After the hackathon: how to move ideas forward and measure results.

Follow-up is prepared in advance. Write three things on the event page:

1. What happens to the projects. Are they for learning, for testing an idea or for going into the product? Tell the teams before the event, and write down that a project is allowed to fail.
2. Who owns the follow-up. Name the person who coordinates the follow-up before launch: at the awards, they are the one who asks for an owner for every idea.
3. Who owns the work and what participants receive. Write it into the rules, which participants see before they join. What participants receive on MARA is explained below. For the ownership options, start from the rules template.

• Results to everyone at the same time. Announce the winners within a week and write to the people who didn't win too: everyone who submitted wants to know how it went. On MARA, results arrive through an announcement in the challenge, each person's updated status and an email notification.
• Individual notes. On MARA you can send individual notes to people who submitted. Three lines against the criteria are enough: what worked, what didn't and why.
• Certificates. On MARA, certificates are issued at the end of the challenge to everyone who submits, winners or not (certificates).
• Contacts. If the goal was hiring, write to the people you want to meet and update their status in the candidates list.
• Surveys. Send them to participants and shorter ones to judges and mentors. The 10-question participant survey is further down.

The organizer is accountable for the event. After judging, someone has to be accountable for the idea, and that takes three lines. For every proposal that moves forward: a name, a first step and a decision date 30 to 60 days out with three possible outcomes (proceed, revise, stop). For the most promising proposals, you can set up a small group that runs a pilot with customers or with an internal department.

So that no submission is left without an answer, give each one a single decision from this closed list, with an owner and a date:

1. Continue: the idea moves forward, with a first step and someone to follow it.
2. Validate further: it needs evidence first, for example a test with users or with a department.
3. Integrate into a product or process: part of the work goes into something that already exists.
4. Publish: the work becomes an article, a case or open-source code, if the challenge rules and the team allow it.
5. Meet the people: the organizer decides, and invites the people they want to get to know. MARA does not propose candidates today.
6. Archive with lessons learned: two lines on what it taught you, to reread before the next edition.

For the first three decisions, on the set date the owner chooses between proceed, revise and stop.

Don't look only at the winner. A peer-reviewed study by the University of Tartu and Carnegie Mellon (Nolte, Chounta and Herbsleb, 2020) found that skill diversity within the team is linked to projects continuing over time. An owner can pick up a proposal that did not win.

Invite the people who plan the roadmap to the final presentations: a decision date only works if the decision-makers already know the proposals.

Within three weeks of the event, send everyone an email with a link to the recap page. Keep the same order every time, so you can compare one edition with the next:

1. The "In brief" box at the top, with fixed labeled lines (template below), then one sentence on the goal and how it went.
2. Winners and mentions, each with the reason tied to the criteria.
3. What the best submissions had in common: two or three concrete traits, for example a tightly scoped problem or a test with real users. They help the people who take part next time.
4. What happens now: the decision from the list above for every submission, with its owner and date.

IN BRIEF
Event: [name and edition]
Organizer: [company, university or association]
Dates: [days, month, year]
Venue or online: [venue and city / online]
Format and length: [for example a 24-hour hackathon]
Participants: [number] ([number] submissions)
Teams: [number]
Judges: [number]
What ran on MARA: [for example teams, submissions, announcements, certificates]
Source: [link to the event page or article]

Put submissions, names and photos on the page only with the teams' consent.

For an example with numbers and a public source, see the H-ACK case. After 30 to 60 days, update the page with the decisions taken: participants want to know what happened to their work.

One meeting within two weeks with every role: organizers, judges, mentors, the problem owner and, if involved, legal. Three questions: what worked, what needs to change, what it cost. For cost, work out the total and the cost per participant, meaning the total divided by the people who showed up: it lets you compare two editions. If sponsors or management expect an update, send the report within the same two weeks.

Sign-ups and submissions describe the event. The result depends on why you ran it, so pick the metric together with the goal. For an internal hackathon, look at the long term too: the share of ideas implemented after 12 months.

Three checks apply to every goal: submissions divided by sign-ups, survey responses and hours spent by organizers and judges. MARA gives no scores: for metrics it gives you submissions in one place, the participant list with statuses your people set and Excel or ZIP export. You do the math, in a spreadsheet for example.

• Individual notes, if the organizer sends them.
• A verifiable certificate issued by MARA to everyone who submits, naming the challenge and the organizer, ready for LinkedIn.
• A MARA portfolio holding, for each challenge, the brief, their role in the team, the work submitted and the certificate.
• The prize set before publishing: an interview, an internship or a day with the team, for example.

Ownership is a separate matter: it is set in the challenge rules, which participants see before they join. Write it into the rules and repeat it on the recap page. Everyone who submits keeps their certificate and portfolio either way.

Send it within a week with the survey tool you already use. On MARA you can share the link in a challenge announcement. Keep it anonymous or ask for consent, in line with GDPR.

1. How clear was the brief? (1-5)
2. Were the judging criteria clear before you started? (yes / partly / no)
3. Was the time right for the deliverable? (too little / right / too much)
4. How many hours did you spend in total? (number)
5. Did you get answers to your questions in time? (1-5)
6. How well did your team work together, or how did working alone go? (1-5 and comment)
7. Did you use AI tools? What for? (open)
8. What did you learn that you didn't know before? (open)
9. How useful was the feedback you received? (1-5 / none received)
10. Would you join the next edition? What would you change? (yes / maybe / no and open)

Questions 2, 5 and 9 tell you whether people saw the event as fair; question 4 helps you size the next deliverable. To plan the next edition, start from the checklist or go back to the home page.