Vickathon - Experiential hackathon events for organizations, companies, non-profits, and educational institutions to connect participants and organizations while solving problems creatively.
Fostering Innovation in Organizations Through Hackathons
Is your organization investing a lot of time, money, and resources in solving problems such as employee connectivity, efficiency, and implementing AI technology?
Imagine you save all this investment, and your employees solve the biggest organizational problems in one event.
Can you imagine what a crazy effect this has on motivation, connectedness, and efficiency?
Hackathons are events where employees gather together, and divide into teams that compete among themselves to offer the finest creative and practical solutions to the organization's challenges.
Consequently, your organization receives a variety of applicable solutions from its employees in one engaging event.
Our team has led many hackathons, including hybrid, face-to-face, and virtual events, for universities, municipalities/local councils, organizations, associations, national hackathons, and international hackathons.
We'd be glad to organize an experiential hackathon for you. Here are some ways you can reach us:
Fill in this form to contact us.
Or contact us by E-mail at [email protected].
Or schedule an online meeting with us via this link at your convenience.
✓ Fostering innovation in the organization that stems from the ground
✓ Engaging employees and creating a sense of partnership
✓ Developing employees and empowering them
✓ Leveraging the wisdom of the masses
✓ Multiple solutions to the organization's challenges in a short time
✓ An experiential and team-building event with impact
Would a Hackathon Be Suitable for Your Organization?
In case you think hackathons are only for high-tech companies, then think again.Hackathons are events suitable for any organization that wants to produce an innovative and team-building event, where employees and stakeholders solve challenges together in a creative way through teamwork.
Hackathons are social events that connect employees and allow them to express their strengths and abilities with the goal of solving a meaningful challenge.
Hackathon events encourage innovative and creative thinking among the participants.
During this time-framed event, the participants experience teamwork, collaborative thinking, goal-focusing, brainstorming for solving a challenge they are faced with, and presenting it in front of the other participants and a panel of judges.
Hackathons are experiential events that help participants get to know more aspects of their teammates and, at the same time, help the organization solve problems and challenges.
The competitive atmosphere in the hackathon adds to the team's sense of determination and consolidation.
In the end, the participants vote for their favorite ideas, and the winning ideas are chosen according to the judges' decision.
The hackathons can be in face-to-face, hybrid, and virtual format, all according to the organization's nature and locations across Israel and worldwide.
Watch this tutorial in which Galit Zamler describes what a hackathon is? What happens at hackathon events? And why lead a hackathon in the organization? (In Hebrew)
Virtual Hackathons are just like real-life hackathons, except that they are done online remotely while participants are away from each other.
As in every Hackathon event, in an online hackathon, participants are organized into teams and develop their creative idea for a venture to solve a challenge or a problem on a particular topic.
The Vickathon team offers to organize your hackathon from A to Z; virtual, designed, and experiential hackathons over Vickathon. The teams will develop their ideas together on a shared online file, tailored specifically to their age and the chosen topic.
A hybrid hackathon is a combination of the in-person hackathon, which takes place physically face-to-face, and the virtual hackathon, which takes place online.
The hybrid hackathon allows maximum flexibility for both the organizers and the participants.
The hybrid hackathon can be held in a wide variety of online and offline combinations. Along with the benefits of combining the two, it should be noted that there are challenges that this combination poses. We have already led some successful hybrid events while using our Vickathon internet app, making the combination work great.
Organizing hackathon from bottom to top includes:
- Accompanying the planning and execution of the hackathon in all its stages, starting from forming the concept, through preparing the call for proposal, teams' forming, and up to the winners' announcement.
- Establish a customized online file for you on the Vickathon web application on which the teams will develop the ideas.
- Online training sessions with the leading teams in preparation for the hackathon.
- Organizing and leading a launch event and an announcement event of the winners for all participants together. As well as leading and hosting the hackathon event.
- Guiding the participants, mentors, and judges before and during the event.
- Enrichment lectures and workshops during the competition to enhance the participants' experience.
- Managing the judging process and ranking the projects according to predefined criteria.
- Professional tutorials are integrated into the online shared venture file.
