1001 ISTANBUL – STORYTELLING HACKATHON FOR SOCIAL IMPACT

A good story has the power to change the world. Each day, thousands of change makers and creative heads all around the word create powerful stories and projects with the aim to create change, and to make the world a better place.

All of these stories are worth it, being told, but how should they have an impact, if nobody knows them? How could we spread the word about current projects, problems and problem-solving social enterprises?

Impact Hub Vienna and Impact Hub Istanbul asked themselves the same questions, and they even went one step further. They asked themselves „What would happen, if we would bring those change-makes and creative-heads together at a special place and allow them to collaborate and be creative for a limited amount of time!?“

Out of this questions, a great project, the >>1001 Storytelling Hackathon for social Impact<< arose, and I had the honor to be one of the participating creative-heads.

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>> TELL A STORY. MAKE A DIFFERENCE! << 

This was the motto, under which more than 30 creatives from all over Europe gathered in Istanbul – the place where storytelling has its roots – from the 9th to 12th of October, for the first European Storytelling Hackathon ever.The aim was to create sustainable solutions for 5 different social enterprises based in Istanbul. Those solutions were to be developed, presented and activated within the time limit of 48 hours.

THE HACKATHON & THE RESULT

After arriving in Istanbul and getting a feeling for the city while doing a food tour, we soon gathered at the lab, where we would would spend most of the time during the following days.

The first evening was introduced by a great storyteller from Istanbul, who created a story around social impact for us.

Perfectly in the mood of storytelling and social engagement, we got to know the 5 enterprises and their current situation.

After deciding on woking-groups an a quite short night, the working flow started Saturday morning and would end only on Sunday evening around nine. During these hours we did brainstorming and idea collecting. We shot photographs and videos, edited them, wrote stories and put together whole web-pages and marketing-strategies together.

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Sunday-evening, after very little of sleep and many hours of intensive working, we got to the moment of presentation.

Each of the projects surprised with great ideas and results. It is incredible, what can be achieved within such a little amount of time, if a group of creative and motivated people comes together and works for a common aim.

The presentations were stunning, but what was even more overwhelming, was to see the happiness of the organizers and entrepreneurs that could hardly believe that so many young creatives had gathered, only to help them make their way.

If one would calculate the value of the content that has been created during these two days, it would be an incredible large sum, but all the experiences and happy moments count more than any money.

All in all, we spent some emotional intensive days ranking from excitement to tiredness, stress and exhaustion to happiness and joy. Especially the final round, when everybody shared his feelings, was truly powerful and emotional.

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THE IMPACT OF THE HACKATHON 

Social entrepreneurship might be perceived as „normal“ in many big cities of this world, but in Istanbul it has not reached normality yet. This is why the Impact Hub Istanbul aims to open its doors in order to create a space for the creative potential of the city.

The Storytelling Hackathon functioned as a pioneering event of the local community in order to create awareness amongst external people and to communicate the values of the hub, upcoming projects and this working method.

At this point you might think, „Well that’s great. You created social impact in Istanbul and helped these companies!“ but I can tell you that this hackathon created far more impact than awareness amongst local in Istanbul only.

For the first time I realized what it means to be totally engaged in a project. I understood what it means to do something for others. I understood what co-working means, how to work together, how to develop ideas and how to use the individual abilities of each of the team-members and to combine them. I got to know how impact can happen in collaboration.

I suddenly also understood what the Impact Hub is doing and how it really works. After this week-end, I feel far more connected to the Hub itself – not only to my team-members but to the whole community.

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A RESUMÈ

after …

  • 16 hours of sleep within four nights
  • 48 hours of intensive work
  • no access to facebook and twitter …

i can look back onto …

  • 5 great projects
  • > 30 inspiring and fazinating personalities
  • > 3 extraordinary solutions for the companies problems
  • invaluable exeriences and contacts

I am overwhelmed, happy and thankful that I was allowed to be part of such a great project. I am looking forward to see it happen again and to hopefully be part of it for a second time.

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guestblog Guest Blogs are written by the community of Impact Hub Vienna. This includes members, friends and people from other Impact Hub's around the globe. If you want to contribute something please contact us at vienna.comms@impacthub.net