Resource:How to organize a start-up weekend

What is a Startup Weekend

 A startup weekend is an event organised by group of volunteers on the weekend days . It generally contains 20 to 100 participants(can also have 200 depending on the availability of space) where the participants are divided into small groups.Then the members of the group starts pitching their ideas and each group select the best idea out of different ideas pitched.These small groups can select the best idea by either interacting with the real customers or they simply can vote in for the best idea in their group.

Goal/Need of a Startup Weekend

The goal or the need of the startup weekend is to get the strongest business idea out of number of ideas pitched.The strongest idea is basically the most feasible, practical oriented and which will really impact the society after getting launched.Also this idea can make you earn some profits and can benefit the real world.It can also groom your managerial skills as well.Startup weekend aims to deliver experiential education and inspiration.

 Structure of the weekend (Activity and Content)

 The activity is basically a three day programme that starts from Friday and ends on late Sunday.Day 1 goes with introduction among people and interaction that breaks ice.Day 2 is a busy day.It entirely deals with introduction of ideas,presentations.Day 3 that is Sunday which starts at 10:00 in the morning and ends at somewhere around 4:00.It is this day when everyone come forward with presentations,prototyptes and students try to tell why is their idea on their product is the best and why a person should try investing their time or money for the service.

 Costs, Fundraising, Sponsorships, Finding money and Judgement criteria.

 In order to get the funds or sponsorship for the event you can approach various companies or you can simpy go to your departmental associations to help you with funds.You need to explain the whole idea and the goal of this event to the people you are approaching that how this event can benefit them as the sponsors.The judges should be selected in order to evaluate the strongest idea out of all and so that there is fair decision amog different teams.Also to avoid some kind of judgement challenge ,the selected judge should be revered among the society.

 Collaboration and Interactive environment 

 In order to organise this event we need to have a team, so that work can be done efficiently in a better way and by doing so we learn, how to work in collaboration with others to achieve a single aim i.e. to organise the event in best possible way. This give us the sense to work in a team and taking responsibilities make us good manager and a leader. Further in order to organise the event we need support of different industry and technical partners who can support us in terms of money and some technical guidance which is required to work in collaboration and to successfully organise this event.So to organise this event we need to have an environment which is collaborative and interactive in nature.

 Advertising, Branding, and Promotion

 Advertising or branding or promotion of the event plays an important role as it can decide the number of participation.You can use social networking sites also an advertising source of your event.The more participation you get,the more people you can interact with and ultimately the probability of getting the strongest idea is even greater.

Choosing event the date and location

Choosing date and location also plays a major role to attract the large number of participants.The location you choose should have enough capacity to accommodate  the number of participants you are inviting.Also the proper arrangements and management  will ensure the smooth functioning of the event.

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How to host an experiential event

*Intro (short paragraph describing your event, host, topic, numbers)

*Need and goal (what you did to assess the need and how this would fill that need)

*Audience (the primary audience for the event)

*Facilitator (how you determined who should run the event)

*Activity and content (how you found the type of activity and materials, and how you determined the learning or big-picture aspect)

*Format (the way the event is structured, length of the event, etc)

*Dates (how you selected the date during which the event was held)

*Fundraising and sponsorships (how you found the money and/or dealt with sponsors)

*Space (what elements you were looking for, the location, and how you found the right space)

*Branding (how you determined the name and overall message for the event)

*Promotion (how you invited participants and shared the details with your primary audience)

*Support (students, faculty, staff needed to facilitate prior to and during the event)

*Event logistics (what else needed to be done prior to and during the event)

*Media capture (how you arranged for photos or video to be captured)

*Activities (how the activities were presented and run)

*Evaluation (measuring impact and numbers of participants)

*Sustainability and planning for future events (elements necessary to ensure that the event would happen again if desired)

*Future leadership (how you figured out who would lead this event after you graduate)

*Lessons learned and tips for others (what worked and what didn't, and your recommendations for others)

Writen By:

By:sahana barki,rohit jatana,