Chapter 18: Growing Your Community
From one event to a movement
Congratulations — you've run an event. People showed up, built things, learned stuff, and (hopefully) had a great time. Now what?
The real magic isn't in any single event. It's in what happens afterward: the relationships that form, the projects that continue, the community that returns for the next one. This chapter covers how to turn a one-off hackathon into an ongoing community and a repeating event.
The 48-hour follow-up
Strike while the iron is hot. Within 48 hours of the event:
Thank everyone. Send personalised thank-you emails to:
All participants (include survey link, photos, winner announcements)
Sponsors (include initial stats, highlight photos — full report comes later per Chapter 17)
Judges and mentors
Volunteers and staff
Share the highlights:
Post a winner announcement to social media with photos and project descriptions
Share a highlight reel or photo gallery
Tag sponsors and partners
Encourage participants to share their own posts and experiences
Get feedback. Send a participant survey within 48 hours — response rates drop dramatically after that. Include:
Overall satisfaction (1–10 scale)
What they enjoyed most (open-ended)
What could improve (open-ended)
Specific ratings: venue/platform, food, schedule, support, judging
Likelihood to return (NPS-style)
Was it their first hackathon? How was the newcomer experience?
Would they recommend this event?
Open-ended comments
Supporting winning projects (the hidden ROI)
Here's something most organisers miss: following up on winning projects is where the real impact happens.
During a hackathon, teams build rough prototypes. Some of those prototypes have genuine potential — but they'll die on the vine without continued support. The 48 hours after the event is when winning teams are most motivated and most fragile.
Concrete follow-up actions:
Schedule a call with each winning team within 1–2 weeks
Offer continued mentorship — connect them with relevant experts
Make introductions to stakeholders, potential users, investors, or accelerators
If sponsors offered resources (cloud credits, continued API access), ensure delivery
Track project progress at 3 and 6 months — are teams still working on it?
Why this matters for you: Projects that continue after the hackathon become your best marketing stories. "This company started as a hackathon project at our event" is the ultimate testimonial. Track these outcomes and share them.
The team retrospective
Within one week of the event, hold a full team retrospective with your organising team. This is the single most valuable artefact for your next event.
Cover:
What went well? Write it down explicitly so you can repeat it. This is the most valuable output — good things don't replicate by accident.
What didn't go well? Write it down so you can avoid it. Be honest. No blame — just learning.
What surprised us? Every event produces surprises. Capture them.
What would we do differently? Specific, actionable changes for next time.
Action items for next time with owners assigned.
Publish the post-mortem to a shared space (your Notion, a shared doc). It's the most important document you'll write. Six months from now, when you're planning the next event, future-you will be incredibly grateful for past-you's detailed notes.
Keeping the community alive
The community channel (Slack/Discord) you built for the event doesn't have to die when the event ends. But it will if you don't actively nurture it.
What to post after the event:
Project deep dives: detailed write-ups of winning and notable projects
Photos and video highlights
"Where are they now?" updates on teams and their projects
Relevant articles, job opportunities, and resources
Invitations to other community events
BuilderBase keeps your event page live as a project showcase after the event ends — submitted projects remain browsable, which gives participants something to point to and share.
Community activities between events:
"Show and tell" sessions: monthly video calls where teams share progress
AMA sessions with mentors, judges, or industry experts
Mini-challenges or coding prompts
Social meetups (virtual coffee, casual hangouts)
Job and collaboration boards
The key principle: Provide genuine value, don't just spam. A quiet channel with occasional quality content is better than a noisy channel with daily self-promotion.
Planning the next event
If your first event went well, start thinking about the next one:
When to announce: Tease "next event" at your closing ceremony while excitement is high. Share a tentative date even if details aren't finalised.
What to improve: Use your retrospective notes, survey feedback, and financial data to make your next event better.
The repeat advantage: Your second event is dramatically easier than your first. You have: a tested format, a proven team, a warm sponsor pipeline, an existing community, photos and testimonials for marketing, and — most importantly — experience.
Growth strategies:
Increase capacity gradually (don't double your size overnight)
Add complexity slowly (don't try hybrid if you haven't mastered on-site)
Diversify your challenge tracks to attract broader audiences
Partner with other organisations for co-branded events
Consider a regular cadence (quarterly, bi-annual, annual)
The flywheel
Over time, a well-run event creates a self-reinforcing cycle:
Great event → happy participants → strong word-of-mouth → more registrations next time → more sponsor interest → bigger budget → even better event → happier participants → ...
The flywheel takes time to build momentum. Your first event might feel scrappy. Your third will feel smooth. Your tenth will feel like a well-oiled machine. Each iteration adds data, relationships, and institutional knowledge that makes the next one better.
The key is to start. Your first event won't be perfect — and that's fine. What matters is that people leave energised, connected, and wanting to come back. Everything else can be improved next time.
A note on giving back
The hackathon community is generous. You learned from other organisers' playbooks, guides, and shared knowledge. Pay it forward:
Share your post-mortem publicly (blog post, community post)
Offer to mentor first-time organisers
Open-source your templates, rubrics, and tools
Speak at other events about what you've learned
The strongest communities are the ones that help each other grow.
Key takeaways:
Follow up within 48 hours: thank-you emails, photos, survey
Support winning projects — they're your best long-term marketing stories
Hold a team retrospective within one week and publish the post-mortem
Keep the community channel alive with genuine value, not spam
Your second event is dramatically easier — the repeat advantage is real
The flywheel (great event → community → sponsors → better event) takes time but compounds
Start. It won't be perfect. That's okay. Just make people want to come back.