Friday at 17:30 with opening doors. Please come on time, as the registration process might take some time - use it to get to know the crowd and to network. See the agenda for further information.
NB! We welcome only physical prototypes - for software we have other cool Garage48 hackathons :).
WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU?
Positive attitude, an open mind and lots of energy! Everything you need for a rapid product development. We will have equipment and materials on site, but to be sure, we recommend you to bring your own stuff as well. You never know when you need something yourself or if you could help out another team. Sharing is caring :)
The fact is that, if you build something what really works on Sunday evening, then we will not ask the bits and pieces back - you don't have to break your prototype, the team can take it home and continue working on it. This does not apply, though, to more expensive things - you can not take an oscilloscope with you or set of tweezers etc.
Please take your:
- laptop
- 3-5m power extension cord (as power might be on distance),
- mobile phone
- all chargers
Optional:
In case you registered for sleepover at the venue, bring a mattress, sleeping bag and towel.
PITCHING IDEAS
Ideas are presented based on "elevator-pitch" method within 90 seconds. Event host and
audience can ask 1 to 3 short questions. You can prepare 1 (one) PDF slide to support your pitch. You should send the slide by Friday noon (02.03.), at the e-mail hardware@garage48.org (Subject: name of your project).
Consider following key points:
- Describe briefly your background (10 sec)
- What is the name of the idea (5 sec)
- What's the idea all about? What is the problem your idea solves? Target user count and description (30 sec)
- Technical solution and if there is a revenue model (in case of non-profit idea, how the maintenance and further development costs will be covered?) (30 sec)
- Minimum viable product and plan for 48 hours. Who do you need for the team? (20 sec)
NB! Practice your pitch to your friends or family before you present! 90 seconds goes really fast!
FORMING TEAMS
After pitching is over, we will put all the ideas on the wall. Every participant will choose their favorite idea and this is how teams will be formed. Usually, 16 to 18 best ideas will get enough interested people to get the "green light" for the implementation. The average team has about 5 to 7 people and the team should be "balanced" - covering all required roles like necessary engineers, a designer, and a marketer in order to get the product/service ready in 48 hours! The minimum size for a team is 5 people and max is 9 people. If some ideas get too few people or not balanced teams (probably unable to build the service), the idea will be dumped. But don’t worry, just choose another idea/team to join.
WORKING IN TEAMS
After forming the teams, organizers will give a room/space for every team for the weekend. You should start by dividing roles, setting the product vision, customer journey and start working right away.
It is very important that you have a project manager (team lead) in the team - one of the tasks is to keep the focus of the team, one eye on the clock and the other on the team progress. 48 hours is really a short time.
FOOD AND DRINKS
We provide breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday. So, you could focus on work and building your product.
MENTORS
We have arranged mentors to work with the teams throughout the weekend. Some of them are more technical, some more business savvy. Be open and ask for their advice and contacts.
Please wear your name badge during the whole event, except when working with power tools and machines, this will help to encourage networking and gets you inside through security guards. Otherwise be open, get to know new people, share your ideas and give ideas/feedback to other teams.
MOST IMPORTANT - have fun!
