Global Hackathon Event for College Students

IBM zDatathon Recap

IBM zDay Pre-Event

Key Metrics

7,203

Clicks on our SSF specific google form (tracked by bitly)

410

Total registration through our SSF specific google form

390

Total attendees of the SSF session on zDay

$1,100 to be distributed in prizes across all categories

Marketing efforts by SSF

Social media

4 paid ads posted on IG (targeting US, Europe, India, and Africa)
4 social media posts on SSF’s FB, IG and LI

Email

3 registration emails sent to ~3000 emails
3 engagement emails sent to all registrants

Text

2 mass text to the ~4000 numbers (~180 bitly clicks vs >7,000 on our SSF outreach link)

Whatsapp

1 group created for all registrants – engagement messages sent every 2-3 days

The Details

Program Goal

Create opportunity for college students to develop solutions to social issues in an intensive, collaborative environment using data science. While providing learning opportunities and mentorship from IBM Subject Matter Experts, opportunities to win prizes, meet new people, and learn new technologies along the way!

Audience

Enrolled College Students – Global
Both STEM & non-STEM Majors
Beginners Welcomed (no coding/ hackathon experience necessary)

Theme

Technology For Social Good – As data science grows in popularity and effectiveness, the IBM zDatathon guidelines looked for projects that used data to impact the world in a positive way

Datathon Overview

IBM zDatathon Journey

Participant Key Events

Past Winner Roundtable
IBM zDay
Speed Teaming event
Technology Workshop
IBM zDatathon Events
WInner Announcement & Career Panel

IBM zDatathon Journey

BEYOND Datathon – Participants encouraged to:

To continue learning journey through IBM Z Xplore
To register and participate in IBM zStudent Contest
Join IBM zSystems Global Student Hub
Follow Shooting Stars Communities (starting soon)
Invited to SSF future mentoring /volunteering / event management opportunities

Participant Break Down*

1229

Registrants

670

Final Participant
185 ONLINE
335 PES UNIVERSITY
150 JAYA COLLEGE

52

Submitted final projects
*view detailed breakdown next slide

Detailed Participant Breakdown

Race/Ethnicity	Participants
Asian (Other than Indian)	4
Indian	656
Black or African American	2
White or Caucasian	1
Decline to State	6

Age	Participants
18-20	445
21-23	96
24+	9
Not Accounted for	119*

State/Country	Participants
Kenya	3
Sri Lanka	4
India	660
Massachusetts	1
US	1
Tanzania	1

Gender	Participants
Male	356
Female	193
Decline to state	1
Not Accounted for	119*

*119 participants registered through (in person) link that did not require certain demographic information

Program Schedule Overview

Sept 10

How to Win a Hackathon

Datathon Overview
Round table with 2021 Datathon winners
Call to action for IBM zDay and following events

Sept 15

IBM zDay

Intro to Enterprise Computing
IBM zStudent Contest & IBM Z Xplore walkthrough
Over 150 students participated

Sept 17

Speed Teaming Event

Discord & Teaming Overview
100+ participants joined the event
Over 30 teams were formed in just under an hour

Sept 22

IBM Technology Training

ML on Z presentation by IBM SMEs
Shared best practices with students
Over 300 students participated in the event

Sept 23-24

Datathon Day 1-2

Opening Ceremony Hacking begins
Discord / IBM Mentorship
52 Projects Submitted via DevPost
Closing Ceremony

Sept 30

IBM Career Panel & Winners Announcement

Future in enterprise Computing Career Panel
7 winning teams announced

Certificates & Prizes

Pre-Datathon:	Qty	Prize Amount
Refer a Friend Winners	12	$10
Datathon Project Awards*:
Special Call Out	1	$125
3rd Place	1	$250
2nd Place	2	$500
1st Place	2	$1000
IBM zDay:
Kahoot Winners	3	$10
Big Learners	10	$30
Raffle Winners	50	$10
LinkedIn Learnings	3	$25
Post Datathon Awards:
Post Event Survey Raffle	3	$10
Post Event Video Entry	3	$10

*Datathon Project Awards

3 month mentorship from IBM
3 month L1CC access ($10K+ value)
Opportunity to visit the IBM Bangalore Systems Labs for winners who have earned their IBM Z Xplore Concepts Badge
Certificates of Achievement

All participants were awarded certificates of completion

Students in Action

1st Place - 1

Team: Lummox
Project: Emotion Detector

1st Place -2

Team: Byte Me
Project: Cervical Cancer Risk Detection

2nd Place - 1

Team: Incognito
Project: Scan Mart

2nd Place - 2

Team: Datavengers
Project: Diabetes Detection

3rd Place

Team: Mind Hackers
Project: Early Detection of Dyslexia

Special Call Out - 1

Team: Idly Samber
Project: Cyclone Intensity Prediction

Special Call Out - 2

Team: Fantastic 5
Project: Bone Break Classifier

Outcomes

Participants worked together to brainstorm and build final projects from scratch

Participants collaborated to develop a final pitch video to be submitted and reviewed by expert judges

Over $4500 distributed to participants in rewards and incentives

Students leave datathon journey with a fully developed final project ready to be showcased or further developed

Certificates and winners declared and award ceremony on final day

Participants reported a dramatic increase in their general understanding of IBM Z skills

Program Impact

Technical Skills

Project Development
Coding IBM zSystemst &
LinuxONE

Soft Skills

Teamwork and collaboration
Decision making
Time management
Communication

Strategic Skills

Innovative and creative thinking
Design
Influencing

Survey Results

50 %

of students reported their understanding of IBM Z skills increased significantly by participating in this event

50 %

of students reported they would you attend another hackathon by hosted by Shooting Stars and powered by IBM Z

50 %

of students reported that they would recommend this program to their friends

When asked how likely are they to start / continue their career in IBM Z Platform:

26 %

students reported highly likely

12 %

of students reported that they would recommend this program to their friends

50 %

of students reported they would be interested in hearing about career opportunities from IBM

*Results from feedback assessment

Feedback

“I think this is by far the best hackathon I’ve attended in my life.”

Participant

“The IBM SMEs were very very knowledgeable of every concept in ML. Looked at our project with interest. Guided us on the importance of putting in everything we did in the PPT.”

Participant

“I enjoyed the opportunity to meet many people. Nice networking. New ideas to implement in the future project. Amazing incites from the veterans of IBM.”

Participant

"I was introduced to the IBM Z editor, a wonderful product. We had to solve real world problems which added to the enthusiasm. Also, I enjoyed setting up the LinuxOne cloud."

Participant

“It is good to know that SSF team is willing to conduct the program in a broad environment. The way the students were grouped in order to ensure their interests meet each other and with better communication resulting better results!”

Participant