Summary
While working for the Human Computer Interaction Organization at SUNY Oswego, I helped host a hackathon. It was a competition for teams to compete by making prototypes to solve real-world problems. Our hackathon, LakerHacks, was no different, but was the first Hackathon hosted at SUNY Oswego. It was a two day event that gave participants twenty-four hours to develop while featuring workshops, food, and games. It was a fantastic experience where I exercised quick problem solving, accommodating last-minute decisions, and collaborating with team members on visual design.
Responsibility
My duties as the Communications Director involved spinning the LakerHacks branding into advertisements, social media posts, and professional opening and closing presentations. My work was produced using Canva and was based on research and templates found from other hackathons. Canva was the best tool for the job, as it allowed other team members to quickly place content and I was able to ensure it fit the established brand guidelines.
When our marketing campaign went live, I created a posting schedule and started by cross-posting on LinkedIn and Instagram. To get the campus excited, we printed posters and hung them all around the campus. I met with the campus administrators to have the posters hung up in every dorm. I also redesigned the poster to fit the dimensions for the TV screens across the campus.
During LakerHacks, I worked on presentations with the Events Coordinator and volunteers. The opening presentation served as the kick-off for the hackathon and detailed the schedule for workshops, food, games, judging, and prize ceremony. The closing presentation revealed the winners, thanked our participants and sponsors, and featured photos from the event.
Outcomes
Social Media Posts
I built off of the playful, rugged look for the social media posts. In Canva, I created three custom templates, each with two different sizes. These templates allowed me to quickly produce posts with existing material. These posts were sent out on a schedule, and we catered to what are audience wanted to see to join a hackathon.
Promotional posters
The Graphic Designer on team created a US Letter sized poster. Adapting their work, I re-tailored their poster to meet the technical requirements of the printers available and reoriented the layout for landscape on TV screens across the campus. These posters were distributed to every campus building, including student dorms.
Presentations
Using a presentation template from another hackathon, I developed the opening and closing presentations. As Canva is a collaborative platform, my team members were able to put their content on the slides. I ensured the content fit our established design guidelines. Some changes to the presentation were even made as it was already on the being projected. With Canva on my iPad, I was able to quickly and quietly make those changes before the slides were shown.
Reflection
LakerHacks was a huge success. Our participants and volunteers loved the event, and our efforts laid the groundwork for next year with more sponsorships. Working with tools like Canva on iPad made for quick decisions being made in the moment easy to do. Being able to adapt existing design materials from other team members kept time short while keeping materials looking professional. Problem solving the organization of the presentation content and communicating with team members to make sure they knew what they were presenting ensured our success.