Hackathons are part of the new trendy activities, and many forums and organizations like including them as part of their yearly events.
Hackathons, however, cannot be easily copied to every discipline. Careful planning has to take place, adjusting the format and promising, at the end of the day, or night, a WOW effect.
We are nowadays planning the first global HacKMthon (KM hackathon) to take place this coming October.
The first thing is to internalize that, unlike a high-tech hackathon, our outcomes are not software products, but rather sets of methodological toolboxes, that can, in this case, help better KM.
Running a global event has pros and cons. The first-most advantage is having people joining from different cultures and various schools of thought, and therefore- there is a great place for knowledge fusion and great ideas. However, many people are not native English speakers, may not know others, and do not have enough time to build trust. . In planning the event, we have to ensure enough good vibes and energy to overcome the language difficulties.
Running a virtual event adds complexity. A great deal of a hackathon's success comes from everyone being physically together; even from eating pizza together. People in different time zones joining together will join so many different hours and, more likely, will not join the entire event. So how can one overcome such challenges?
We are planning on running a much more complex event: a hybrid event, having physical events in 5-6 countries and all the others joining virtually. The physical events will all be designed with the same setting, giving it an atmosphere of one event. The program will include working in teams connected virtually; however, every two hours everyone will sync, enabling those who couldn't join the entire event to have an opportunity to enter and take part smoothly. It will include energizing activities, leveraging togetherness, energy, and creativity. And of course, the main course, all over the world, at the same time, will be pizza.
More details? Soon. I promise. All KMers, wherever you are on the globe- you are more than welcome to join: October 12th, 8 hours of work and fun, starting at 5 UTC.
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