Conference in Italy's beautiful landscape with AI as a theme

Conferences tend to be fun when it comes to the social part and maybe a bit boring when it comes to the formal conference part with a lot of PowerPoints and long presentations (at other workplaces 😉) So we thought that now we should do something completely different! No sooner said than done! We wanted our first international conference to be a Hackathon!

Hackathon

We have good experience of hackathons - where you work in small groups to explore, test and produce. In workshop format, hypotheses are tested and prototypes are coded and created. You have fun, you throw up ideas, you discard, you start over, you experiment and you succeed! You have to go a bit "bananas" so to speak.

We were divided into seven different groups and each group was composed with different skills and experience. The actual assignment was given to the groups in advance so that they could talk together and prepare already at home in Sweden.

The theme was AI

The task was to create something of value with the help of AI linked to Optimizely - for customers or ourselves - the choice was free! And how creativity flowed! With some guidelines, deadlines and three coaches who went around among the groups, the result was absolutely fantastic! The fact that we were able to do this in a fantastic environment in beautiful Piedmont in Italy did not make things worse! 

Result

The result exceeded expectations, not only did we get to know each other better and had a great time, all the groups delivered results that we can continue to build on and use - some prototypes and ideas we have even already demonstrated for some customers!  it's working intensively together, which also fits so well into Epinova's culture of helping each other, sharing knowledge and succeeding together with our customers!   

Lessons

A few tips along the way, if you want to try a different conference setup. After all, it doesn't have to be developers who code code 😎.  

• Choose a theme, delimit and provide clear conditions and frameworks.
• Divide into smaller groups, so everyone is involved and contributes. We had four people in each group. 
• Let the groups prepare at home, talk to each other, materials and possibly licenses may be needed, etc., then you do not waste unnecessary time once in place.
• Make sure you have enough time for the work on site. We did two mornings - a total of 6 hours (some groups continued to work on the free time), plus 1.5 hours for the presentation on the last day. 
• Get the right mood going every morning with the help of a fun check-in exercise all together - preferably where you move and there is laughter. Then nervousness and performance anxiety disappear.
• Go around to the groups at given times and check how they are doing, that they are not stuck, ask questions and give encouragement.  
• Provide input on what is expected in the actual presentation in addition to the idea and demo, e.g. the work process, obstacles encountered and how the collaboration worked, etc.
• Of course, the results should be documented and collected in one place. We got to see everything from movies to figma prototypes to executable code and editors in action.
• Take a lot of photos - it will be fun afterwards as documentation of the days.

Want to know more

Are you curious about what we came up with for smart AI solutions and if it could be something for your own Optimizely solution? Don't hesitate to get in touch! We're happy to tell you!