IoTFuse Outlines Activities for IoTHackDay 2016

 MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IoTFuse, the nation's fastest growing Internet of Things (IoT) user group and a registered non-profit, located right here in Minnesota, today announced the menu of activities leading up to and taking place at the group's annual IoTHackDay. The event takes place Saturday, October 22 at Minnetronix headquarters located at 1635 Energy Park Dr., St. Paul, Minn. The deadline to pre-register as a team is Friday, October 7. Those not interested in registering their own team may come to the event and join pre-existing teams or register to participate in the "Random Stuff" team. 

The third annual IoTHackDay is sponsored by IoTFuse Platinum Sponsors Digi International and The Nerdery,as well as a number of other sponsors. IoTHackDay is a fun, free day that brings together teams, novel ideas, and an entrepreneurial spirit to imagine and build cool new devices and software to solve everyday problems. Open to everyone, teams form, submit their ideas ahead of the event, and hack (construct their project) for 12 hours.

"The spirit of IoTHackDay is to focus on solving a problem in a short period of time. Like other technology professionals, my basement is filled with many IoT projects I've started and not completed because there wasn't a deadline. IoTHackDay sets a deadline and motivates participants to focus and build a solution in 12 hours," said IoTFuse co-founder Justin Grammens.

To submit project ideas or to form a team, visit IoTHackDay. After descriptions of projects have been posted they will appear on the IoTHackDay Gallery of Submissions.

Minnesota's best and brightest IoT coders, developers and engineers will be on hand to help with designs as part of an "experts table" to help attendees on how to build and scale their projects. Recent examples of successful ideas that have been accelerated through IoTHackDay include HabitAware, a smart bracelet which helps people overcome compulsive behaviors and Termi, an intelligent connected device that helps protect grain stores from being ruined by pest infestations.

Pre-event activities

Leading up to the event organizers will offer opportunities to select teams and become more familiar with the process.

• Meet and greet mixer: Taking place Thursday, October 6, this offers the opportunity to meet people planning on participating in the hackathon, including team leads. The mixer is located at Lab 651, 550 Vandalia Street, Suite #224, St. Paul, Minn. and will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. CT.

IoTHackDay activities:

The agenda for IoTHackDay is as follows:

• Team competition: Teams compete from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CT to build the most innovative solution. To register to attend this event, visit IoTHackDay.MN.
• Random Stuff Team: Designed more as a traditional hackathon, the Random Stuff Team allows participants to assemble a team on site and to use whatever random hackable hardware people may bring to see if they can come up with something completely new all in one day. Those interested in this approach should still register for the event ahead of time as a participant.
• KidHack/TeenHack: From 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT there will be separate opportunity for kids and teens to learn how to build intelligent, light-up costumes for Halloween. To register for the costume event visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/led-costumes-at-iothackday-2016-tickets-27786583419
• Public voting: The event will open to the public at 8:00 p.m. for voting of top team projects. Top teams will receive hardware and prizes. Those interested in voting should sign up at the IoTFuse monthly meetup site.

"IoT is more of a process, a community of people, than anything else," said IoTFuse co-founder Patrick Delaney. "All sorts of people come to participate in our community events because they have an idea and an interest in building cool stuff, but they go away with a lot more than idea.  They leave with a network of like-minded tech friends, a plan to execute that idea, and more often than not, a new device that they built that actually works. That's the power of the IoTFuse collaborative environment."

Follow updates on IoTHackDay on Twitter at @IoTHackDay , join IoTFuse on Meetup at Meetup.com/iotfuse and follow IoTFuse on Twitter @iotfuse.

The cutoff for team leader registrations is Friday, October 7, with cutoff for general registration the night prior to the event on October 21 at 5:00 p.m. CT. To participate, sign up at IoTHackDay.MN.

About IoTFuse 
Established in 2014, IoTFuse, a non-profit organization, unites accomplished doers, makers and hackers with the brightest executives, investors, entrepreneurs and innovators focused on the Internet of Things (IoT) space. The organization, based in Minneapolis, Minn., holds an annual national conference, local hackathons, meetups and more. It values the spirit of IoT innovation, and how it can be used to improve the physical world and daily life.

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SOURCE IoTFuse