- A technology means of organizing multi-participant online meetings such as Zoom.
- Certificates for all participants, audience favorites, mentors and winners.
Please contact us if you are interested in organizing a hackathon
Fill in this form to contact us.
Or contact us by E-mail at [email protected].
Or schedule an online meeting with us via this link at your convenience.
Over time we felt we needed a dedicated system to host hackathons. We searched the market and found no tool or system that does everything we wanted for leading experiential hackathons and which contains all functions we looked for. Therefore, we developed such a system and ensured that it would be an internet app, so users could connect from anywhere and any device. The system gives us an advantage in running hackathons in many aspects:
1) Allows running a virtual hackathon to an unlimited number of teams and participants simultaneously.
2) A friendly, visual, and intuitive interface for developing project ideas.
3) The online venture file includes short, ready-made tutorials.
4) Embedding all related venture files within the online venture's form.
5) Access of participating teams to the online venture file from any device anywhere, anytime.
6) Updating and synchronizing the online shared file in real-time.
7) Adjusting the design, content, and tutorials to any audience niche, age, or language.
8) Addressing questions to mentors and getting their answers on the online shared venture file.
9) Exposing hackathon projects to all participants. It also opens them to online voting, choosing audience favorites, announcing the winners, and awarding a virtual medal.
10) Participants' privacy is protected.
11) The hackathon organizers can send instant messages to all participants during the event.
12) One of the problems with hackathons is the loss of information that came up during teamwork at the event. The Vickathon system solves this problem. All the ideas and all accompanying documents remain available and accessible to you in the cloud for the next year so the teams can continue working and develop their ventures.
13) An online judging system so that each judge scores teams assigned to him according to predefined criteria without being exposed to the score of the other judges. At the end of the judging phase you can watch the elaborate score of all the judges.
- Along with organizing meaningful, experiential, and impactful hackathons, Galit Zamler has developed a format for conducting virtual hackathons exclusively for the Vickathon team.
- As of June 2023, the Vickathon format was purchased as a franchise for distribution in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
- EFK Vietnam implemented our virtual format in Vietnam with great success.
- Galit Zamler was selected as one of the women ambassadors for the Women Tech Network competition with the Vikathon venture for leading experiential hackathons.
- Our company is an official supplier of the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
- Besides, Vickathon was selected as one of the top 50 ventures in the Startup Wheel 2020 international competition.
On the occasion of International Women's Day, Galit Zamler was invited to an event by the Municipal Innovation Club in Rehovot about women leading innovation. Her topic was promoting innovation in organizations through hackathons. She briefly explained what a hackathon is? What happens at a hackathon? And why do organizations host hackathons? (In Hebrew)
Who Are We?
Galit Zamler is an educational and technological entrepreneur. She has been organizing hackathons since 2014 to various audiences with an emphasis on the participants' experience. These events were a great success, and the clients come mostly by word of mouth. Galit is also the co-founder of the web application Vickathon - a dedicated system for running hackathons and entrepreneurial competitions and processes.
Galit Zamler leads the hackathons accompanied by professionals selected according to the unique needs of each hackathon.
To this day, we have led together and separately the in-person, hybrid and virtual hackathons to different audiences from Israel and abroad.
What About Your Hackathon?
Companies, associations, authorities, and government ministries, we are here for you to lead together with you an experiential entrepreneurship event, with practical and inspiring outcomes; An event that leaves a taste of more.
If you are interested in encouraging innovation, proactivity, collaboration, and creativity through an online or hybrid hackathon Fill in this form to contact us.
Or contact us by E-mail at [email protected].
Or schedule an online meeting with us via this link at your convenience.
Reckitt Benckiser led another hackathon with us this year on the topic of body image and self-image for young girls from all over the country.
This hackathon is called Veet Challenge#2.
It was a particularly empowering event that combined lectures and workshops by well-known influencers from social networks and the media.
There were 50 girls in 10 teams on each of the three first days. Each day, teams presented their ideas to a panel of judges, and two top ideas were selected by the judges, and one idea was chosen by the audience.
There were nine teams competing on the final day, all highly motivated to win. Upon entering the compound, they sat down to shape their pitches and presentations to win.
