Build something that may seem useless to other people, but actually has a unique and specific purpose. The wackier it is, the better!
I got this idea through thinking about innovators like Simone Giertz and Michael Reeves. They make entertaining videos documenting them creating the most absurd project ideas, and sometimes they actually kinda work!
It'll be interesting to apply this concept into this hackathon. A few pros that I can think of at the top of my mind while writing this suggestion:
- Participants are more likely to build for fun rather than build to win. While it is good to have a hackathon idea that's pretty good and applicable beyond the hackathon, I think it'd be great to let participants express their creativity!
- Participants can be encouraged to try out and incorporate something new. This keeps the spirit of learning in hackathons alive!
- Participants can learn about the reason behind why best practices exist. For example, they may hit a roadblock because of their wacky and hacky implementations, but that's perfectly okay! At the very least, they've taken away the lesson that the way they've chosen isn't the best way, for example.