On a humid day in late August, after meeting with the General Department of Preventive Medicine of Ministry of Health in Vietnam, I was told that I would have a key role in the organization and planning of the upcoming Epihack Vietnam. I had never done anything like it before. I felt intimidated, but also excited. I love it’s a challenge. The challenge of organizing a hackathon in a foreign country would be difficult.

After going through an organizers course at epihack.org, and after discussing with my colleagues at InSTEDD, as well as at Skoll Global Threats Fund, I felt more capable, along with the close cooperation from the Vietnamese General Department of Preventive Medicine and Tran Hong Quang, who was InSTEDD’s Global Ambassador in Vietnam. Together we checked off item by item on our shared to-do list.

One of the first tasks of planning an EpiHack is the event space. It’s important to choose a space that has areas for breakout meetings, and is in a central location. After some research, we decided on the Serena Hotel and Resort in Hoa Binh province. The following task was selecting participants. An EpiHack should have a roughly balanced number of technologist and health experts. We would also need to contact real-time professional translators for the event. Other items included setting up plans for field trips, scheduling speakers, including government organizations, and processing documents like travel visas.

After several months of preparation, I arrived to Hoa Binh on the day before the event starting date. I spent the night completing last minute arrangements and collaborated with the other facilitators to prepare for the day ahead.