practice the presentation once

what happened

went in cold. stumbled over transitions, didn't know who was saying what, ran over time.

why it's a gotcha

even one dry run makes a huge difference. most hackathon teams never practice and it shows — they trip over each other, forget to mention key features, and blow past the time limit. judges notice.

the fix

do one full run-through. time it. figure out who says what. you don't need to rehearse 10 times — once is the difference between amateur and competent. testing the demo is part of practicing — make sure the thing works before you practice presenting it. know your opening line cold. the reason this matters: pitching matters as much as the product, and a team that's all coders can still present well if they run through it once.