September marks the official start of Preptember, a month dedicated to organizers planning local gatherings and getting ready for Hacktoberfest.
This year, Hacktoberfest is entering a new chapter. We’re shifting away from open-source contributions and focusing on community-building and educating folks around open artificial intelligence. As the AI landscape rapidly evolves, we think it's more important than ever for people to learn about and have experience with open-source AI tools and open-weight models.
You can read our full announcement here:
Host a Fest
We're supporting over 300+ in-person events (“Fests”) this year, which means we’re looking for hosts! You don't need a big team or a big budget to bring Hacktoberfest to your city. If you're part of a meetup group, a university club, or you and a couple of coworkers can book a conference room for a day, you have what it takes.
As a host, you’ll receive:
- T-shirts and stickers for your Fest participants
- Programming support to help shape the day
- Promotion through our official Fests directory
Depending on which Fest format you choose, your event may be eligible for food and drink reimbursement as well.
What happens after my application is approved?
Once your application is approved, your Hack Day or Meetup will be listed on our official Fest directory! As a host, you’ll want to focus on these next steps once your application is approved:
- Secure a Venue: Once your application is approved, your in-person event needs a safe, accessible space. We’ll publish a separate post on tips and tricks to securing a venue, but for now we’d recommend reaching out to your company office manager, school administrator, or local meetup group for recommendations.
- Plan your Fest: This is the fun part! Once a venue is locked, you get to start planning your Fest. Check out our Fest Planning Guide for support.
- Show off your Swag: All Fest formats are eligible to receive Hacktoberfest swag. Wear your t-shirt with pride and stick your stickers, everywhere (save some for your Fest participants though)!
Can’t host? Find a Fest near you, or participate online.
We're approving Fests everyday, so check back regularly and sign up for a Fest near you. There's nothing more exciting to a Host than knowing that people want to show up.
Throughout October, we’ll also host a full schedule of online activities (virtual workshops, DEV Challenges, livestreams, and more) so everyone can participate worldwide.
Happy Hacking 🎃
Top comments (11)
I am excited to host hack day in Ngp waiting for approval
we're approving applications as fast as we can! there's a lot to get through, but i promise we're working on it!
I like the idea of making local community events more accessible, especially because you don't necessarily need a big team or a big budget to get people together. But I think the interesting part starts after people show up.
For me, a good developer event shouldn't only be about talks, networking, or listening to someone explain a technology. It should create a path from 'learning → building → testing → sharing.'
Even a small meetup can be valuable if someone leaves with a working prototype, a new idea, a GitHub repository, or simply a problem they want to solve next.
That's also why I like the Hack Day format. A few hours of actually building something can sometimes teach you more than several hours of presentations.
Community becomes much more interesting when people don't just consume knowledge from each other, but actually create something together.
That's where an event can become more than an event. It becomes part of someone's development path.
Excited for this year's Hacktoberfest!
Реально раньше людей замечает
Brilliant writing thank you!
Sounds fun! Are there going to be PR challenges again this year, similar to previous years? 👀
Something like this: devops-daily.com/hacktoberfest
Great, can we include v-modal AI for the free SDK access
Very Excited
Love this initiative! At The Printing World, we'd love to host or print customized box packaging and stickers for local events like this. Swag and community meetups are always a great pairing.
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