The secret to getting selected
The question that is on every prospective participants lips is ‘ how can I get my submission selected?’. Selection of the projects submitted is usually undertaken by the partner who sponsors the track/challenge and/or by the organizers. To be successful entries must, at the least, meet the constraints of the challenge. To do this it is always useful to familiarize with the challenge specifics and research more about the partner involved. The formulation of a concept or project then must fit within these constraints with certain criteria that ensure it is chosen. More advice on the challenge and answers to queries may be given in our Pre-hack Meetups so it is wise to try attend. Pre-existing projects are welcome to Ultrahack. Examples of these may be MVPs from startups, startup projects at various stages, student University projects from bachelor, masters or doctoral studies, and corporate projects.
The following subheadings are tips for submissions to follow.
The submission must be:
1: Clear and concise.
The project must be clearly articulated. What is the specific problem you are tackling? How are you tackling it? What resources are you using? Who is in your team and what experience do they have? What stage is the submission at already and what actions are planned for the hackathon weekend?
2: Feasible
The submission must be realistic and attainable within the constraints of the challenge description and resources. Thinking outside the box is perfectly fine but too much outside the box and the goals may be a little unreachable. Ultrahack is a results driven event whereby the partners, ultrahack team and other participants would hope to create feasible solutions for the challenge that could easily and readily be implemented within a given timeframe.
3: Accessible to new team members
With certain projects this may be difficult but within hackathons, the point is to have as much varied talent relevant to the solution you are creating. For startup/corporate teams there may be some privacy issues but these may be resolved though open communication. Note: for the latter cases it is also worth discussing IPR and splitting of financial awards.
Matchmaking to find additional members is available through our ultrahack.org platform, our Facebook community group, our slack domain or via info@ultrahack.org.
The details of each submission are scrutinized by those selecting for the event. It is advisable to include files or links that help support your project. These may include video demo/concepts, webpage links, previous event awards and any other resourcesyou may feel that strengthen your project.
Remember, you can edit your submission once entered to the system, so take the time to carry out research, find teammates and update the progress accordingly. This could be the key to getting selected to the event.
Should you require some assistance with the platform, adding teammates to your submission or any other general queries you can contact the core team for support via info@ultrahack.org or pose the question to our Ultrahack Community group on Facebook!
blog by Ian McCready
