Major League Hacking 2017 Hackathon Season

Mark Your Trail

April 6-8, 2018
Xfinity Center
University of Maryland

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What is Bitcamp?

Bitcamp is a place for exploration. You will have 36 hours to delve into your curiosities, learn something new, and make something awesome. With world-class mentors and 1,200+ fellow campers, you're in for an amazing time. Whether you’re a seasoned hacker or completely new to the world of hacking, we’ll have something for you. If you're ready for an adventure, we'll see you by the campfire!

Explore Our New Trails

Participate in Bitcamp this year as a hacker, designer, venturer, or scout.

Hacker Trail

The classic hackathon experience! Build anything cool that comes to your mind, and don’t be afraid to try new technologies. The sky is the limit, and we will have plenty of workshops with topics ranging from Web Development to Machine Learning. There will also be mentors around the clock to help you throughout the weekend, as well as many sponsor prizes up for grabs.

Design Trail

Through this Trail, you will have the opportunity to submit a portfolio of your design work for the chance to participate in Bitcamp as a designer. You will act as a mentor and contributor to multiple teams at the event, while developing a portfolio of your designs (your Bitfolio) which will be judged at the end of the hackathon by design professionals.

Venture Trail

The bustling world of entrepreneurship can be hard to navigate, so we want to offer you the opportunity to hear from key players in the startup space: venture capitalists and student entrepreneurs! We will have workshops geared towards taking your hack to the next level and working on a venture as a student and beyond. Participants in this trail will be able to compete for the “Best Potential Startup” prize, judged by veteran entrepreneurs!

Scout Trail

Bitcamp is all about exploration and pursuing your passions, regardless of your experience level. We will have special beginner-oriented workshops and sessions to guide first-timers through both the world of coding and hacking, covering essentials such as how to form your own team, make use of mentors, and submit a project. Beginners will also be able to apply their newly developed skills to a project to compete for the “Best Scout Hack” prize.

Are You Ready for COLORWAR?

COLORWAR is a rapid-fire live-design competition and one of the highlights of Bitcamp. Compete in our online design challenge for a chance to draw in front of a live audience at Bitcamp for some cool prizes!


Schedule

For the latest updates, schedules, maps, and more about Bitcamp, download our new mobile applications for iOS and Android.

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Friday, April 6th

TIME EVENT LOCATION
5:00 PM Hacker Check-in Xfinity Center Gate A
5:00 PM Mentor Check-in Xfinity Center Gate A
6:00 PM UMD Student Check-in Xfinity Center Gate A
6:00 PM Dinner Canteen
6:00 PM Sponsorship Fair Campgrounds
7:30 PM Opening Ceremony Campfire
9:00 PM Hacking Starts Campgrounds
9:00 PM Dessert Canteen
9:00 PM Ark-IoT Blockchain Workshop Cabin
9:45 PM [Scout Trail] Hackathon 101 Workshop Cabin
10:15 PM Team Formation Campfire
10:30 PM [Venture Trail] Turn a Hackathon Project into a VC-Funded Product Cabin
11:30 PM [Design Trail] Intro to Design and Branding Workshop Cabin

Saturday, April 7th

TIME EVENT LOCATION
12:00 AM Insomnia Cookies Canteen
1:00 AM Smash Tournament Power Peak
1:30 AM Lifesize Hungry Hungry Hippos Cabin
8:30 AM Breakfast Canteen
9:00 AM Attorney AMA Campfire
10:00 AM Amp Up Your Apps With Maps by Esri Cabin
11:00 AM Discover the Office 365 Developer Platform by Microsoft Cabin
11:30 AM [Venture Trail] Entrepeneurship Panel Campfire
12:00 PM Open-Source Intelligence Techniques Workshop Cabin
12:30 PM Lunch Canteen
1:00 PM [Design Trail] GIFs Workshop Cabin
2:00 PM Go Bananas Over UX by FINRA Cabin
2:00 PM Office Hours with 1517 Fund 1517 Fund Booth
2:30 PM Women in Tech Fireside Chat Campfire
3:00 PM Using Technology to Improve Healthcare by Credible Behaviorial Health Cabin
3:30 PM [Design & Scout Trail] Design Thinking Workshop Breakout Room
4:00 PM COLORWAR Campfire
6:00 PM [Venture Trail] Venture Capital and the Art of Funding Your Startup w/ Mike Volpi Cabin
6:30 PM Dinner Canteen
7:00 PM How 2 Blink LEDs Workshop Cabin
7:30 PM The Coding Interview Workshop Cabin
8:00 PM Self-Driving Cars Workshop Cabin
8:00 PM Ballroom Dancing Campfire
9:00 PM [Scout Trail] Intro to Web Development Workshop Cabin
10:00 PM Insomnia Cookies Canteen
10:00 PM Intro to Crypto and Blockchain Workshop Cabin
11:00 PM SLAM: Why Robots Don't Crash Workshop Cabin

