I do a lot of hackathons. My record is 4/26 for winning 1st, 16/26 for winning 1 or more prizes, mentored 3 times and judged once.
Do it on a weekend, have interesting sponsors with prizes, and make the judging/presentation criteria very clear from the start. Also attendance can be hard to estimate, not everyone will show up and not everyone will come back, plan accordingly.
Also, three pieces of advice I always give at hackathons:
1. work backwards from the presentation
2. only build what you show
3. only show the interesting parts
You seem to be being downvoted a bit, not sure if it's your ridiculously boasty first paragraph or your 3 bits of advice.
But if it is your 3 bits of advice, I'm actually going to say that for a certain type of hackathon, those bits of advice actually make perfect sense. So many hackathons are obsessed with judging and prizes, usually based off judges seeing very little in a brief presentation. If you really want to win, your strategy makes sense. While I haven't adapted it wholesale, I've certainly been in situations where I have prioritised technical work by what will play best in the presentation.
Personally tho, I find this a little sad and the atmosphere at these hackathons can be a little rubbish.
Do it on a weekend, have interesting sponsors with prizes, and make the judging/presentation criteria very clear from the start. Also attendance can be hard to estimate, not everyone will show up and not everyone will come back, plan accordingly.
Also, three pieces of advice I always give at hackathons:
Happy to mentor/judge, mat@tinj.com.