🧐 About

Ever wanted to supercharge your online hackathon with Discord but didn't know where to start? Fear not! This template, and the documentation below, gets you set up and running with your very own Hackathon Discord server in minutes. With a one-click server template packed full of pre-configured channels and roles, and all the documentation and resources to get your event going, this is your one-stop shop for running a successful hackathon - or any other virtual event - on Discord.

🏁 Getting Started

To get started with all these fantastic resources, you'll need the GitHub Student Developer Pack, a Discord account, and a little background knowledge of Discord! If you already have all of these, you can speed through to using the Hackathon Template below and begin fleshing out your server with Bots, graphics, and event ideas.

Prerequisites

🎒 Get the GitHub Student Developer Pack
Create a Discord account
📖 Check out the Beginner's Guide to Discord

Setting up your server

Now that you're all set up with the Student Developer Pack, have a Discord account, and know the basics of using Discord, you're ready to create your very own Hackathon server! We've provided a Discord Server template at the link below to get you started. This template comes pre-loaded with all the channels, roles, and permissions you need for a Hackathon server.

⚠️ You can only use this template to set up a brand new server, so if you've already got a server going, you can either delete it and start a new one or open up the template on a spare server and use it for inspiration and improvement!

🔗 Hackathon Server Template

Enable community features

To make the best of the Discord features, you'll need to enable the community features. You can do that by reading the instructions in the Discord App Docs. These features will unlock the following community tools:

Announcements channel
Welcome screen
Server insights

Personalize your server

Add an image icon to your server
Create a welcome message for new users to read
Use emojis in your server channels

Assign roles to users

Invite the hackathon staff, speakers, mentors and sponsors to your server and assign them the role that suits them better. You can read more about the server roles in the Template Structure section.

Add sponsors

To provide visibility to your sponsors, you can create a category for each of them. We added an example of how this will look in the Sponsor category of the template.

By default, there is no voice channel. But we suggest that sponsors can open a support voice channel within their sponsor category to help out attendees or interact with them. To give sponsors permission to open a voice channel in their sponsor category, give the manage channels permission to either:

each individual member
the Sponsor role

🤖 Bots

Use the following bots to create your own custom commands and functionality. These bots will help you automate your event, making it more interactive, easy to manage and fun! We highly encourage you to customize these bots to your event needs.

Bot	Description
Zira.gg	Zira lets users add and remove roles for themselves by simply reacting to a message.
Ticket Tool	Ticket Tool is a highly versatile support bot for Discord. It allows private support channels, or Tickets, between your staff team and individual users to be created.
GearBot	GearBot is a feature-rich moderation bot, which allows easy automatic moderation with censored words, infraction management, and utility commands, to help you maintain a positive and welcoming server.
Skyra	Skyra is a multi-purpose Discord Bot designed to run the majority of tasks with a great performance and constant 24/7 uptime. It includes reactions roles, moderation, tools, etc. For a full list of all commands, visit the commands page.
Modmail	Modmail is similar to Reddit's Modmail, both in functionality and purpose. It serves as a shared inbox for server staff to communicate with their users in a seamless way. This bot is free for everyone and always will be. It's easy to setup and it is really helpful for one who is looking for a good support system.
Apollo	All-in-one calendar bot for Discord. Recurring events, magic time zones, event reminders, role based sign-ups, and more!

Tips & Tricks

Have multiple admins that can create and manage roles, channels, and permissions as needed and have a clear rotation of admins through the length of the event that can react to the event needs.
Tell judges not to answer DMs from attendees unless your team agrees to provide feedback to attendees.

Template Structure

The structure and roles of the template are considered minimal for any hackathon - but it's a good starting point for any type of virtual event. Let's take a look at the channels and roles:

Roles

Event Staff: Anyone involved in the event organization. Can be a host, moderator, or volunteer. This role has moderator permissions and can mute, kick, and ban users.
Mentor: An individual who is a part of the event and provides advice to attendees.
Speaker: An individual who is a part of the event and delivers content through talk or workshop.
Judge: An individual who is a part of the event and evaluates the projects based on criteria.
Attendee: Any individual who is a part of the event and is participating or lurking on the event server.

Categories and channel

Welcome
- A: 📢| announcements
- T: #👋| welcome
- T: #📝| rules
- T: #❓| faq-and-resources
- T: #🌱| getting-started
Mod
- T: #💬| staff-chat
- T: #🎖| judging
- T: #🛡| mod-log
- V:📣 Staff War Room
General
- T: #🔰| introductions
- T: #💬| general
- T: #❓| event-questions
- V:🏛 Main Stage
- V:☕️ Lounge
- V:🎙 Breakout Room
Sponsor-1
- T: #💬| sponsor-1
Activities
- T: #👾| off-topic
- T: #🎒| workshop
- V:🎙 workshop
Mentoring
- T: #👤| whois
- T: #✋| get-a-mentor
- T: #💬| mentor-room
- V:🎙 Mentor Room

Additional Resources

Claim your Virtual Event Kit benefits and organize virtual events like a pro without paying for tools or services.
Learn how to moderate a Discord server with Discord's moderation guides.
Join the Major League Hacking hackathon season.
Read the hackathon organizer guide.