Three winning teams received pampering prizes after an extended judge panel heard all the ideas.
Veet's brand team will resource and implement the first-place winning idea.
Ariel University, in collaboration with Amazon Company, held the "Enough with Bullying" hackathon. Twenty student teams participated in the hackathon.
The challenge was finding technological solutions to bullying issues at all stages.
Participants in the hackathon attended two online preparation sessions where they heard lectures on bullying, entrepreneurship, and storytelling.
The hackathon lasted two days. Ariel University hosted the first day, and Amazon hosted the second day. Mentors from various fields accompanied the students, including entrepreneurship, technology, sociology, and education.
The ideas of the teams were ranked by a diverse panel of judges on the first day, and the best ones advanced to the second round.
The motivation of all the participants stemmed from the desire to help at least slightly solve the painful problem of bullying.
The hackathon was deemed a success, and three teams were selected as winners:
In first place: HoneyWeb - traps for catching pedophiles online.
In second place: CheerApp - a voice for the quiet children
In third place: Bulls.ai - A tool for finding children who bully and presenting that information to organization managers through a BI system.
This clip recaps the hackathon:
Shlomi Shemesh, from Amazon, summarized the event as follows: "Dear friends (legendary university and association staff, mentors, judges), I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your time, care and giving - this is what made the difference and turned a good hackathon into a great one! I wish us many more initiatives in partnership with such a significant social mission!"
Dr. Anat Levy Raz, who was a mentor and lecturer at the hackathon, wrote: "Thank you for the privilege of being part of the empowering and creative space that you created with great professionalism and investment, and working together with you to provide value to our wonderful youth on a significant issue."
One of the participating students wrote: Hi, I wanted to thank all the organizers and those who participated. It was an inspiring experience. I enjoyed it and learned new tools. Thank you to the organizers and participants for their time and effort. You were awesome :). It would be great to have more."
The Bnei Akiva Yeshivot and Ulpanot Center decided to hold the spring conference in a hackathon-style.
36 management educational institution teams from all over the country (including Eilat) participated.
As in every hackathon, in this conference as well, the teams had to deal with a particular challenge during the day: preparing a work plan for the next academic year.
Beyond the challenge, we also ensured the event included the small details that characterize our hackathons.
Professional mentors from the management center accompanied the groups at various conference stages.
The steps guided the teams in the process of solving the challenge in different and diverse styles so that the participants experienced purposeful and progressive work as well as interest and fun.
The Vikathon app helped deliver instructions to all teams at various stages and meet deadlines. In addition, the teams used the NIR app - a dedicated system developed by the Bnei Akiva Yeshivot and Ulpanot Center.
It was clear that all the teams actively participated in the conference to crack the challenge. Thus the experiential event was also productive, and the participants left with the feeling that, on the one hand, it was fun, and on the other hand, they achieved their goals.
We occasionally stopped the teams' work to enjoy Ted-style enrichment lectures, refreshments, good food, and prayers.
As part of an annual seminar in Yeruhem, the Bat Ami association, headed by CEO Eran Valk, organized a hackathon for about 400 Bnot Sherut.
We held a Zoom preliminary meeting prior to the event to provide participants with the tools and knowledge needed to develop an idea for a project.
About 40 teams took part in the Social Embrace and Alleviating Loneliness challenge. With the help of mentors, the teams defined needs, came up with ideas to deal with them and developed one best idea, which they presented to a distinguished panel of judges.
From all the teams, three winning ideas were selected. They will receive guidance and support during implementation.
In the end, Shahar Haim, director of Bat Ami, wrote: "Thanks a lot for the hackathon. It was a very successful event and an important summit point for the seminary. Thanks for your leadership and support throughout the process."
or the first time, Ramat Gan Municipality's Department for Social Services held a hackathon called "Initiate for the Mental."
As this was the first hackathon event for the division's employees, most of whom had never heard of this term before, we held a preliminary exposure event. Our goal was to explain to the employees what a hackathon is, how it works, and why it is worthwhile to participate, despite the fact that it lasts for an entire day.
