ProfHacks 2021 was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and required extensive work to bring the event to a new virtual venue that could then be enjoyed by excited programmers, engineers, and hackers all around the country. A specialized Discord server was created to allow for communication between the participants with regular breakouts rooms over Zoom to run the highly anticipated workshops.

Workshop interest was ranked highest on the list of activities when participants signed up in advance. To assist with this dramatic increase, I coordinated reaching out to Rowan University professors, Major League Hacking self start workshop advisors, and industry partners to develop a schedule of fun and technical workshops to keep participants engaged for 12 hours of professional activities. The retention rate of the workshops remained high at 80% throughout the duration of ProfHacks.

Volunteers to help run the hackathon were brought in person to ensure effective communication that was necessary for keeping the event on schedule. COVID tests were administered to all volunteers and verified to help with minimizing the risk of all attending volunteers. N95 masks were worn by all volunteers in person and social distancing practices were followed. The success of ProfHacks 2021 during the COVID-19 was possible because of these precautions taken.