What The Hack- Creating projects to help others

What The Hack is an emerging hackathon events company that has adapted to the COVID-19 restrictions, holding fully remote events.

The company was founded in February, and since then they have held 1 in-person and 4 virtual events.

Sophie Benoit is one of the companies coordinators.

She spoke to me about their latest event “Blockchain And The World Food Supply” which will be held on September 4th-6th from 11:00- 19:00.

We first discussed the inspiration behind the event:

“What The Hack grew out of a desire to prove that social good and commercial success were not mutually exclusive.

Bringing together a wide-ranging group of people with different backgrounds was the best way to achieve that.

When we held our first event, Hack FastFashion, we saw that we had the skills and the energy to make what we wanted a reality. We just kept going from there.

When the COVID lockdown came we took that as an opportunity to create something others weren’t doing, totally virtual hackathons.

Where we’d originally been focussed on bringing together a wide range of people within the Dublin tech community.

Virtual events have given us the ability and opportunity to reach a worldwide audience”.

What The Hack: What to expect

We then spoke about the different aspects of the event that people can look forward to:

During this event, participants can look forward to putting their skills and knowledge to use in creating a project that will help people across the globe lead healthier, happier lives.

Outside of this event, we’re hosting a hackathon for the Good Summit, partnering with British STEMvCOVID19 to power a global data-based event and more.

If participants get a taste for hackathons at this event there are plenty more in the pipeline for the rest of the year”.

Moving on, Sophie went into detail about the specific opportunities for people attending:

During the event, participants will have the opportunity to work with mentors and judges from Hilton Food, Trinity College Dublin, Origin Chain Network, Microsoft, IBM, Arthur COX, and 500 Startups.

They’ll have the chance to gain insights from keynote talks and to work one on one with mentors.

Participants have the opportunity to build their network with leaders in the field.

We’re also offering prizes of WebSummit tickets, desk space at Dublin BIC, Mentorship with industry experts, and more are still in the works.

As always our prizes focus on giving teams the support that they need to carry their idea forward in lieu of a monetary reward or swag.

After the event, all participants have the opportunity to join the What The Hack discussion forum through our partner Quorum.

We’re working in partnership with NetMinds to put teams in touch with others in the tech community outside of What The Hack.

This is to help them find potential collaborators who not only have the skills teams need but share their motivations as well”.

In terms of the different guest speakers, Sophie went through an extensive lineup of those taking part.

The  speakers include:

• Cillian Leonowicz
• Fiona Delaney
• Julia Waite
• Juarez Junior
• Sorcha Mulligan
• James Marshal
• Paul Killeen
• Lory Kehoe

What The Hack: Making the most of it

Sophie gave some helpful tips for those attending, so they can make the most of their time:

“Come with plenty of energy and an open mind! It will be an event packed with speakers, work time, and final pitches.

There’s a lot to do and very little time to do it all in.

But with energy and a lot of coffee, it’s possible.

Some of the best solutions that we’ve seen in past events came out of a team realizing that what they’d thought was the perfect solution just wouldn’t work.

Stay open to new ideas and be willing to change course at a moment’s notice.

That way you’ll be ready to absorb all of the information from our amazing speakers and mentors and create the best product at the end! (and hopefully, win!)”

Before we finished, Sophie expressed her delight at the number of people who were working to contribute to innovation:

“We are happy to see that the interest in working on meaningful projects is growing and we hope to contribute to the innovation in this world”.

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