Noa Rayter, the department's strategic development and innovation manager proposed the hackathon idea. Noa and Ortal Oshri, with the help of a small team from the department and accompanied by Galit Zamler, turned the dream of running a hackathon event into reality.
A fantastic video clip opened the exposure event, creating a wow effect among employees and then on social media:
The event itself took place from morning to evening in December 2022. A total of thirteen mixed teams participated in the hackathon, including representatives of the Social Services Division, families and individuals with mental illness, mental health professionals, and experienced mentors.
During the day, the teams identified needs related to the hackathon challenge, specified them, proposed ideas to deal with them, filtered the ideas based on criteria presented to them to select the best ideas, developed them according to a prepared outline, and prepared presentations and pitches to present to a distinguished panel of judges.
It was inspiring to hear representatives of the ills and their families explain their challenges when they pitched their ideas.
Three winning teams were selected based on the judges' scores. The team that won first place will receive a budget and support to make their idea a reality.
Thanks to the cooperation between all participants, including Roi Zamir, who recruited an excellent team of mentors, the hackathon was a success.
Ariel Peleg, who participated as a mentor in the hackathon, complimented the Vickathon team. Ariel said at the end of the hackathon: "I've participated in 15 hackathons, but I've never participated in such a technological hackathon."
Here are some photos from the event
This year, Veet's managers in Israel decided to hold a hackathon to strengthen the brand and promote social values.
In July 2022, we led a four-day hackathon called You Decide. The target audience was girls between the ages of 12 and 16.
As we organized the hackathon, we made sure it would be an enjoyable and experiential event as well as a chance for participants to solve issues of self-image, self-esteem, and acceptance of others.
On each of the first three days, ten teams came up with ideas for ventures and initiatives, developed them according to an outline, and pitched them. Those with the best ideas advanced to the finals.
Well-known social network influencers participated in the hackathon. They gave empowering lectures and workshops.
The collaboration with the influencers resulted in substantial exposure on social networks, which led to a very high number of registrations for the hackathon.
The winning teams were invited to the final day at the end of the first three days. On this day, the teams improved their pitch. They presented their ideas to a panel of judges, which included Veet's representative, representatives of the student council and youth movements, and Mrs. Michal Tzafir.
Three teams won gadget prizes, and Veet will also implement the project that won first place.
These were four fun days in which the Veet brand gained a lot of exposure among the target audience and was perceived as a brand with values.
Ynet's online magazine summarized the event as follows (in Hebrew):
The CEO and President of the ELI Association, Mr. Eran Zimrin, has decided to lead an innovation process among the ELI community.
The ELI Association handles children who have been abused physically, sexually, or mentally.
Galit Zamler and Inbar Berger led a joint process for all members of the ELI community in order to lead change and improvement processes through the wisdom of the masses and provide an equal opportunity for all community members to share insights and suggestions, and ideas for improvement and renewal.
As part of the innovation process, we held several online meetings. In the end, a conference of three days was held in an atmosphere of vacation in Eilat. All participants attended frontal sessions during the conference. The sessions included both fun and enriching activities, and teams worked to develop selected ideas from all those raised, present them to the audience in an entrepreneur's pitch style, and vote for the best ideas.
The event ended with a sense of connectivity between the participants and motivation to make the changes proposed by the teams in favor of upgrading the association and its activities.
At the end of the innovative hackathon process, we asked participants to fill out anonymous feedback and answer the question, "How was your experience at the hackathon-style innovation process?" The followings are some responses we got:
"I was excellent, interesting, fulfilling, and instructive. Thank you so much!"
"It was excellent and instructive. This is my first time participating in such an activity. And the dessert (Eilat) - perfect!"
"It was great. Thank you very much. It was an event of collaboration that did a lot of magic. Thank you very much for the organization and patience."
"First of all, it was a very cohesive process. This may be a side goal but from my perspective no less important. In addition, it was done professionally, with impressive consideration and patience towards all the undecided/missing participants, etc. It put our organization into a challenging and focused mapping mode, just as we had hoped and expected. Thank you, and Good luck!"
