"The Initiative Miami" gets some coaching from PayPal during rehearsal.
I've seen this at every hackathon: Bleary-eyed techies mumble or stumble through their presentation. Who can blame them? They've been up all night, are worried about the demo working and pitching is probably not their strength. At BattleHack today, each team received a rehearsal with feedback from the PayPal team before the big finale later this afternoon.
Many teams had trouble getting it into two minutes. This is a hackathon so they do need to show what they have built, Yet, they don't need to show every feature. "Think about what you created that is different than what is already out there," said Taylor Nguyen, senior manager with PayPal Developer. "Show us the tech that's really cool."
But at the same time, don't get lost in the tech. Make sure what the app does and what community problem it solves comes through loud and clear, and this message can be conveyed both in an opening sentence and weaved into the demo. Don't leave the judges scratching their heads.
Each team got some suggestions to consider incorporating, and had a chance to work out some technical issues.The teams present to the judges in a few hours. Watch this blog for the winners and follow me on Twitter @ndahlberg.
Posted 8/25/2013