Starting your own Breakout Group
Published on Aug 10, 2017 by Rapi Castillo
An SMS focused Breakout group at Progressive Hacknight
Hi! Rapi here. I want to encourage you and share how you can start your own Breakout Group at Progressive Hacknight. We normally have 40-60 people in our hack nights (and growing!) and some of them are looking for projects to brainstorm with, code on, or just practice a new skill. If you are working on a civic/progressive application, consider starting a breakout group by doing the steps below!
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Checkout out the breakout page. This page lists all the active breakout groups in the community and can provide a guide on how to start your own.
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If you’re ready to enlist your breakout group head over to GitHub and write it up (or Google Form)! We have provided a template for you to follow. It’s somewhat long, but this will give the community an amazing context about what your project is and how they can contribute.
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On the hack night itself, focus on what you’re trying to achieve that specific hacknight. Do you need help assessing requirements? Do you plan on coding? Do you want help on testing? Having a clear plan for the breakout will help bring the right people to your project.
You can always approach any of the steering committee members and tell them about your breakout idea. We’re all about making great ideas happen and we have already helped a number of projects to get started. Just last hack night, Len Rodberg told me that his project, infoshare.org, has engaged UX/UI people and coders to help him revitalize his non-profit website through Progressive Hacknight.
Vesha wrote an amazing article about how you can ramp up your projects in the hack night. After you’ve created your breakout group, be sure to read that too!
Your project provides an opportunity for people to work on something they believe in, feel passionate about, and at the same time have fun coding! That is why – with your help – we will continuously develop ways to make the breakouts better!
About the author
Rapi is a member of the ProgHacknight steering committee.