November 1st, 2022

Hacking 4 Design is a sprint-like event in which innovators and others including domain experts, technologists, project managers, and others collaborate intensively to design the future of member experience for AAA Central Penn.

The hackathon is one giant brainstorming session with the goal of allowing people to break away from their day-to-day to turn on their innovation muscles!

$25K in cash prizes will be awarded to teams with the best ideas!

Problem Statement

1. Design a forward-looking physical branch for AAA Central Penn that attracts and retains members with the best experience

2. Design the best digital experience for AAA Central Penn members that incorporates all the products and services

3. Develop new products and services that enhances the member experience for future users, consider factors like – self driving, shared car ownerships etc.

You/your team can choose one of the above as your problem statement based on your expertise and interest. Form a team of around 2-6 members where the participants can be students, professionals, etc. and the duration of the event is one day starting at 10:30 am.

Rules

1. You must treat all team members, competitors, judges, coaches, volunteers, etc., with respect and courtesy, abiding by the HU Terms of Agreement

2. Hackathon teams will be a maximum of 6 people.

3. All prizes are to be shared between all team members.

4. Teams should be made up exclusively of students or professionals who are not organizers, volunteers, judges, sponsors, or in any other privileged position at the event.

5. All team members should be present at the event.

6. Teams can of course gain advice and support from organizers, volunteers, sponsors, and others.

7. All work on a project should be done during the hackathon.

8. Teams can use an idea they had before the event.

9. Teams can use libraries, frameworks, or open-source code in their projects. Working on a project before the event and open sourcing it for the sole purpose of using the code during the event is against the spirit of the rules and is prohibited.

10.Teams can be disqualified from the competition at the organizers’ discretion. Reasons might include but are not limited to: breaking the Competition Rules, behaving in a way that violates the HU Terms of Agreement or other unsporting behaviors.

Remember

Don’t expect to have solved a problem by the end of the hackathon. Real life problems are hard! Think of the hackathon as a pit-stop on a long journey to solve problems or as a training session to prepare participants for solving problems.

Newcomers often suffer from “imposter syndrome,” the feeling that you don’t belong because you don’t have skills, aren’t smart enough, etc. You’re wrong, and we will prove it to you that you belong and will have a fulfilling experience.

Here is a good guide to why you should join a hackathon. Non-techies guide to Hackathons: How to succeed at one even if you can’t code | by Joe Robbins | The Startup | Medium