A talk I gave at the Feb 11, 2014 Girl Geek Sydney event at Atlassian. The evening was themed around the upcoming "She Hacks" female hackathon event, and my talk was on the importance of being able to present and sell your idea.

1. PRESENTING
YOUR HACK
CHANNELING YOUR INNER PEGGY OLSON

2. “In the modern world of business, it is useless
to be a creative original thinker unless you
can also sell what you create. Management
cannot be expected to recognize a good idea
unless it is presented to them by a good
salesman.”
- David Ogilvy
THE IMPORTANCE OF SELLING

3. EVERYTHING
SELLING = WINNING

4. ?
WHAT WOULD PEGGY DO?
“Slogan’s nothing when you have a good idea.” - Peggy

5. 1
2
34
PLAN
PRACTICE
LOTS
STOP EARLY
DON’T BREAK
STUFF
BUILD
ONLY WHAT’S
NEEDED
5
PRESENT
AND SELL LAY THE
GROUNDWORK
YOUR HACKATHON PLAN

6. PLAN
WHO ARE THE JUDGES?
You’ve only got 15 hours. Use them wisely!
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
ENVISION THE IDEAL DEMO
WORK BACKWARDS FROM THERE

7. You aren’t going to build a
full 1.0 version of your app
in the time allotted.
What do you need to SELL
us on it? That’s where you
should focus your energy.
BUILD
MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT
THINK MVP
Photo by Pratul Kalia

8. The worst thing is to break
your project right before
you demo it. Stop at least
an hour before the
deadline and make sure it’s
in a demo-able state.
STOP EARLY
DON’T BREAK STUFF
AT LEAST 1 HOUR
Photo by Lynn Kelley Author

9. PRACTICE LOTS
Don’t forget your planning! Keep audience in mind.
Photos by umjanedoan, Earls37a, Michael Dunn, Sybren Stüvel, Alexey Kljatov, and Marsh Gardiner.

10. INFORM WOW
PRESENT
Don’t forget to leave time for questions!

11. 1
2
34
PLAN
PRACTICE
LOTS
STOP EARLY
DON’T BREAK
STUFF
BUILD
ONLY WHAT’S
NEEDED
5
PRESENT
AND SELL LAY THE
GROUNDWORK
YOUR HACKATHON PLAN

12. MY HACKATHON TEAM
Team Sarcastic Pig, People’s Choice Winners, August 2013

13. THANK YOUFOR YOUR ATTENTION.
HTTP://WWW.WEB-GODDESS.ORG/
KRIS HOWARD