Organizing engaging, informative, and enjoyable cybersecurity events like Swisscom's Hacktober event doesn't have to be daunting. With strategic groundwork and relevant, interactive challenges, you can create a cybersecurity event that is both fun and educational. Are you considering hosting a similar cybersecurity event? This blog provides a step-by-step guide to creating an impactful event, resulting in a more skilled and prepared workforce.
This is part 2 of a 2 part blog. Click here to read part 1.
Step 1: Determine your goals
If you’re considering running your own Hacktober event, you likely already have specific aims in mind, such as raising awareness, providing essential knowledge, or bolstering defensive capabilities against cyber threats. Before you start planning the event, ask yourself the following questions and record the answers in an event strategy document:
- Why are you running the event?
- What do you want to measure or prove?
- What do you want participants to learn?
- Do you want to improve team or individual abilities?
- Do you want to target specific cybersecurity skills?
- Do you want to target any additional personal skills, such as teamwork or communication?
- What key performance indicators (KPIs) will you use to measure the success of your event?
Step 2: Understand the audience
Cybersecurity expertise can range broadly, so it's essential to know who your audience is so that your event is engaging and effective. Ask yourself the following questions and record the answers in your event strategy document:
- Who do you expect to take part in the event?
- Will you invite partners from other companies?
- What roles do they perform, and what areas of the business do they work in?
- What cybersecurity topics do they need to understand to perform their role securely?
- What is their current level of cybersecurity expertise?
Step 3: Make a plan
Once you know who will be attending your event, and the skills that they possess and require, it’s time to plan the event:
- When will the event take place?
- Will it coincide with a larger event such as Cybersecurity Awareness Month?
- Where will the event take place?
- Will it be physical, remote, or hybrid?
- How will the days or phases be structured?
- Will participants work in teams or as individuals?
- Will you require guest speakers, facilitators, or other external resources?
- Will you provide food and refreshments?
Step 4: Tailor content to roles and skill levels
Relevant, high-quality content is vital to any successful cybersecurity learning experience. Content that both reinforces and challenges the participants will ensure that they are engaged and enthused throughout the event, so take the time to research and plan the content that’s available to you in the Immersive Labs platform:
- What themes, topics, and tools do you want the participants to learn about?
- What are the participants’ skill levels?
- Do you have enough relevant content at appropriate difficulty levels?
- Can you link the content to participants' work roles?
- Can you add context by linking the content to realistic real-world scenarios?
Step 5: Communicate and promote
Once your event is planned, it’s time to tell everyone about it:
- What channels will you use to communicate?
- How will you build excitement for the event?
- How will you encourage people to participate?
- How will you ask participants to register their interest?
- Will participants need to form their own teams?
- Will you incentivize participation? Will there be prizes or swag?
Step 6: Running the event
Before your event is underway, make sure you consider the day-to-day running and logistics:
- What equipment do you require?
- Does every participant have an Immersive Labs license?
- Do participants know how to log in and access the event content?
- How will you release and assign content?
Step 7: Track progress and share the results
Finally, once your event is in full swing, don’t forget to track the participants’ activity and provide regular updates:
- Will you maintain an event leaderboard?
- How regularly will you communicate progress?
- How will you determine the winners?
- How will you communicate the results to all participants?
Once the event has concluded, don’t forget to review the results and compare them to your original KPIs. Was the event a success? Regardless of the results, please let us know how you got on, perhaps you could even write a blog for the community 😃
If you need any assistance with any of the above steps, or you're planning a similar event, please comment below.
Bronze II
