--- title: "Hackathon voting and judging poll template for Slack" url: "https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/hackathon-voting/" description: "Run hackathon voting in Slack. Templates for picking the theme, a people's choice vote with a live reveal, and a judges' scoring survey." --- # Hackathon voting poll for Slack When to use it: When you are running an internal hackathon and need a fair, quick way to pick a theme, a people's choice winner and judges' scores. How often: Per hackathon Hackathon voting has to be fast, because demos run late and everyone wants the result before the pizza goes cold. It also has to feel fair: one vote per person, no peeking at the count, and judges scoring on the same criteria. Three polls cover it. ## Example polls Paste any of these into the message box in Slack. ```text /poll "Which theme should the spring hackathon have? Add your own." "Internal tools" "Customer delight" "AI experiments" allow-options close after 3 days ``` Picking the theme a week ahead. Open to new ideas. *Premium: closing automatically.* ```text /poll "Peoples choice. Which hack should win? One vote, not your own team." "Team 1, Slack standup bot" "Team 2, faster test suite" "Team 3, onboarding checklist" "Team 4, cost dashboard" "Team 5, support macros" "Team 6, office booking app" limit 1 anonymous hide results ``` The people's choice vote. Anonymous and hidden until you close it and reveal the result. Six teams needs Premium. *Premium: more than 5 options, vote limits.* ```text /poll "Judging, Team 1. Slack standup bot" "Score each criterion from 1 (weak) to 5 (excellent)." close after 6 hours --- "Impact. Would people use it?" scale --- "Execution. How far did they get?" scale --- "Demo. How clear was it?" scale --- "Notes for the team" short text optional ``` A judges' scorecard for one team. Named, so organisers know each judge submitted. *Premium: surveys (several questions), closing automatically.* ## Before, pick the theme A week ahead, ask for theme ideas with a poll that lets people add options (`allow-options`), seeded with two or three of your own. Let people vote for every theme they would enjoy. The most popular theme wins, and the runner-up becomes the bonus category. ## During demos, people's choice List every team as an option, named by team and project ("Team 3, Slack standup bot"). Use `limit 1` (Premium) so everyone backs one project, `anonymous` so nobody feels obliged to vote for their friends, and `hide results` so early votes don't pull late ones. Leave out `close after` for this one. Close the poll by hand in Slack when demos end and reveal the results on screen. A poll that closes on its own keeps hidden results hidden, which spoils the moment. More than five teams needs Premium for the extra options. Post the poll before the first demo so people vote as they go, and remind them before you close. ## Judges, score the same way Give judges one survey (Premium) with a 1 to 5 scale question per criterion for each team, or one survey per team if you have many. Fix three or four criteria up front, such as impact, execution and demo, and tell the teams the criteria before they start building. Export the results to CSV (Premium) to total the scores, and break ties with the people's choice vote. ## The mistake people make Letting team members vote for their own project. You can't block it technically, so say the rule in the poll's message and trust people. Most will follow it if you ask. ## FAQ ### How do I keep the people's choice result secret until the reveal? Add `hide results` and don't set `close after`. When demos end, close the poll in Slack and reveal the results. A poll that closes on its own keeps hidden results hidden. ### Can I stop people voting for their own team? Not technically. State the rule in the poll and in the room. With an anonymous poll, you rely on trust. ### How many teams can go in one vote? Up to 5 options on Free and up to 45 on Premium. ## Used by - [Slack polls for engineering teams](https://simplepoll.rocks/use-cases/engineering-teams/) - [Polls for Slack communities](https://simplepoll.rocks/use-cases/slack-communities/) ## Related - [Team awards voting poll for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/team-awards/): When you want the team to choose who gets recognised, for quarterly awards, end-of-year superlatives or a peer shout-out. - [Feature prioritization poll for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/feature-prioritization/): When you have more candidate features than capacity and need the team, or your stakeholders, to put them in order. - [How to hide poll results until the poll closes](https://simplepoll.rocks/guides/how-to-hide-poll-results-until-the-poll-closes/): When people can see a running tally, they tend to pile onto the leading option or skip voting once the result looks settled. Hiding the results until the poll closes gets you each person's own answer. In Simple Poll it's one keyword, and it works on every plan. - [How to create a rating scale poll in Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/guides/how-to-create-a-rating-scale-poll-in-slack/): A scale poll asks people to rate something from 1 to 5: how clear the plan is, how the sprint went, how confident they are in a date. The poll shows how the votes spread across the five points, and its results view adds the average and median, which a yes or no poll can't give you. Scale polls work on every plan. - [Slack polls for engineering teams](https://simplepoll.rocks/use-cases/engineering-teams/): Engineers will answer a poll if it takes ten seconds and replaces a meeting. They will ignore one that reads like an HR form. The polls that stick in engineering channels are short, tied to the sprint, and end in a decision someone acts on. ## Sources - [How can I show the results of my poll only after everyone has voted?](https://help.simplepoll.rocks/article/116-how-can-i-show-the-results-of-my-poll-only-after-everyone-has-voted) - [How do I export the results of a poll?](https://help.simplepoll.rocks/article/83-how-do-i-export-the-results-of-a-poll) --- Simple Poll is the #1 polls and surveys app for Slack. Add it to Slack: https://simplepoll.rocks/. Pricing: https://simplepoll.rocks/pricing/.