The Problem

During an IEEE hackathon, I received a participant spreadsheet containing names, email addresses, team names, and member details.

Creating certificates individually would mean repeating the same steps for multiple participants. I wanted to make the process simpler.

The Automation

I used a Google Slides certificate template that already had the design in place, with a placeholder for the participant's name.

The script read the participant data, replaced the name placeholder, generated a PDF certificate for each participant, and organized the output into separate Google Drive folders based on team names.

Instead of manually creating and sorting every certificate, I could automate the repetitive parts of the workflow.

What's Next?

Email delivery was something I considered for a future improvement. The idea was to extend the workflow so that certificates could also be sent directly to participants.

What I Learned

This was a small automation, but it showed me how existing tools like Google Slides, Google Drive, and Google Apps Script can work together to solve a practical problem.

Not every useful engineering solution needs to be a large application. Sometimes, automating a repetitive task is enough to make a process much easier.