The QA Hackathons are community supported events. There is no committee deciding who should organise an event, no restrictions on experience of organising any previous event. You just need the support of your local community and some sponsors to help cover any costs, such as venue, travel and accommodation expenses, as well as food and drink during the event to keep the hackers focused.

If you feel your user group or your company can host a QA Hackathon, then let potential invited attendees know of your plans, both to guage their availability and to discover whether anyone else has contacted them regards hosting the event. Once you have enough details in place to feel confident that you can host the event, please advertise on suitable news/blog websites and via any other appropriate medium or your intentions.

Birmingham Perl Mongers currently co-ordinate the domain qa-hackathon.org, so please contact Barbie to arrange for the DNS entries of a suitable domain to be pointed at your webserver.

If you wish to utilise the ready made features available in the Act software, to promote your event, please contact the Act mailing list and request a template site be set up for you.

In order to host a QA Hackathon, there are a few things you'll need. Firstly, a venue. Judge how many people you expect to attend (typically about 30) and find suitable space to accommodate the full attendance, as well as some smaller rooms/areas for smaller focus groups to discuss ideas and hack. You'll also need to provide accommodation for many attendees, try to find somewhere close and reasonably cheap, as some will be willing to pay for themselves. You'll also need some sponsors to help cover costs. If you can get an early sponsor this helps emmensely, but don't be afraid to continue looking for sponsors after you announce your intention to host the event. You'll also need sponsorship to cover flight and travel expenses of many attendees, as most often are unable to attend with the support of their employer. Those that can, please consider their companies as sponsors, as they help to make the event happen. Promote the event to the mailing lists and websites that are likely to be read by the hackers you wish to have attend. Invite specific hackers and ensure they can attend.

If you need help or advice organising a QA Hackathon, please feel free to contact previous organisers. It is a worthwhile event, and we are happy to help were we can.

Currently this site is only available in English. If you are interested in providing translations to other languages, please email Barbie, and we will provide a language pack, to help us translate the text on the site.