Have you ever wanted to meet new people while solving problems with the use of design thinking? Sounds interesting, right? And guess what, you can also win something beyond pride and fame and also get the chance to stay in a modern hotel all part of the event. If this sounds super cool to you, join me at my retelling of Dash Hack 2022.

1.    What is Dash?

Dash Hack is a yearly hotel hackathon event located in Helsinki and this year I had the pleasure to participate in this amazing event as a program team volunteer.

Dash focuses on bringing multidisciplinary teams together in a weekend-long design hackathon to solve problems provided by partner companies. This year we had the honour to partner with the following influential companies, namely Kalmar, ABB, VTT, Vaisala, and Fazer, all of which provided students with real-life problems that they had to solve during the weekend.

This year, I decided to take part as a volunteer and help the team to make sure the whole event ran smoothly. I was in the program team which took care of the well-being of participants and made sure that they had the best time during the event.

2.    What happens during Dash?

The event usually starts on a Friday, on which all participants finally get to meet their teammates in person and start to work together in their own allocated hotel rooms. Usually, during this time, participants are brainstorming, trying to understand the problem and how to solve it. Additionally, they will be provided with some delivery food vouchers to be used and enjoyed while they are hacking in the hotel. Some teams stay long hours, and some will go back home in the evening to be fresh and ready for the next day.

Saturday, participants are welcomed at the hotel with a buffet breakfast provided by the hotel and then get back to a full day of hacking. During the day, DASH provides some relaxing activities (e.g. yoga, painting, journaling etc.) for participants to enjoy in between their problem-solving. There are also mentors available for participants which will be moving around from room to room to help out the teams with advice and useful information.

Sunday is the last day, on which you may notice that some participants might have stayed at the hotel without sleeping to be ready for the deadline at noon. Once everyone has submitted their work, the participants are required to present their ideas in front of the companies. By afternoon DASH presents the winners and despite the lack of sleep, the energy grows higher. This year, as a Metropolia student, I was happy to see a fellow Metropolia student winning and inspiring others.

After this long weekend, DASH is almost over; participants, volunteers, and partners join for a drink and a moment of relaxation with another successful event coming to an end.

3.    Conclusion

One of the best things at DASH was the community. I had the pleasure to meet new people from different schools and backgrounds that are eager to help each other in creating something beautiful together while having fun. Obviously, sometimes it gets tiring, especially with the long hours that you spend at the event, but the beauty of meeting so many talented and interesting people gives you the energy right back. Overall, DASH is a great place to network and level up your skills, so come and join me next year, whether as a volunteer or maybe this time as a participant?