Chapter 11: Recruit Your Crew
Judges, mentors, volunteers — the people who make it work
Your event is only as good as the people supporting it. Participants get the spotlight, but it's the judges, mentors, speakers, and volunteers behind the scenes who create the experience. This chapter covers how to find them, brief them, and set them up for success.
Judges
How many?
Typically 3–7 judges is the sweet spot. Fewer than 3 means individual biases dominate. More than 7 becomes logistically painful and doesn't improve quality.
What to look for
Good judges bring:
Relevant expertise — technical depth, industry knowledge, or domain experience related to your challenge tracks
Credibility — participants should feel like the judges are qualified to evaluate their work
Diversity — different backgrounds, perspectives, and expertise areas lead to fairer, more interesting results
Availability — judging takes time. Make sure they can commit to the full judging window, not just "pop in for 20 minutes"
Where to find them
Sponsors often want to provide judges (it's a benefit of sponsorship — leverage it)
Local tech community leaders, CTOs, product leaders
Past hackathon winners (they know what good looks like from the participant side)
University professors or researchers (for academic/themed events)
Domain experts (for themed hackathons — healthcare professionals, climate scientists, etc.)
Briefing your judges
Schedule a judge briefing 1 week before the event. Cover:
The event's objective and theme
Challenge tracks and what teams are working on
The judging rubric in detail — walk through each criterion and what each score level means (see Chapter 15)
The judging format (science fair rotation, presentation-style, asynchronous video review)
Logistics: when, where, how long, how to access the judging portal in BuilderBase
Expectations: be constructive, be fair, avoid format bias (especially in hybrid events)
How winners will be calculated (BuilderBase handles this automatically based on rubric scores)
Key message for judges: "Your job is to evaluate the work fairly and provide encouragement. Even teams that don't win should leave feeling their effort was valued."
Mentors
Why mentors matter
Good mentors are the difference between a team that gets stuck for 3 hours and a team that gets unstuck in 15 minutes. They don't write code for teams — they ask the right questions, point to the right resources, and help teams make decisions when they're paralysed.
How many?
Target roughly 1 mentor per 4–10 participants, depending on the event's complexity. More technical events need more mentors. Events with many newcomers need more mentors.
What skills to cover
Think about what your teams will need help with:
Technical skills — specific programming languages, frameworks, APIs being used
Design — UI/UX, user research, prototyping
Business/strategy — pitching, market analysis, product thinking
Domain expertise — specific to your theme (healthcare, fintech, sustainability)
Presentation — helping teams prepare their demos
You don't need every mentor to be a full-stack expert. Specialists who go deep in one area are often more useful than generalists.
Where to find them
Your sponsors' technical teams (they know their APIs/products)
Local developer communities and meetup groups
Alumni from past events
Your own team and network
University TAs and senior students
Professional mentoring organisations
Preparing mentors
Create a brief mentor guide covering:
The event schedule and their expected availability
Challenge tracks and technical context
How to be a good mentor: ask questions before giving answers, help teams think through problems rather than solving for them, be encouraging
How to handle teams that are stuck vs. teams that are going well
Communication channels (where to find teams that need help)
What to do if they spot a Code of Conduct issue
For on-site events: Mentors should circulate through the hacking area, proactively checking in with teams. Don't wait for teams to ask — many won't, especially newcomers.
For online events: Mentors should be active in Slack channels, available for video calls, and have scheduled "office hours" when teams can book time.
Critical: Explicitly pair mentors with newcomer teams. Don't leave matching to chance. First-timers are the least likely to ask for help and the most likely to need it.
Speakers & workshop leaders (optional)
Not every hackathon needs speakers or workshops. But if you're including them:
When workshops make sense
You have a significant number of newcomers who benefit from skill-building before hacking
Sponsor APIs or tools need introduction and hands-on guidance
Your theme requires domain context that participants might not have
Choosing workshop leaders
They should have run the same workshop before, or at minimum be experienced presenters
They should represent the diversity you want to see in your participant pool
45–90 minutes is the sweet spot for workshop duration
Interactive workshops (follow along on your laptop) beat lectures every time
Workshop logistics
Run workshops in a separate room if possible — don't interrupt the hackers
Leave 15–30 minutes between workshops for setup/teardown
Have helpers available (1 per 10–20 participants) for hands-on workshops
Record workshops for online participants or anyone who missed them
Volunteers
Roles to fill
Registration desk — greeting, checking in, distributing badges and swag
Door management — if the building requires key access, someone needs to let people in
Tech support — roving help for wifi, power, platform issues
Food management — setting up meals, labelling dietary restrictions, keeping coffee flowing, clearing up
Photography/social media — capturing the event for documentation and promotion
Room management — keeping hacking and workshop spaces running smoothly
Runner — the person who handles whatever comes up (emergency supply runs, lost items, etc.)
How many?
For a 100-person on-site event, plan for 6–10 volunteers (beyond your core organising team). For online events, fewer are needed but you still need people monitoring Slack and tech support.
Briefing volunteers
Hold a brief team meeting 1–2 days before the event covering:
The event schedule and their specific shift assignments
Their roles and responsibilities
Emergency procedures and contacts
Where to find supplies and resources
Code of Conduct enforcement process
How to escalate issues to the event director
Important: Volunteers need to eat too. Schedule their shifts so they get breaks, meals, and time to actually enjoy the event.
The "crew" checklist
Before your event, make sure you've confirmed:
Judges recruited, availability confirmed, rubric shared
Mentors recruited, skills mapped to challenge tracks, guide shared
Speakers/workshop leaders confirmed, presentations collected and tested
Volunteers recruited, roles assigned, shifts scheduled
Everyone briefed on schedule, expectations, and emergency procedures
Contact list compiled and shared with all crew members
Judge briefing session scheduled (1 week before)
Mentor and volunteer briefing scheduled (1–2 days before)
Key takeaways:
3–7 judges is the sweet spot; look for expertise, credibility, diversity, and real availability
Target 1 mentor per 4–10 participants; match mentor skills to your challenge tracks
Brief everyone properly — judges need rubric walkthroughs, mentors need context, volunteers need shift schedules
Explicitly pair mentors with newcomer teams — don't leave it to chance
Run workshops in a separate room and keep them interactive
Volunteers need breaks and meals too — schedule their shifts humanely