Let me start with My intro, I am Gaurav Pandey and last year (SIH '22) I led my team to Smart India Hackathon Finals and Didn't WIN.

So, must you read this blog instead of reading some winner's blog, Well the answer is pretty simple, Yes, coz I've seen the problems, faced them, and also faced the issues that arose during the same.

Now that you have made up your mind to stick to the blog I'll start with the initial step which is the Selection of Problem statement.

Problem Statement: Every year a number of PS are released by the SIH that you need to work on and develop a solution that provides the best results, Now select a problem statement that you know can work and a solution that you can create at your level. I was in the software edition so creating something with the knowledge I had was my go-to PS.

Forming Team: You have two ways to create a team, either get the people who are already working in the domain, or if you want to do something with the friends' group make sure they are all ready to learn, In case of SIH you get almost 3 months from the proposal submission to finals and that is enough time to work on any tech stack that you might have chosen.

Discussion of Idea: The idea must be discussed with all and should be understandable to all, If your teammates don't agree to it how can you make the SIH evaluators understand the same. Tell your team to go through the PS and understand it, you'll be shocked to see everyone has a different perspective on it. The task now is to perform GD and brainstorming sessions and come up with a common and desired solution as per the PS. In our case we missed some minor details of the PS which were recognized by the team at the finals, so yup make sure to do this step properly.

Make sure you have a team with a diverse mind and no one has biases about things, for example not working under the person who is the team leader, this is unlikely in a friend group but likely to happen in a group formed from a diverse system. It should be the task of the team to play together or else you'll fail. Also, personal biases should be removed because that makes things complicated for example choosing an idea because your friend suggested it and not choosing an Idea suggested by other guys, this can lead to harsh changes in the end.

Now you are done with the initial steps and I conclude that you are ready with the team and the Solution. Next Step Clearing College Internal Hackathon

Internal Hackathon: Colleges have to organize an Internal Hackathon and then forward the top 10 teams that can register themselves to the SIH portal, Make sure you express your ideas in a good way enough to impress the college jury and also take notes if any suggestions made. This would be your first experience with suggestions from outside the group, understand and iterate if needed. (Not necessary to make changes if you are confident enough about your solution).

Presentation for SIH: This a very crucial step for the selections in the finale, you have to make sure that you put enough details in the presentation that it speaks for itself and expresses the solution in the best way, you won't get any chance to speak yourself in this process. Also do follow the format that has been given by SIH as not following it can lead to the direct elimination of the team. Understand and express your solution in the points instead of Paragraphs. It makes it concise and better to look at.

I hope till now we are all clear on the basic steps to make it SIH portal and submission. After submission is done results will be announced after a month and selected teams will be called at the Nodal Centers decided by SIH, where you have to work on your idea for 36 hours (for the software edition) and provide a working solution to the evaluators. Once you've reached this point 50% of your tasks were successful and the rest 50% is left to be converted into a success. At the finals, each PS has 5 teams that are best all over India and now they will compete against each other to claim the winners' throne.

The Fun Begins Congratulations if you have been selected as the finalist of SIH. Mark my words the fun and exposure you'll get here is beyond anything you have ever thought of. Make sure your last step stays fun and not chaotic, so after the results come try to complete your solution and make it fully functional, this not only lets you enjoy the event but also you'll only be making iterations suggested by the evaluators and mentors.

This was all. Was this all? No, the most challenging task for this last step is the presentation of the solution and your planning. Though I've told you to complete your solutions before the finale but that is not how you'll show them to evaluators, The Idea of SIH is that you must do coding in that 36 hours thus you must show your projects in chunks to them. there will be 3 rounds in total where the evaluators will come to your desk to check progress and suggest changes or ask questions After that it will also accompany one round of presentation succeeding each evaluation so that they can judge whether the team can handle and make changes necessary to fill requirements. (Evaluation format might differ depending on the Nodal center, you'll be provided with a schedule once you reach the Nodal center). What do I mean by showcasing the project in chunks? It means that let's suppose in the first round you explain the idea and tell them that the team has started working on the code right away and building necessary parts, so in the next presentation round you should showcase only half project with front and backend that was necessary and what you mentioned to them earlier. In the next round showcase some more and in the last round show them your entire solutions along with any suggestions they have made. The evaluators really love to see their suggestions to be added, however, it shouldn't be the case every time make sure you discuss it with the team before agreeing to anything. In the last evaluators want to see the solution in a functional mode. (PS This is where we lost we told them our entire thing at the first round and evaluators told us to change everything in the project and we were then unable to make the changes functional by the end*)

I hope you would have loved to hear about a finalist perspective of the SIH and I wish you make it through and win. If any more queries drop them in the comments or connect to me on LinkedIn and Twitter and then ask your doubts (I am quite active there )