What NOT to Do at Your Next Innovation Event
In our experience running Innovation Days and Hackathons — and through observing and interviewing colleagues in other industries — we’ve seen the same pitfalls crop up again and again. To help you avoid them, we’ve grouped them into three themes.
1. Strategic Misalignment & Lack of Direction
# Lack of Expectation Management – Innovators need clarity on what outcomes are expected — whether that’s working code, prototypes, or presentations. At the same time, management must be clear about why they want these innovations and what support participants can rely on.
# Missing Holistic Perspective – Innovation events are great opportunities to step outside daily routines and see the bigger picture. But everyone needs to understand how the event links to long-term planning and how insights can actually support the company’s success.
# No Innovation Strategy – People need to know how ideas will be assessed, by whom, and how the process connects to existing development cycles. Innovators often want to continue working on their ideas — is that possible, or will projects be handed off elsewhere?
When strategy isn’t clear, effort gets wasted. And without follow-through or clear next steps, participants quickly disengage and lose motivation to contribute.
Do this instead:
- Define clear success criteria up front
- Explain how ideas will be evaluated and by whom
- Articulate what the immediate next steps will be for the successful ideas
2. Organizational Silos & Low Engagement
# Lack of Commitment and Alignment – When teams or departments aren’t united behind the event’s purpose, participation becomes half-hearted. To build real energy, involve stakeholders early: let them help shape goals, criteria, and topics — and invite them to play an active role.
# Hackathon for Developers Only – Limiting innovation to developers turns the event into a purely technical exercise. That’s fine if your aim is to test tools or clean up legacy code. But if the goal is real strategic innovation, you’ll need voices from business, marketing, and customer-facing roles at the table.
# Lack of Belief in Own People – Developers, QA, architects, UX designers — everyone has something to contribute to building great products. Give them space to shine and you’ll be surprised at the creativity and insight that emerges.
When only a subset of people are invited to the innovation table, brilliant ideas get overlooked. And when participants feel excluded, buy-in disappears — often dooming promising ideas before they ever make it past evaluation.
Do this instead:
- Co-create the event themes with advisors drawn from across the organisation.
- Run a quick crash course in prototyping or low-fi experimentation so anyone can test ideas without specialist skills.
- Bring customer-facing roles into evaluations to act as customer proxies and keep ideas grounded in real-world needs.
3. Execution Barriers & Cultural Mindset
# Lack of Implementation Strategies – Without a clear, transparent path for ideas, participants quickly lose motivation. Even if ideas don’t move forward, communicate why. Silence after the event is the fastest way to discourage future participation.
# Creativity Myths – “I’m not creative” is a myth that undermines participation. Everyone is creative; our brains are wired to solve complex problems. But creativity benefits from structure, just like delivery does. Ideas don’t appear fully formed — they need a process to emerge.
When ideas are left to die, participants become disillusioned — and skepticism about future events grows. Building an innovation mindset means creating opportunities to practice without fear of failure. If you make it safe to fail, and fun to try, people will be far more willing to engage fully.
Do this instead:
- Focus on clearly articulating the next steps for implementation.
- Be transparent about time lines to set expectations.
- Create a “safe to fail” environment during the event.
- Introduce short, playful activities that spark creative energy.
Bringing it all together
“Innovation without execution is a hobby” Phil McKinney
If what you want is simply a team-building event, organize a pizza party. But if you want to unlock creativity and business value, avoid the traps above.
Anticipating these pitfalls in advance will help ensure your next innovation event is a success. Put equal effort into defining what happens after the event as you do into planning it. Invite diverse skills and perspectives to enrich idea generation. Make the event safe, clear, and fun — so participants leave not only energized, but motivated to carry their ideas forward.