"The process was very successful. Beyond the practical results, it also caused a higher motivation among the participants. The event management was very professional, and therefore successful, and the facilitator's contribution was significant."
"It was fascinating, solidifying, fun, and developing. We enjoyed every moment and felt a huge boost to our motivation and professionalism. Thank you very much!"
"Thank you, organizers. The process was very professional, organized, engaging, creative, and meaningful."
"It was essential. Hopefully, there will be a practical continuation of the hackathon results. Thank you."
At the beginning of July 2021, we led a hackathon for the Suicide Prevention Unit within the Ministry of Education.
The challenge presented to the teams was to upgrade the different plans of the program developed by the unit and prepare a catchy and witty sticker that will be published in various media means.
Each team received and worked on a different module of the program.
The teams worked under a tight schedule, which challenged them and brought the best out of them. Thanks to them, the program will be upgraded :)
Alongside a combination of creativity, innovation, teamwork, and everything else a hackathon brings with it, the teams have managed in limited time to accomplish meaningful and applicable outcomes.
That way, in just a few hours, the teams managed to accomplish results that usually take lots of time to achieve.
The event was held virtually, using the Vickathon system for leading experiential hackathons.
After a day like this, we feel like doing something meaningful.
The "Remembering the fallen, and standing by their families and relatives" hackathon was addressed to the entire public in Israel. The event was participated by teenagers, preparatory students, students, high-tech employees, people who this theme is close to their heart, and senior citizens as well.
The goal of this hackathon was to recruit the help of the startup nation in order to come up with technological solutions for keeping the memory and commemoration of the fallen soldiers of the wars of Israel and victims of actions of terrorism, and for providing an answer to the day-to-day challenges of those who are coping with grief, disabled IDF soldiers, post-traumatics, victims of terrorism, their families and relatives.
The hackathon event lasted for a day and a half and was held in a hybrid format; at entrepreneurship centers and online, the teams were provided with maximum flexibility to participate in this event.
The significant theme that was chosen touches deep in the heart of the Israeli society, and so, even though the hackathon event took place during a war and under rocket attacks (the "Guard of Walls" operation), 25 teams took part. They came up with practicable ideas for solving the challenge that was presented to them.
You could say that this was one of the most successful hackathons that ever took place in Israel and if only for the reason that out of those 25 teams, nine teams chose to move ahead and turn their idea into a project that was presented during the hackathon.
Galit Zamler and Inbar Berger, who produced the hackathon from beginning to end, are aiding the teams by getting them in contact with the right people who can contribute experience, skills, and connections to realizing the projects.
All those who took part in the event received a certificate of participation soon after the hackathon ended, and so did the winners, crowd favorite, and the professional mentors who accompanied the teams and did so out of goodwill and with great patience throughout the hackathon.
Below you can read a selection of comments from those who participated in the hackathon:
Aviad Turm, a member of the winning team:
"Galit and Inbar, thank you so much for hosting this amazing hackathon event. It was a pleasure being a part of it!"
Moran Talmor, a member of the team that won second place:
"Thanks for an exemplary organization, the wholehearted effort, the support and availability you showed every single moment. We took great pride in taking part in this hackathon and got to recharge with hope from all the work we were exposed to through this hackathon...The event was so well-invested, down to the fine little details."
Roma Timoshpolski, the CEO of "Yozma Tech," a judge in the hackathon, and the primary prize giver:
"The event was organized to perfection. It's a national mission despite this challenging time. I wish you to succeed!"
Attorney Adi Barkan, mentor and a judge in the hackathon:
"Dear Galit and Inbar, thank you for a brilliant leading and professional execution. It was really great to be a partner in the process. Well done!"
The Vickathon team ran an international virtual hackathon for leading educators who participated in an online course by MASHAV - Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The hackathon dealt with the challenges of education and loneliness caused by the coronavirus.
All participants were divided into teams and worked together, each from their own country, on a shared online designed file.
The online file was tailored specifically for them over Vickathon.
After uploading ideas (ideation stage), the participants chose the best idea, developed it according to the online shared file sections, and watched short and enriching tutorial video clips.
From time to time, we took breaks, as in every hackathon, where we had enriching and fun activities.
