I can comment on both ZocDoc as I have second hand experience with a DDS that uses it. ZocDoc handles marketing and DRIVES patients to book appointments by showcasing them on their website and mobile apps. It doesn't guarantee new patients, but younger demographic of people DO prefer to use it over the phone call method. Dentists also get reviews from verified patients, which builds credibility (vs Yelp reviews from anyone).
I see value in Square Appointments because they're enabling scheduling management and communications on web and mobile. So an underutilized small business website can now add that capability. Pricing is competitive. It's the cost of doing business.
Another note. An API would be useful.
Great post. Looking forward to integrating this for a DDS.
I was hacking at for 4 days. Here were my observations about the whole event. I echo op's concerns.
Day 1: Monday
Came in early 10am-ish. 2nd floor, Moscone West, Hackathon area set up. There was a table. This is where we checked out team in. Room capacity <50% filled.
Nightclub lighting. Imagine walking into a nightclub and turning on your computer to work. That's what this setup was like for 3 days! Someone briefly turned on the lights on Wednesday. I am thinking this had to do with Marc and Jim Cramer stopping by.
There was a camera crew with really expensive gear filming some people on day one. Not sure what this was all about.
Day 1 Overnight
Food truck around midnight. Dead. You'd think more people would stick around overnight to work on their hacks. I'd say there were at most 20 people. 2 dudes were noticeably snoring towards the sponsor tables in the bags. First red flag.
Keynote day. Hacking continues. Hackers are free to watch the keynote on their laptops despite having "keynote" designation on their badges. Security ridiculously tight everywhere.
I started to get a weird vibe about the whole event. I've been to a few other hackathons (angelhack, disrupt, launch, startup weekend, paypal etc). This one seemed less organized and hacker friendly. They had food (think pizza, soda, and ice cream), but as far as wiring (wifi - shoddy, powerstrips - stationary to long desks, lighting - think nightclub-like, flashing blue, green, purple circles, and mainly event production staff present).
Re: Hack submissions.
Instructions were to submit hacks to Challenge Post by 6pm Wednesday. Submissions must include link for a video and meet the rules and requirements. No information was communicated about judging, how finalists would be selected etc.
Waste of my time, money and overall bad vibe from Salesforce.