MDN/Hack on MDN/How to guide

How to run a "Hack-on-MDN" event

This page provides guidance on planning and running a "Hack-on-MDN" event. See MDN/Hack on MDN for background on these events.

Planning

Determine the goals

Have a clear idea of what the goals are for the event, for both content and community. This helps drive your planning of lower-level details.

• Do you want to document a particular topic area?
• Do you want to create a particular type of data, documents, or resources? For example, code examples or translations in a particular language.
• Do you want to attract new people to contribute to MDN?
• Do you want to increase cohesion among existing community members?

Pick dates and times

For in-person stand-alone events that require travel, we've found that three days (such as two weekend days plus one weekday) is enough time to get some significant work done, without taking too much time away from everyone's normal lives.

For events in conjunction with another, larger event such as a conference, a single day added on before or after the main conference works well. If the conference already has an "extra" day for tutorials or open-source "sprints", you may be able to piggyback on resources such as space that are already allocated. Work with the conference organizers as early as possible in this case, and ensure that your event is included in their promotions, so attendees know to include the extra day when booking travel and hotels.

Whether to add the extra day before or after the main event depends on factors such as space availability and timing (e.g., the day of the week). Scheduling before the main event means that attendees are still fresh and enthusiastic. Scheduling after the main event enables attendees to deepen relationships they may have just formed.

Note: scheduling a Hack on MDN event during another conference or event has not worked well; attendees are typically more interested in the main event, and don't have blocks of time to concentrate on hacking.

Promote the event

Even if your event is open to the "public", you should invite a few key people whom you know will participate. Work with them when selecting dates, to ensure that they are available during the chosen dates. If these folks are well-known experts in the topic, you can to use their involvement to help promote the event.

For public events, identify existing groups that have an interest in the topic. If the Hack on MDN event is connected to a conference, the conference attendees are an obvious pool to tap. You can also, for example, promote it to local web-developer meetup groups in the area where it will be held. Send an announcement through whatever channel is appropriate to that group, in addition to any other general promotion you do.

Use the social media channels that are appropriate to reach your target attendees. We have found that for Web developers, this means Twitter, more than Facebook or LinkedIn. However, popular channels can vary geographically (such as Orkut in Brazil). Reach out to a few well-connected people who have a large following among your target audience, and ask them to re-share your posts.