We ended the event with pitches, and each of us voted for three favorite ideas. That's how we determined the audience's favorite ones and who won a virtual medal.
Everyone enjoyed the competition very much, as one can see from the following:
"It's a very amazing experience. I like it."
"Enjoyable experience."
"Very interesting experience. You are all great."
"It is a really interesting program!"
"Thank you very much for the value addition."
"Hey! I like the site we have used for the hackathon."
"I would like to know more about it. Thank you."
The t-hub students at the Technion institution participated in the Entrepreneurship Fundamentals Course.
Dr. Dina Raphael, the course facilitator, led an online hackathon for students.
Ten groups of students came up with ideas for social ventures with business feasibility.
At the end of the virtual hackathon, Galit Zamler received a certificate of appreciation for Vickathon's contribution to the online event's success.
In November 2020, and in light of the satisfaction with the experience of using the Vickathon, Dr. Dina Rafael chose to lead two additional hybrid hackathons for her students of two entrepreneurship courses she leads.
Galit Zamler participated in online sessions with the students from both courses to introduce them to Vickathon, in which they develop their ideas for ventures.
A delegation from South Korea visited Israel in 2019 as guests of the Mashav at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The participants took part for the first time in an activity based on hackathons. Presented with challenges, the teams were asked to think of creative solutions. The participants themselves then selected the most successful ideas.
A hands-on workshop was held at the event to demonstrate the need for participants to acquire skills from the entrepreneurship domain in order to succeed in today's changing world.
Participants enjoyed the event and learned about the startup nation.
Galit Zamler conducted a Hackathon-style preparation day at the religious school, Hevron for boys, in Kiryat Arba led by Rabbi Shlomo Levinger.
This was the first time the school staff attended a Hackathon. The goal of the event was to develop applicable and well-planned initiatives that will improve the school climate and improve student achievement.
During the event, the teachers were exposed to enrichment lectures on Israel as an entrepreneurial state and the importance of entrepreneurship education. They also learned about models to develop projects based on a business plan.
The teachers took part in creative thinking workshops, learned how to present an idea, and enjoyed an activity on entrepreneurial skills as life skills.
Teachers had an experiential and practical learning day, during which they came up with many ideas for the initiatives, and built work plans for ten initiatives that achieve the defined goal. All initiatives can be implemented at the beginning of the school year.
By the end of the event, a competitive vote was held, and four leading initiatives were chosen, which teachers will lead to realization.
Galit Zamler led a day of preparation for the staff of the "Alonei Mamre" school headed by Mrs. Yael Klein, in the style of a Hackathon in the context of the school vision.
Before this day, the teachers had gone through a process of raising dreams and defining a school vision with Mrs. Ayala Fisher, so the Hackathon was called "From Dreams to Initiatives."
At the event, the teachers worked in pre-defined groups, raised many ideas for initiatives that fulfilled the vision, and then filtered them according to the criteria defined by the management staff.
Although the process of screening ideas was challenging, each team chose only one idea and developed it according to a business plan model.
The teachers presented the final ideas to their peers, and they were put to the vote. Thus, three final ideas were chosen to be implemented by all the teachers, according to their preference.
All of the teachers' ideas for initiatives that did not reach the final stage will serve as a repository for projects for future realization.
In cooperation with the Ministry of Education through the Pisgah Center in Kiryat Arba, the Gush Etzion Regional Council, the Efrat Council, the Herzog Academic College, and the Mattei Yachdav organization, a regional Hackathon was organized for principals, teachers, students, and parents.
The theme of the event was "A Winning Integration of Students in the Classroom."
At the next stage, Galit Zamler explained to the participants what a Hackathon is, and led an experiential workshop on the 21st Century's skills, which enabled the various team members to know each other's strengths.
From here, we moved to a brainstorming session and raised ideas for teaching adapted to all students through a future-oriented pedagogy.
Each group chose their best idea, presented it to the attendees in an entrepreneurs' pitch style.
Are You Ready to Launch Your Event?
Fill in this form to contact us.
Or contact us by E-mail at [email protected].
Or schedule an online meeting with us via this link at your convenience.
