So you’re going to a Startup Weekend ? Like the Startup Weekend Strasbourg happenning this week end.

Here is a simple check list if it’s you’re first Startup Weekend :

• If you’re not part of a well organized team, or, if you know that you will work a lot, bring a sleeping bag
• A laptop and/or an iPad (lots of things are happening on The Internet these days)
• An extension cord (mainly if you own an iPhone 4S)
• A pack of energy drinks (not necessarly for you, but you will have something to trade for a new shiny logo, a chapter of your business plan or a ReTweet from a high profile tweetos lying in the next room)
• An infant school toolbox (with pens, pencils, sheet of paper, notebook, markers, postits, etc)

But maybe you will also want to pitch your idea during the Pitch Fire session ?
Don’t forget that the so called Elevator Pitch is an art. And it’s a difficult art. One minute, it’s both long and short. Here are 4 tips, here 10 tips and here 5 tips.

Here’s my 3 tips : practice, practice, practice.

During the week end, you will surely want to have your web application online (or at least a website). And you will quicckly learn that graphists are a rare resource during a Startup Weekend. Here are a few graphical resources that will help you a lot :

• Themeforest the ultimate directory of web, wordpress and ecommerce templates. From free to a few dozen bucks.
• Twitter Bootstrap to gain all the kwnoledge form the finr guys from Twitter (and here is a list of websites built with Bootstrap)
• Foundation from Zurb can also get you quickly to something nice and pretty
• Or maybe you can combine HTML5 Boilerplate with a CSS grid system like 960GS

For mockups or wireframe, don’t forget Balsamiq. And Zurb gives you for free a handful of iPhone, iPad and Android Omnigraffle stencils and even some simple Sketchsheets.

Don’t hesitate to add stuff by commenting below. And keep in mind that a Startup Weekend is a fun event !