Frequently Asked Questions

Who/what is The Nerdery?

A division of Sierra Bravo Corporation, Nerdery Interactive Labs (The Nerdery) partners with ad, design and marketing agencies nationwide to execute their clients’ web projects, including social media, mobile and Web 2.0 applications. The Nerdery developed Fallon’s vision for Skimmer, a lifestreaming app pooling users’ social media content and winner of a 2009 Cannes Golden Lion. Also in 2009 we won the PhizzPop Design Challenge at SXSW Interactive by developing Zeus Jones’s Usemore idea, an application for living green. Proud parent company Sierra Bravo is an Inc. 5000 company and a Biz Journal Fast 50 company (2008 and 2009 – both leading benchmarks for fast-growing privately owned companies. The Nerdery is a real place just outside Minneapolis where about 90 people draw little distinction between work and play.

24 hours? What’s happening, when?

7:00 a.m. — Registration, Bruegger’s Bagels, Peace Coffee and Red Bull served, set up work stations. Volunteers: You are welcome to come as early as 6:30 am to set up; please be there by at least 8:00. Nonprofits: Please arrive by 7:30 to check in; at 8 you’ll meet with branding, interactive, and design experts from event sponsors LaBreche.
8:45 a.m. — Welcome, get ready to rumble, announce team assignments
9:00 a.m. — Countdown begins. Nonprofits meet their team of volunteers and get to work.
Noonish— Lunch from Buffalo Wild Wings and Jimmy Johns
6:00 p.m. — Dinner from Chipotle
Midnight — Second dinner from Pizza Luce’
6:00 — The most important meal of the day. Meanwhile, judges make the rounds between 6-9 a.m., spending 10 minutes assesing each team’s work.
9:00 a.m. — Blastoff. Drawing for fabulous prizes while judges pick a Final Four; each gets 10 minutes to present their work. Winner announced. Good night, and good luck.

Nonprofit FAQ

How are non-profits selected? Qualifying organizations must:
- be a registered 501c3 non-profit organization in Minnesota
- have at least one decision maker present at all times during the event
- have clearly defined objectives for enhanced online capabilities
- be able to articulate their organization’s mission and needs to a team of web pros
- be open to new possibilities and able to stay awake to see them realized

What are selection judges looking for in a nonprofit’s application?

Vision. Nonprofits are judged on how well they articulate their wants and needs, as well as how they envision that an enhanced website will specifically help their organization better fulfill its mission. Nonprofits should convey who they are, what they do, what they want to do, and how a better website will help them further their mission. How will it help them work more efficiently and more strategically as an organization? How will it help them work “greener”? Do they have ideas about enhanced functionality or online capabilities that could streamline their administrative burden? Are they thinking of better ways to communicate with their constituents and foster online community building?
Need/means. Nonprofits will be judged based on their ability to create a website without being selected for the Challenge. Judges will consider an org’s revenue, web (or operating) budget, and special circumstances. Judges are instructed to give preference to organizations they believe could further their work if they had well-meaning nerds at their disposal.
Current website. Here, we’re admittedly seeking a bit of drama in the sense that we want to help some organizations with truly awful websites. Seeing the existing sites is a window into an org’s current online reality. To be clear, a bad current website does not count against a nonprofit – just of the opposite, really. Ugly ducklings, please apply. Previously, nonprofits with no existing website at all were chosen.
Testimonials – These are, essentially, the bonus round for nonprofits to better their chances. The perspectives of a nonprofit’s constituents can be as revealing and illuminating as anything these organizations say about themselves on their website or in their application. Judges may consider testimonials by volume or by sentiment or some combination.

If selected, what should nonprofits bring? Nonprofits are asked to bring: source materials on a CD, flashdrive or laptop, including: logo and graphics high res images in .jpg files), existing or new (edited) web content, print collateral, marketing materials, and any other materials that touch your audience. For example, bring in any forms you use, as this can give your team ideas for how to automate some of your processes, and help you work more efficiently – and go green. In your application, you laid out some of your vision for what you want your website to become. Come with a more fleshed-out version of that. Have at least a sketch of a sitemap. And come with a list of “must haves” and “nice to have” features/functionality requests for your new site. Bring links to websites or pages you like. You may not know what is realistic or not to ask your team to tackle, so please rely on their advice. If they push back on a request that they don’t feel can be delivered overnight, let it go. Your team of volunteers is there to serve you to the best of their abilities and to manage your expectations. Please let them. And please read these notes we stole from the Praxix team on how to prepare

How are teams of volunteer web pros created? Qualified developers formed their teams organically and online; 12 qualified teams will be accepted. Individual volunteers may declare themselves free agents while captains recruit the talent their team will need. Qualified volunteers will:
- have experience in web design, programming, or project management
- be willing to donate 24 hours of their time and talent
- have compassion for a cause and midnight oil to burn freely
- have the desire to do good work for the greater good
- have grace under pressure and the ability to stay up all night

Where will the event be held? The event will take place on the St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota. Continuing Education Conference Center, 1890 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108. Directions here.

Web Volunteer FAQ

On the site that we are building for “our” nonprofit, will we be starting from scratch, or will we be working with the non-profit’s existing site? In terms of code, the expectation is that you’ll almost certainly be starting from scratch. It is up to your team and the nonprofit to determine whether to salvage content and design elements from the existing site or if you’ll be helping them make a fresh start. Have an understanding among your team how you would like to proceed. Who’s doing what, and what technical tools will you bring to bear in creating a web solution for your designated nonprofit? Consider how you can make it easy for them to manage their site after your team has passed out in a sleepy stupor. Each team will be asked to state their level of ongoing commitment to helping their nonprofit beyond event day.