Sunday, April 8th

TIME EVENT LOCATION
12:00 AM S'mores by APT Campfire II
12:00 AM MLH Cup Stacking Campfire
1:00 AM Late Night Board Game Break Campfire
8:00 AM Devpost Submission Deadline Campgrounds
8:00 AM Breakfast Canteen
9:00 AM Hacking Ends Campgrounds
9:30 AM Expo A Campgrounds
11:00 AM Expo B Campgrounds
12:00 PM Lunch Canteen
1:00 PM Closing Ceremony Campfire

FAQ

What is Bitcamp?

Bitcamp is a hackathon that values participant experience and mentorship over competitiveness and points. Come to have fun with your friends, learn something new, eat s’mores, and have a generally awesome time. We have all sorts of crazy activities planned for you...come find out the rest!

What’s a hackathon?

A hackathon is a creative marathon all about building cool things. Students are encouraged to come with an idea, form teams, and then build out that idea into a product in 36 hours. We want you to take something you love (sports, art, camping, anything!) and combine it with technology to make something awesome. It's a great time to push the envelope and learn some new skills.

What have past Bitcampers created?

From Augmented Reality Human-Scale Pong to a research paper detailing vulnerabilities in Google’s reCaptcha system, the projects at Bitcamp span across all categories and interests. You can check out all of the amazing submissions at the Bitcamp 2017 Devpost!

What if I have no experience or ideas?

Don't be afraid if you don't think you have enough experience, a team, or an idea. Everyone has a first hackathon, and we would love for Bitcamp to be yours! Mentors who are well-versed in a variety of topics will also be there to help you, whether it be finding a team, fleshing out an idea, or just figuring out where to begin.

How else can I get involved?

We'd love to get you on our volunteering or mentoring teams! If you'd like to help, please fill out this form. Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates!

What is Slack?

Throughout the event, we will be using Slack as the main form of communication. Never used Slack before? Here's a quick introduction!

What is Devpost?

After the 36 hours, you’ll be submitting your project to DevPost for judging! New to Devpost? Here's a quick introduction!

What hardware will be available at Bitcamp?

Arduinos, sensors (ultrasonic, photoresistors, thermisters), inputs (buttons, switches), outputs (LEDs, piezo speakers, 7-segment displays, micro servo motors), passive components (resistors, capacitors, diodes), and wiring.

Timing

Participants will arrive between 5PM and 8PM on Friday, April 6th, 2018. Our Sponsor Fair will also be at 7PM, where you can spend time going around and check out our different sponsor booths. Hacking starts Friday evening after opening ceremony. Closing ceremony will begin at 1PM on Sunday, April 8th, 2018.

Location

We are proud to host Bitcamp at the Xfinity Center on the University of Maryland campus! This expansive sports arena is a unique spot for any event, and we’re excited to be back again!

Travel

We'll have buses covering the hike from Stony Brook, NYU, GWU, Georgetown, American, and UMBC. Information about securing your spot on these buses will be sent out soon! Travel reimbursement applications have closed for this year.

Packing List

Bring yourself, a photo ID, your signed waiver (if applicable), a change of clothes, toiletries, a towel, a sleeping bag/blanket, your hacker setup (laptop, charger, headphones, tablet for designers), and maybe an idea or two!

Teams

Projects are submitted by teams to DevPost. You don't need to finalize your team until project submissions are due during the event. You may work individually or in a team of up to four campers. Don’t have a team in mind? No problem! Hacking will kick off with an optional team formation event.

Guidelines

Don't bring any firearms, knives, weapons, drugs, or alcohol. Don't use an old project. Start a new trail instead! Also, please read the Major League Hacking Code of Conduct and the Bitcamp Terms, Code of Conduct, and Release Waiver. Organizers will enforce this code throughout the event. We are expecting cooperation from all participants to help ensure a safe environment for everybody (TL;DR be nice).

Other questions?

Send us an email at [email protected] or message us on Facebook!

Sponsors

Interested in sponsoring us?
Send us an email at [email protected]!