Controversial

Attendee Entitlement

This is fairly controversial, cover the basics first.

The easiest introduction to this topic is having MLH provide transport to various hackathons. Once introduced, many people never considered the cost of bailing out of it last minute and never showed. Despite measures taken to let hackers know that such decisions had a financial cost and reduce attrition - not much progress were made. Thus when coaches to various hackathons were killed, there was a huge outcry as precedent had been set and people 'expected' it to be there.

Similarly this applies to swag.

Regulating Restocks

Tricky subject, you've ordered food for your attendees but also provide snacks to them. Do you regulate snacks so that your meals don't go to waste or do you let attendees self-regulate their own eating habits?

Much of this is down to personal choice,

• Restock less an hour before meals
• No restock during and an hour after meals

If you know some of the attendees hacking, you might want ask for their feedback on the general attendee sentiment. It may give you a feel on how hungry hackers are and if you need to change the release frequency or restock amount.

Contemplation Rooms

While uncommon, this is the quiet / silent room. Here, attendees can practice their faith, or simply be away from the hubbub of a hackathon for a while.

• If rooms are scarce, potentially pairing this and the sleeping rooms are possible.
• Similarly keeping it to away from main hacking spaces for less noise.
• Having a sign to indicate a Silent Zone.
• Having a clean mat / carpeted floor should be sufficient.