Sample hackathon schedule

Our sample schedule will help you plan your hackathon.

An effortless hackathon requires careful pre-planning.

While participants will likely only be given high-level timings, all event organisers, hosts and speakers need to be clear on timings to keep the day on track and avoid overrun (which undermines participants’ experience).

Below is a sample of the schedule for our CreaTech Glossary hackathon. The aim of the hackathon was to create guides to key legal terms, to help those working in the creative sector to recognise and protect their legal rights.

Details in bold were shared with participants, all other timings were for organisers. It's especially important to know when to move to the next stage of the blueprint, as groups could easily spend the entire 90 minute session on the first few steps.

You can see the schedule in action in our hackathon video.

CreaTech Glossary hackathon schedule

(8:30 to 9:00) Registration

(9:00 to 9:15) Networking

[This also provides a buffer to allow for any latecomers/unexpected delays.]

(9:15 to 9:30) Welcome

[This will outline why we're here/rules of engagement/roadmap.]

5 min speaker 1
5 min speaker 2
5 min speaker 3

(9:30 to 9:45) Table icebreaker

[With collaborative events such as a hackathon it's helpful to start with a fun and short icebreaker to help the team to quickly start working together. Here we used an Art Futures selfie challenge where each team was tasked with finding a specific piece of art to take a picture in front of. They could then post this with the hashtag of the day to help with online engagement.]

(9:45 to 10:00) Overview of methodology

Speaker 1: why we're doing this – aims/objectives
play scenario video
Speaker 2: run through the eight-step methodology

(10:00 to 11:30) Sample term together

[To give each team the confidence to use the methodology on their own, we ran through one sample term together – lead by instructors at the front of the room. This way each team could get comfortable with the process before adopting it on their own for the rest of the day.]

10:00 Pre-map (where individuals rate how confident they are with their knowledge of the term)
10:03 Step 1
10:10 Step 2
10:17 Step 3
10:27 Step 4 - in instructions, be sure to mention that they will have half hour for 4 + 5, give instructions for both, incl. both must be filled in (can't just skip to 5)
10:42 Step 5
10:50 Step 6
11:05 Step 7
11:10 Step 8
11:20 Post-map (where individuals rate how confident they are with their knowledge of the term having been through the exercise)
11:25 Break/padding if times run over

(11:30 to 13:00) Term 1

11:30 Pre-map
11:33 Step 1
11:40 Step 2
11:47 Step 3
11:57 Step 4
12:12 Step 5
12:20 Step 6
12:35 Step 7
12:40 Step 8
12:50 Post-map
12:55 Break/padding

(13:00 to 14:00) Lunch

(14:00 to 15:30) Term 2

14:00 Pre-map
14:03 Step 1
14:10 Step 2
14:17 Step 3
14:27 Step 4
14:42 Step 5
14:50 Step 6
14:05 Step 7
14:10 Step 8
14:20 Post-map
14:25 Break/pad

(15:30 to 17:00) Term 3

15:30 Pre-map
15:33 Step 1
15:40 Step 2
15:47 Step 3
15:57 Step 4
16:12 Step 5
16:20 Step 6
16:35 Step 7
16:40 Step 8
16:50 Post-map
16:55 Break/pad