Hackathons/Handbook/After the event

The event is done, you made it! Prepare yourself for the post-hackathon phase to wrap up the event as smoothly as possible. 

Be mindful of the social aspects

Event organization is very intense work, and chances are that you will need a few days to come down from it. This applies to social dynamics, too: Some team members will want to be alone the evenings following the hackathon, some will want to go for dinner with fellow Wikimedians, to hang on to the community-feeling of the event a little longer. 

It's a nice idea to organize a dinner for your team and some other Wikimedia community members in the evening following the hackathon, if you make sure that it's an individual, voluntary thing. 

Feedback Surveys

It's a good idea to let people know how you'll use their data, such as by providing a privacy statement. This is one example of a privacy statement the Foundation used for a survey, but every survey is different and this example might not fit your needs. You can consult with your local counsel, and make sure your survey's privacy statement accurately reflects your own practices.

Wikimedia Foundation staff should refer to the page on officewiki for each new survey.

See the past results of feedback surveys listed at Hackathons/Previous hackathons#List. (see the column: "Lessons learned, ...")

The days after the event

• Make sure that there are staff, volunteers, or local experts scheduled to be available the day after the event ends. People will need help getting to the airport, checking out of accommodations, and dealing with any travel issues that come up. People may also have local-tourism questions.
• Follow the "After the event" steps from the "Keeping events safe" training module. This includes important steps like reporting incidents of harassment (so further action can be taken and records are kept),
• Send a thank you email to all participants with a link to feedback survey.

The week after the event

• Write a wrap-up press release

• Write an official blog post about the event

• Thank your sponsors, send them selected pictures and links to event blogging and press coverage. 

• Upload any free materials used in presentations to Wikimedia Commons. Categorize them properly. 

Take some time off!

You and your team have worked really hard on this event for the past months or even last year. 

When these immediate tasks are done, you should schedule time off, to recharge your batteries. Wether you take a little vacation or relax at home, it is necessary that you take time to treat yourself, as a well-earned reward for your accomplishments.

The month(s) after the event

• Accounting: collect outstanding payments and invoices

• Publish budget

• Write report for WMF and your local chapter

• Send re-usable materials (like banners, table signs, etc.) to the next hackathon organizers 

• Create a Lessons Learned page from the Feedback survey (task usually done by WMF team)

• Make sure your videographer has published and archived all recorded sessions.

• Update this handbook

Evaluate measures of success / Metrics

Community

• How many participants? (this is just a metric and not a measure of success).

• Diversity of participation (origin, affiliation, sponsored, newcomers, gender).

Hacking

• How many projects are showcased?

• Progress made on community wish list items?

• How many driven by volunteers?

• Any projects that the WMF decides to support after the event?

• Tasks resolved?

Since 2019, you could use WikiContrib to query the recent activity in Gerrit and Phabricator of a list of attendees.

Training

• Overview of Wikimedia tech priorities and ongoing projects welcoming contributors.

• How many newcomers & welcomers in welcoming session?

• Participation and results in other training sessions.

Meeting

• Community decisions worth a face to face meeting.

• Social meetings and events.

Organization

• Costs and final balance.

• How much funds pooled for volunteer travel sponsorship, and from whom.

• Participants survey and summary report.

Past metrics of success

• Wikimedia Hackathon 2015: Phabricator Task "Goals and measures of success of the Wikimedia Hackathon 2015"