Emergency Line: 778-782-4500 (Urgent Security/First Aid)
Non-emergency SFU Line: 778-782-8215 (Security/Safe Walk)
Emergency: 911
Surrey Non-Emergency: 604-599-0502
If you require in-person contact with a staff member, there will always be a security guard near the front desk of the building, as well as an SSSS exec in room 5050!
XHacks starts bright and early with a 10:00AM check-in time at the SFU Surrey campus. SFU Surrey is made up of two campuses, the Central building and the Engineering building. XHacks will be taking place in the Surrey Engineering building (SRYE).
Paid parking is available at two lots adjacent to the SRYE building, one behind the building to the west and one across the street to the south. Please note that because XHacks is an overnight event, you will need to purchase parking for both Saturday and Sunday.
SFU Surrey is conveniently located right next to Surrey Central station on the Expo Line. Exit by the southernmost exit and walk through the bus loop to get there.
Here is a map to get to the SRYE building from Surrey Central Station.
Please note, hackers are not required to stay overnight! Hackers are free to leave the event whenever they like.
For safety, our team will enforce a strict curfew and lock campus doors from 10:00PM-7:00AM, so there will be no
entry during this period if you leave the premises.
We will have a safe walk at 10:00PM to the skytrain station for anyone who is not planning to stay overnight.
Check in will start at 10:00am! Check in will happen in SYRE 1002. We will have people outside to show you where the room is!
Accepted hackers should have received an email with a link to their ticket. Please scroll to the bottom of the ticket page and click the button to view your QR code. We’ll be scanning this QR code at check-in and verifying it with a piece of photo ID.
To attend the event, you must have signed the waiver form that was sent to all accepted participants. If you are an SFU student, please bring your SFU student ID. If you are not an SFU student, any valid photo ID is acceptable.
If you did not receive your ticket email for any reason, you can still check in by providing the email address you used to apply along with the required photo ID.
There is a wide selection of awards for XHacks, which means you can win an award no matter what your skill level! The awards are:
(Beginner) First Memory Byte Award
Awarded to the most outstanding team with half or more team members who are first-year students or first-time hackathon participants.(Best Visuals) Time Travel Award
Awarded for outstanding and most imaginative visuals that creatively bring the past to life.(X-Factor) Deja Vu Award
Remember those projects you once thought were brilliant but turned out to be disasters due to time constraints and external factors? Now is your chance to revive those ideas. Take a project that didn’t go as planned, rebuild it, and bring it to life in a new and improved form.Eligibility:
(People’s Choice Award) Moments in Time Award
A community-driven award given to the project with the highest number of likes on Devpost.(Sponsor)CodeCrafters
VIP Membership to the winners of:(Sponsor) InternDB
Best project that is creatively designed to help students secure internships.(SFU SURGE) Systems for Scale
Focuses on ideas that go beyond a one-time demo and consider what happens as more users, devices, or data are added. Whether your project is hardware, software, or both.Eligibility:
(CSSS) Most Over-Engineered Revival
Building an obsolete technology with the technology we have now.Eligibility:
(SEE) Best Climate or Environmental Impact
Eligibility:
Judges Will look for:
(MSE) Best Hardware Hack
Eligibility:
Judges Will look for:
(WICS) Hidden Key Award
Celebrating the diverse paths and incredible efforts of our WiCS members. One lucky individual from our community will be drawn to win this award.Eligibility:
Remember - you will not be eligible for an award unless you submit and present!
A Majority of teammates need to be present for hacking, presentation, and closing ceremony to be able to accept their award.
Projects will be submitted on the XHacks Devpost. Feel free to create a devpost account if you haven't and form your team now if you have teammates in mind. When the time comes, be sure to submit your project there and nominate yourself for the awards you qualify for before judging begins at 1:00pm on Sunday. Also be sure to check out other people’s submissions and vote on your favourite for the People’s Choice Award.
Not sure you’ll be able to focus non-stop for 24 straight hours? Not to worry, we’ll have mini events throughout the day for you to take a breather!
We’ll have a station for both speed-typing and trivia, where you’ll be competing for a spot on the leaderboard. Keep an eye out on the Discord announcements for these events (and potentially some extra surprises)!
You must be in a team of 2-4 to participate in the hackathon. If you don’t have a team yet, don’t worry! We have two options.
#find-a-team forum on the XHacks DiscordWe encourage you to form teams of 4 as it increases the amount of collaboration and fun when making a project. If you already are in a team of 3, consider taking in someone who doesn’t have a team! They will appreciate it.
A form will go out on Saturday for you to submit your team name and members. This allows for us to get an idea of how many submissions we have and start making the judging schedule.
XHacks will have 3 meals throughout the two days. Food details are subject to change.
Let us know if you have any dietary concerns with the menu and we’ll figure something out together!
Our main method of communication will be the XHacks Discord server, which you will have received a link to after RSVPing for XHacks. Here is where you will get the most up-to-date information on the hackathon, along with channels to introduce yourself, learn about the mentors, and form teams with others.
Be sure to leave your notifications on for mentions during the event as this will be how we will send reminders and deliver important information for the day of the hackathon.
The two main hacking locations will be SRYE 3016 and SRYE 4016. These locations will have outlets + extension cords and will also be where most mentors will be hovering around to give any assistance. There are also the stairs and tree pods through the building which have outlets underneath their utility covers which can be used.
The campus is still open to the public so we ask you to be mindful of the non-hacking students that may be studying for exams. This is especially true in SRYE 3006 which is considered the silent solo studying room, please do not have your team discussions there as someone may be trying to study in peace.
A map of the SRYE building can be found here.
We willl have a help desk in SYRE 3000 (glass study room on the third floor). We will have an organizer present there to help you with anything.
We will also keep all lost items there. If you’ve lost something, send a message to the #lost-and-found channel on
the XHacks Discord to let everyone know. If you’vefound something, give it to an organizer or drop it off at the help desk.
The judging schedule will be released at 10:00AM before brunch and will start at 1:00PM. Judging will take place in the two hacking rooms, SRYE 3016 and SRYE 4016, in front of a panel of judges. You will be given 3 minutes to present and then the panel will ask you some questions. You will only be eligible for an award if you present. HDMI and USB-C cables will be provided for you to plug in your device for presenting.
Feel free to watch other hackers present and congratulate them for their accomplishments! It’s also a great way to know who you’ll vote for in the People’s Choice award. Please keep conversation to a minimum while watching as to not make the judging rooms too noisy for the judges to hear the presenters.