"laughed" out of the venue? what? that doesn't even make sense. have you ever been to a hackathon? I've definitely had non-techie friends have a great time attending events with me.
For people with a non startup background, who have never attended a hackathon, should they attend to learn new things, add a different perspective to a team, network?
What is the general experience like?
We're genuinely quite friendly people, us hackers - we should make you feel welcome :)
Have a beer or two with some of the guys and walk around to see what people are working on - most people will be more than happy to show you their hack!
For example, a startup weekend planning, project management, testing, design, marketing, pitching? I assume you don't just sit around looking over peoples shoulders for two days?