Naming and Framing Your Event

Choosing a name and theme (if desired) is your first opportunity to market your event and establish expectations. The terminology you use should align with the audience you want to attract and the goals you hope to achieve. Treat this information as a guide to help you find the best fit for your unique community.

Tips for choosing for your audience

The language you use directly impacts who feels welcome and able to participate. Align your event title with the disciplines you most want to attract. Some participants might excel at code while others may thrive with 3D printing, soldering, or physical assembly.

Audience Focus	Example Names	Events
Design/Art/Tech/ Textiles	Makeathon or Design Challenge	DesignVerse, Fashion/Tech Hackathon
Robotics/IoT/Electronics	Hardware Hackathon or Buildathon	MakeUC, MakeUofT
Sustainability/Civic Engagement	Design Challenge or SDG Buildathon	CivicHacks, Hack for LA

Tips for choosing your goals

Your event's framing should clearly communicate its primary purpose, whether it's focused on education, innovation, advocacy, or something else.

Goal: Encouraging Learning and Skill Acquisition

If the primary goal is hands-on education, emphasize skill growth and the opportunity to "see everyone grow and make." Highlight access to makerspaces and workshops. Provide asynchronous content (resource videos or handouts) ahead of time to efficiently address the hardware learning curve.

Goal: Driving Product Ideation and Innovation

If the primary goal is to generate concrete, viable solutions for a partner or theme, emphasize the creation of market-ready prototypes. Host mandatory stakeholder workshops at the start to provide problem overviews and resources. Structure the event with critical design check-ins (best with stakeholders or a designated mentor) and a final time-constrained pitch and demonstration. Themes might focus on a specific function, or add constraints (i.e. must fit in a pocket). Products should aim to look and feel like they could exist in a commercial market.

Goal: Promoting Advocacy and Awareness

If the primary goal is to raise awareness for a civic or sustainable cause, marketing should highlight calls to action and achieving real-world impact. Partner with external organizations (e.g., non-profits) to provide real-world insights, frame the problems, and offer additional resources (mentoring, subject matter expertise).

These are just some of the more common goals of hardware focused-events, you can choose your own goals not listed here!