Skype University Hackathon 2016
StudyITin.ee in cooperation with Skype is organizing Hackathon for students to create practical IT solutions to any kind of problems that they encounter in real life.This is a 2,5 day event where you can turn your wild idea into something real, get help from Skype engineers, connect with other bright students, build something amazing and have fun! Last year's event was a blast, see the awesome video we made.
WHERE ?
Hackathon is hosted by Estonian Information Technology College and will take place in IT College building (Raja 4C, Tallinn).
THEME, TEAMS & AWARDS
Theme of the Hackathon: you can work on anything - app, academic project, solution for a problem that students have, etc. If you have an idea that needs to be made real - this is the best place to do it. If you do not have a project idea before the hackathon - no problem, there will be plenty of ideas pitched at the start and you can choose which one you join. Remember, Hackathon is also about socializing and teamwork, each project must have a team of 2 to 5 people.
Skype award - all communications related projects will compete for Skype challenge prize.
Microsoft award - all projects that use Microsoft services or are built on its platform will compete for Microsoft challenge prize.
StudyITin.ee award - all projects related to academic life will compete for StudyITin.ee prize.
OUTCOME
At the end of Hackathon you will have 3 minutes to present what you have done, there are two ways to do that:
- demonstrate prototype or a working solution and explain in detail what it does and how it works;
- present an idea (if it takes more than 48 hours to make it real) with some prototyping work done - video presentation preferred.
BONUS
- Visit to Skype office - all participants are welcome to visit Skype office on Friday, before the event starts and hear from Skypers about working in Microsoft.
- Mentors from Skype - more than 10 Skypers will join the Hackathon as mentors and help teams make their wild projects a reality.
- Pitch training - all teams will get pitch training and feedback from pitching experts before the final presentation.
- Cool swag from Skype and StudyITin.ee :-)
SCHEDULE (preliminary)
Friday, March 11th
14:00-17:00 Visit to Skype office
17:00-18:00 Gathering at IT College, participant registration
18:00-21:00 Hackathon launch, project pitching, team formation
21:00 Hacking starts!
Saturday, March 12th
Hacking throughout the day, mentors available
9:00 Breakfast
10:00 Checkpoint #1
13:00 Lunch
18:00 Dinner
19:00 Checkpoint #2
20:00 Chill
Sunday, March 13th
Hacking throughout the day
9:00 Breakfast
10:00 Checkpoint #3
11:00 Pitch drill
13:00 Lunch
17:00-20:00 Demo event, judging, award ceremony, celebration
SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow the event on Facebook and Twitter. All approved participants can pre-pitch their ideas and connect with others on our participants-only Facebook group. Use hashtag #skypeunihack to follow news about the event and when sharing the event.
SOME LEGAL STUFF
The IP created during the Hackathon belongs to each team's members collectively. You need to sort it out between yourself, advisably before you start working.
We will be filming and shooting photos at the event to back up your awesome memories of innovation & fun we will be having together. By joining the event, you're giving us permission to use those photos and videos on our social media channels!
Deadline for submitting your participation request is February 21st 2016.
Can't wait to see you there!
- Hackathon organizing team
Please e-mail us with any questions you might have - SkypeUniHack@microsoft.com.