Are there any limitations on the technologies we can employ? The hosting that will be provided for the nonprofits by returning sponsor VISI; their ReliaCloud service will support PHP, .NET, RoR, and Perl. If you are planning on using a server-side scripting language other than these, please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you. Your team can employ any and all technologies you want. But please be sensitive to the technical sophistication and comfort level of the nonprofit you’re working with/for. The hosting packages will provide access to both PostgreSQL and MySQL for database. Hosting platform will provide shared SSL.

What should we do to prepare our team for the event? There are a lot of things for you to consider prior to the event. We strongly recommend that you try to get your team together prior to the event to make sure you’re all on the same page. Some things to consider are:
- How will you be coordinating development?
- Who will setup and handle your staging server
- Will you be using Version Control (hint:yes) and who is going to handle having that ready?
- What is each person’s role?
- In the event of any disagreements about technical direction, who will be “the decider”?

What materials have nonprofits been asked to bring/provide? We will ask that they provide source materials, logo graphics, existing and new content, high res images, print collateral, forms, and any other public-facing materials on a CD.

Are we allowed to prepare for the day by creating plug and play components? Any restrictions? You are welcome to “pre-bake” as much code as you wish. Keep in mind, however, that since you won’t know which non-profit you’re working with until the day of the event you’ll want to make sure your pre-built components are flexible.

Are there any rules about what code libraries we can use or what we can code ahead of time. You’re free to use any freely available or open source libraries that you wish. You can even use commercial stuff, provided you’re willing to foot the nonprofit’s bill for the license fees.

What sort of environment will we be working in? You will be in a room large enough to house 12 teams (120 developers in all) with wireless Internet access, plenty of outlets for all, and projectors and screens to share. You’ll be provided with tables and chairs and you can layout your workspace in the format that works best for you.

What supplies will be provided? Easel and poster-sized post-its will be provided, and so will markers and tape. The venue will be providing powerstrips, but if you’re concerned about sensitive electrical equipment you’re welcome to bring your own surge protectors or UPS.

For the presentation, will there be a web server that we upload our site to, or will we present our site off of one of our laptops? You should plan to do your awards ceremony presentations off one of our two presentation laptops.

Is this a lock in – once we are there, can we leave and return, or are we all required to be there the whole time? It’s a lock-in! Our expectation is that you will honor your commitment to go the distance and stay the entire time, working with your team. We won’t actually barricade the doors or have hired thugs that will prevent you from leaving if you have some extenuating circumstances. Or will we? Hmmmm….

Are you providing development servers or workstations? Nope, since the contest is pretty platform-agnostic we’ll be expecting you to show up in full LAN party mode with your laptop or workstation in tow. We’ve got the power outlets covered; the rest is up to you. We will have two or three LCD projectors available for team demos and brainstorming sessions throughout the event. You will be provided access to your Reliacloud hosting platform ahead of time so you can prepare for deployment. You could use that platform as a development environment if you wish.

What does it mean to win? What are the criteria by which we’ll be judged? For nonprofits, just being selected to participate is “winning” since all participating nonprofits will be getting a free website, as well as professional ReliaCloud web hosting services courtesy of event sponsor VISI, and, complimentary education in design and web applications, business analysis or project management from event sponsor New Horizons of Minnesota. As for the web professionals, winning is mostly about the bragging rights (though the winners will get a little something extra to take home). As noted earlier, ongoing commitment to your nonprofit is part of it, but other factors are the elements that go into a good website: functionality, design, intuitive navigation, aesthetic appeal, and perhaps most importantly, does it meet the nonprofit’s stated needs and will it help them fulfill their mission moving forward?

What happens when a site needs ongoing maintenance? Each team of volunteers will determine (upfront)its own pledged level of ongoing commitment. While ideally we’ll want to see the Challenge’s spirit of volunteerism extended beyond event day, whatever arrangement that works for your team and your nonprofit will be honored. Note that part of the judging criteria is each team’s level of commitment to ongoing support.

Can there be placeholder content if necessary? Existing content can be used, but no “lorem ipsum…” please.

What functionality expectations have been set with the client? Do they recognize the need to manage scope for this creation period? They have been asked to consider “must haves” and “nice to have” requests for their new site. Your team will also play a part in managing their expectations both by attending the pre-event mixer and helping them understand what’s possible in 24 hours and by setting realistic expectations during the planning phase. We urge both the development teams and the nonprofits to resist trying to bite off more than they can chew. Please work within your limits, and don’t build that which can’t be easily maintained by the nonprofit moving forward.

Some our team members are really enthusiastic. They want to know if the rules prohibit contact with the nonprofits before the start day? Well, you will not know which nonprofit you’ll be working with until the morning the Challenge begins, so doing any advance planning isn’t an option (though in the past, some teams have “pre-gamed” for all the accepted nonprofits).

As one of our team members read over the different potential nonprofits, there was one that they were really taken with, would it be a conflict of interest for them to write a testimonial for that nonprofit? No problem. This is a public forum where anyone can post. The non-profit selection and team pairings are done by independent entities so it won’t affect your chances of getting paired with that nonprofit.

Got an infrequently asked question? Drop us a line at info@overnightwebsitechallenge.com.