6 Ways to boost hackathon participation with Devpost for Teams

Organizing an internal hackathon but worried about low turnout? You're not alone. Between packed calendars, competing priorities, and the perceived time commitment of participating, getting employees excited about your hackathon can feel like an uphill battle. 

The good news? Devpost for Teams (DFT) tackles these challenges head-on by streamlining the entire hackathon experience. Read on to see how DFT removes the friction that keeps potential participants away to let everyone focus on what really matters—innovation and creativity.

#1 Simplify the user experience and reduce administrative overhead

DFT dramatically reduces the friction of joining and participating in hackathons. The platform streamlines everything from initial registration and project submission to judging and voting—making the entire experience smooth and straightforward. Participants can register with just a few clicks, eliminating multi-step processes that discourage participation. 

DFT reduces the effort and time spent on tasks beyond building with:

• Hackathon details all in one place including resources, description, judging criteria, and key deadlines
• Built-in team building so participants can quickly find and join teams
• Streamlined communications so participants can easily stay up to date with the information they need
• Simplified project submission so participants know exactly what to provide once they’re finished building
• Single sign-on (SSO) that provides participants immediate access to your organization’s environment in DFT

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When participants spend less time on tasks unrelated to building, they have more time and energy for innovation. This efficiency removes a significant barrier to participation, especially for employees who are concerned about time commitments.

#2 Streamlined project pages

Have you ever faced the dreaded “blank page syndrome”? Writing a description for their hackathon project can really slow participants down and get in the way of what matters most—building. 

DFT solves this with project page templates that make it easy for participants to articulate their ideas according to your hackathon. As the organizer, you can edit the project template to customize it to your hackathon requirements. You can edit the default project title, required assets, and project description to shape a template for your participants.

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So, instead of staring at an empty text box, participants get a structured framework to write their project description using pre-populated headings of your choice, which could include:

• Problem statement
• Business impact
• What they’ll build
• Team skills needed

Pro tip: This structure not only helps participants organize their thoughts but also creates consistency across submissions which makes judging more efficient.

Participants can also mark their projects as open for others to join and specify if they’re looking for teammates with particular skill sets. (See more about DFT’s team-building features in section 3.)

By reducing the setup time, participants can focus on the important part—bringing their ideas to life. This structured approach increases participation by making the process less intimidating, especially for first-time hackathon participants who might otherwise be unsure of how to present their ideas.

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#3 Connect teams with built-in team building

Finding the right teammates can be a challenge, and in some cases, might even discourage would-be hackathon participants from joining altogether. Team building is built into our platform to eliminate that hurdle. Participants can easily share their ideas, find teams to join, find ideas they’re passionate about, and find teams with the right tech skills to partner with.

Here’s how:

• All projects are listed at the bottom of the hackathon page
• Teams can make their projects open for others to join and highlight if they’re looking for teammates with specific skills
• Participants without a team can browse and join any open projects
• Teams can also send direct invitations to specific people through DFT

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This makes team formation intuitive rather than a hurdle to participation. By facilitating connections between participants with complementary skills, DFT removes the "I don't have a team" barrier that often prevents solo employees from joining hackathons, significantly expanding your participant pool.

#4 Drive long-term impact with a permanent project gallery

Hackathon participants want to know that their projects have the potential to be implemented after the event. Not exploring ways to make that happen is huge missed opportunity for the overall success of your hackathon. (If that sounds familiar, here are more tips on how to drive impact after your hackathon is over.) 

To solve this, DFT’s project gallery makes hackathon projects permanently accessible. Along with showcasing all the projects and highlighting the winners, the platform makes it possible to share direct links to projects. This facilitates further discussion or development long after the hackathon ends.

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Keeping the momentum going after a hackathon ends is crucial to getting the best outcome, but it also shows participants that their projects can have a real impact. Janet Carmody, Head of Culture at Motorola Solutions, shared how her organization maximizes the long-term results of its hackathons:

"We have a 'Hack-on' space in Devpost where teams can continue on with their projects, have oversight by some of our senior leadership teams, and get further resources," said Janet Carmody, Motorola Solutions.

“And yes, some things go right into the patent process, and some things need a little bit more work, but we've been touching on all of them," she added.

The project gallery shows potential participants that their submissions are taken seriously and that there is a real desire to turn their ideas into something meaningful.

#5 Voting features and flexible participation options 

Not everyone in your organization is a developer or designer, but that doesn't mean they can't contribute to a hackathon. Additionally, not everyone will be able to dedicate the same amount of time to the hackathon, so it’s important to give people multiple ways to participate if they aren’t building. 

DFT supports multiple ways to engage:

• Team building features so people can connect with cross-functional teams
• Idea submission so people can share challenges they face to help inspire other ideas
• Voting features that allow people to participate by voting for their favorite project
• Judges can leave comments on projects as a way to engage beyond just giving a numerical score

‍Pro tip: Consider engaging non-participants to serve as mentors or subject matter experts to hackathon teams. 

DFT’s voting features have multiple permission settings depending on who you’d like to have vote on projects:

• Sign-in required: Voters must sign in to DFT to vote
• Email only required: Users must enter their email address to vote, but won’t need to perform a full sign-in
• Public: Anyone with the voting link can access the voting ballot and cast votes—no sign-in required

#6 Guest hackathon access

DFT supports guest hackathons so people outside of your organization can join, too. This allows you to include partners, customers, or other external stakeholders in specific hackathons without compromising security. 

Related reading: See how SAP uses Devpost for Teams to connect with clients through its customer hackathons.

Here’s how guest hackathons work on DFT:

• Invite guests to your hackathon by creating a guest list or sending a secure link
• Organizers can manage guest users and track guest registration status
• Guests can create, join, and submit projects to hackathons they’ve been invited to
• Guests can only view hackathons they’ve been invited to

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More tips to increase hackathon participation

• Communicate frequently with employees and registrants—people need to know about your hackathon in order to join!
• Make it easy for people to participate—simplify registration, provide tools and support, communicate important information, and use a streamlined project format so it’s easy for teams to structure and submit their final projects.
• Run live events to keep people engaged—hold a kickoff and idea-sharing meetings throughout the hackathon to gauge interest and help people feel connected.
• Simplify team formation—tackling a hackathon project alone is daunting, but using a tool to simplify team building will help enable cross-functional collaboration.
• Provide flexible participation options—include a non-technical track so more team members can contribute and allow non-builders to participate by voting on projects.
• Try to schedule hackathons during work hours—so more people can participate.
• Offer prizes as a reward for great work—these don’t have to break the bank and could include prizes like getting to present their project to executive leadership.
• Enlist executives to join your hackathon—having executive support for hackathons shows participants that leadership sees the value in it.
• Run regular hackathons—building a company hackathon culture allows more employees to hear about your hackathons and contribute their great ideas.

Run your next great hackathon

Increasing hackathon participation doesn't have to be complicated. With Devpost for Teams, you can remove barriers, simplify processes, and create an environment where more employees feel empowered to join in. The result? More diverse ideas, stronger collaboration, and better solutions for your organization.

Want to see how Devpost for Teams can transform your internal hackathons? Schedule a 30-minute demo today.