HackMTL June 9th – Schedule & Details
(…be there before 9am, make it 830am, the breakfast and rocket fuel is on us!)
HackMTL is on Saturday! That’s tomorrow. Race Day Baby! I hope you are all as excited as we are! Here is everything you need to know about the day’s schedule and logistics:
Registration
Registration is still open but will be closing shortly as there are just a handful of spots left. You don’t need a print out of your confirmation, an email receipt is just fine.
Bring your own mug
A reminder: HackMTL is a disposable cups free event! So that means you will need to bring your portable mug, thermos or whatever! If you don’t have one, well you still have time to head to the store and get yourself a fancy one. Make sure you can use it for both cold beverages and hot ones and you will be set for the next decade! Help us reduce and reuse! And now on to what you really have been waiting for.
HackMTL Sat. June 9th
Location: HackMTL will take place at Cossette’s offices in downtown Montreal, located at 2100 rue Drummond, between Sherbrooke and de Maisonneuve. Doors will be open at 8am for you early birds. The closest subway station is Peel, just two block east of the office.
Schedule:
| Time | What’s Happening |
| 9:00 a.m. | Breakfast and introductions. Meet your HackDays organizers and all the developers, get acquainted with the space + final schedule. Grab a breakfast of champion and claim a spot for the day. |
| 9:30 a.m. | API Presentations. Each API provider will have 5 minutes to present their API to everyone. They will discuss the salient features of the API and try to get you excited about using their API. This won’t be your only opportunity to learn about the APIs. All API providers will be on hand the entire day and will provide additional instructions and support. |
| 10:15 a.m. | Open Planning. Come up with an idea for an application and build your team. If you already have a team and an idea, you go ahead and skip this step. Otherwise: make sure your idea is something you will be able to build in a few hours, write your idea on the whiteboard and see if you can find a developer to join you in building it. We will make introductions and will assist in this process. |
| 10:30 a.m. | Let the hacking begin! Claim a table and get to work! The API sponsors will be available to answer questions all day long. |
| 12:00 noon | Lunch. Grab lunch or skip lunch. It will be there for you  |
| 1:00 p.m. | More hacking! You’ve got until 5:30 p.m. to finish. FINISH. Don’t get distracted! Help yourself to any drink you need, coffee, energy snacks. And let us know if you need anything at all. |
| 5:30 p.m. | Presentations. To present, you will need to have completed your application. Incomplete applications don’t get a spotlight. Every team gets 3 minutes to present. Make sure you test your connection to the projector in advance of your presentation. 3 minutes goes by fast if you are battling the projector in front of the judges. |
| 7:00 p.m. | Judging and prizes. Our awesome judges will select the winners. Good luck! |
| 7:30 p.m. | Post Hack Beer-up at a nearby pub. |
Frequently Asked Questions:
Am I allowed to use third party APIs (APIs not provided via HackTO) to build my application?
Yes. But your usage of the third party APIs needs to be in addition to the HackTO APIs. Also keep in mind that judging is partially based on utilization of the provided APIs, though, so their use should be prominent. You can use any API you wish to use during HackTO as long as you use at least one of the provided APIs.
What if I don’t know anyone when I get to HackTO or if I don’t have any ideas as to what to build?
Oh that’s an easy one: if you don’t know anyone, that will last about 10 seconds once you join us. Seriously. And as to ideas: not to worry, there will be plenty to choose from. The better question: will you have enough time to build your application and showcase it to the judges at the end of the day. We will do our best to connect you to other developers. Have a look at the API provided, the API gallery for each provider and do some research ahead of time on the APIs and what other developers have previously built.
What if I have an idea and a team already?
That’s a great start. Bring your team. Bring your idea. And get working as soon as you get to HackTO. Perhaps we will be able to witness the birth of your startup right then and there!
How large can my team be?
Teams can be as large or as small as you like. Solo is okay, too. A 2-3 people team is ideal typically.
What to bring:
- Your Guestlist receipt. You don’t need to print it, an email you can show us is fine. HackTO will be sold out and there will be no registration at the door
- Your laptop.
- Your mobile device if you are developing a mobile app.
- Cables, chargers and connectors for any of the above.
- A power bar – there are never enough power bars to go around!
- Your data stick if you have one – could come in handy if our network gets overloaded
- Your sense of humor and your ability to get along with everyone while in tight quarters!
- Your portable coffee cup – we try to keep disposables to a minimum in our events.
What we will provide:
- APIs, API support
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Coffee, tea, juice, pop
- Snacks and beers @ beer o’clock (sponsored by CloudOps)
- Wireless internet access
- Display for presentations, with HDMI and SVGA input (we recommend you bring your own connectors, but we will have some handy as well)
- Smiles!
- An awesome developer community!
Post Hack Beer-up (7:30 PM to 9:30 PM - location TBD)
We are getting together at a pub/bar near the HackMTL location, post hack and prizes. Come and join us for a couple of pints and to meet other developers. This will also be an occasion to present any hacks that perhaps didn’t work or weren’t ready for the final presentations but we still would like to recognize the effort placed during the hack. We can all chat at the pub and organize as needed.
Anyone is welcome to join us at the pub, so please bring a friend.
If I have questions whom do I get in touch with?
You can drop us an email anytime with any question. We are happy to help. You can call me directly 514-975-2723 anytime.
Of course this is not just about glory, it is about prizes as well! Stay tuned for our prizes!
Good luck everyone and see you soon.
