TL;DR Assign one tool per team of 3–5 people at least 48 h before the event — don’t let participants self-select on the day. [12] Pre-provision all subscriptions and authenticate all accounts the week before; credit-based tools (Copilot, Windsurf) can exhaust allocation mid-session. [2] Budget 5 Mbps per device with a VLAN per team, use Slido for live Q&A and voting, and run a tight 30-min build → demo → score sequence. [7] [5]
Team formation
4 teams, 3–5 people each. Pairs produce bottlenecks; groups of 4–5 allow a driver/navigator/observer split without paralysis. [6]
Assign tools pre-event. Left to self-select, participants cluster on the tool they already know — which defeats the comparison — or fight over the “best” tool. Send tool assignments with confirmation emails at least 48 h before. [13] Two strategies:
| Strategy | When to use |
|---|---|
| Random assignment | Blind evaluation; any bias in results is chance, not skill |
| Skill-matched assignment | Fair race; pair experienced devs with harder-to-use tools to equalise |
Roles within each team:
| Role | Count | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | 1 | Uses the tool; types all code |
| Navigator | 1–2 | Reads requirements; directs the driver |
| Observer | 1–2 | Notes prompts tried, dead-ends, speed; reports to judge |
Cluster teams, don’t mix rows. [1] Separate clusters prevent accidental prompt cross-contamination and make tech support routing easy.
Room and display setup
Two screens beat one. A presenter display shows the facilitator’s scoring dashboard and countdown timer; an audience display mirrors the active team’s IDE/terminal. [4]
Key settings: [4]
- Font ≥ 18 pt in IDE and terminal; bump to 22 pt if the room is deeper than 8 m
- Black text on white background outperforms white-on-dark when projector lumens are limited; dark themes are fine with ≥ 3,500 lm
- Clear all notifications (OS alerts, Slack, email) on every presenting machine before the clock starts
- Carry HDMI + USB-C adaptors for every team, plus 2 spare sets
Each team cluster needs a 4-outlet surge-protected power strip. If the building shares circuits, request a dedicated 20 A circuit per cluster from the venue.
Network infrastructure
| Metric | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Bandwidth per device | 5 Mbps [7] |
| Devices per participant | 1.5× headcount [8] |
| Users per radio | ≤ 30 [8] |
| Network segmentation | VLAN per team [15] |
| Standard | Wi-Fi 6 / 6E preferred |
For 20 participants: 30 devices × 5 Mbps × 1.4 headroom = 210 Mbps minimum on tap. [1]
VLAN per team. One team’s agentic loop shouldn’t starve the others. If the venue can’t provision VLANs, bring a managed switch (TP-Link Omada or similar) and create SSIDs per team. [15]
Failsafe. One charged mobile hotspot per team in a sealed envelope, opened only if venue WiFi fails. Brief participants upfront so there’s no panic scramble.
Per-tool pre-event checklist
Run this in the week before the event — not the morning of. [13] [1]
Claude Code [3]
- Anthropic Claude Pro ($17–20/mo); install via
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code; authenticate once per machine - Available as VS Code / JetBrains extension or terminal-native CLI
- ⚠ Heavy agentic sessions can hit the 5-hour usage reset window — avoid rehearsals on the same morning
Cursor [3]
- Download from cursor.com; Cursor Pro ($20/mo) required for Composer 2 multi-file editing
- Supports Claude, GPT-5.5, Gemini 3.1 Pro — decide which model to demo before the event
- ⚠ Free-tier trials expire unpredictably; use paid seats
- Pro ($10/mo) via GitHub settings, or Business ($19/seat) for org-wide rollout
- Extension for VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Xcode — confirm participant IDE before the day
- ⚠ June 1, 2026: billing switched to usage-based credits (1,500/mo on Pro); agentic loops drain allocation fast — verify credit balance 24 h before
Windsurf / Devin Desktop [3]
- Rebranded to Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026 (cognition.ai); existing Windsurf accounts carry over
- Windsurf Pro was $20/mo → Devin Desktop Teams $40/user/mo; download new installer under Devin branding
- ⚠ Docs still say “Windsurf” in many places — same product, new name; brief participants
Kiro [3]
- Download from kiro.dev (AWS-backed); Pro ($20/mo) = 1,000 credits
- Spec-driven workflow: provide a
SPECS.mdalongside the requirements doc to reduce cold-start confusion - CLI available (Windows 11+, April 2026); macOS/Linux via desktop app
Audience engagement
For a 20–100 person developer audience, Slido edges out Mentimeter on Q&A management: the upvoting module lets technical questions surface naturally. [5]
| Tool | Best for | Cost (100 participants) |
|---|---|---|
| Slido | Q&A upvoting, post-demo polls | ~$17.50/mo, 200 participant cap |
| Mentimeter | Live leaderboard (competition mode) | €13/mo; free tier limits to 50/mo |
| ClassPoint | PowerPoint-integrated quiz + timer | ~$8/mo, up to 200 |
Run two audience interactions: (a) a quick vote immediately after each team’s demo (“did this tool actually solve the problem?”), and (b) a ranked-choice poll after all four demos for the overall winner. Display the join code before each interaction — don’t assume people noted it from slide 1.
Roles on the day
| Role | Count | Key responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Facilitator | 1 | Clock, transitions, energy |
| Judge / scorer | 2–3 | Applies rubric; resolves ties [9] |
| Tech support | 1 per 2 teams | Auth failures, IDE crashes, WiFi escalation |
| Demo operator | 1 | Runs the test suite on the projector during scoring |
Judges must see the scoring rubric and calibrate against a sample output before the event starts. Publish criteria at least 24 h in advance — participants build toward what they are evaluated on. [9] For scoring infrastructure, HackerEarth integrates coding assessments directly into competition workflows; Devpost is simpler for smaller events. [14]
Run-of-show
| Clock | Action |
|---|---|
| T−60 min | Accounts verified, repo cloned, all tests passing on each machine |
| T−30 min | Teams seated, Slido join code on screen, WiFi per-team SSID confirmed |
| T−10 min | Facilitator reads task spec aloud; questions answered; timer visible |
| 0:00 | BUILD starts (all 4 teams simultaneously) |
| +15:00 | Facilitator check-in: “any tool crashed?” — surface blockers early |
| +30:00 | BUILD stops; git commit or screenshot to lock state |
| +32:00 | Team 1 demo: 3-min walkthrough → demo operator runs test suite on projector |
| +45:00 | Teams 2–4 in sequence (~13 min per team) |
| +57:00 | Judge scores finalised; Slido overall-winner poll opens |
| +65:00 | Results announced + structured debrief |
Pre-flight checklist
- All tool subscriptions paid and active; credit/token balance confirmed 24 h before [2]
- Repo cloned and dependencies installed on every participant machine
- All pre-existing tests passing before the clock starts (baseline locked)
- VLAN or dedicated SSID per team configured and tested [15]
- HDMI + USB-C adaptors for each team; 2 spare sets for presenter display [4]
- Slido/Mentimeter event created; join code tested from a non-presenter device
- Scoring spreadsheet or platform pre-loaded with rubric [9] [14]
- Printed requirements doc (1 per team) as offline fallback [1]
- Mobile hotspot per team, charged and ready in sealed envelopes
- Power strips (4-outlet, surge-protected) at each team cluster [1]
- All OS/app notifications cleared on presenting machines [4]
- Judges calibrated on sample output; scoring rubric published to participants