The exact workshop flow for picking an idea, scoping fast, and shipping a strong AI prototype in hackathon time.
Look for a real problem with a connection to your life.
Validate quickly: where are people talking about it, and what are they saying?
Check if a solution already exists, then iterate instead of remaking the same thing.
Decide a scope that is demoable in the next 2 days.
Choose a challenge bigger than 30 minutes, but not "solving cancer."
Pick 1-3 wow features and spend your energy there.
Define done as a mini PRD: inputs, process, outputs.
Your project can be great, but if it does not meet judging criteria, it will not score well.
PRIORITY 01
Rubric first
Map each feature to a judging criterion before building.
PRIORITY 02
Core flow
Make one full user flow stable before adding extras.
PRIORITY 03
Demo reliability
Optimize for what you can show clearly under time pressure.
Get the free trial and set up your project workspace.
Start with a README.md: stack, requirements, and features.
Context matters: clear prompting is a real life skill and directly improves code quality.
Workshop exercise: build a simple AI chatbot.
Choose models intentionally: each model has strengths, costs, and speed tradeoffs.
Get ready
Install GitHub app, create account, create the hackathon repo.
Work as a team
Add collaborators and use a clean git workflow for shared progress.
Use the resources in the Hackathon website during build day for links, docs, and team support.
