DataFest, a celebration of data that includes 60 sites involving 120 institutions from across the globe. During the first year of our National Science Foundation-funded project, we set out to understand what drives students to take part in DataFest, as well as what discourages participation. To do so, we collected multiple streams of data from six DataFest sites: surveys with Likert items and free-response questions implemented with both DataFest participants and nonparticipants before the event; semi-structured interviews with DataFest participants; and surveys about participants’ experiences at DataFest implemented after the event. When we ran a logistic regression comparing survey responses from DataFest participants versus nonparticipants, we found one variable that significantly predicted DataFest participation was the extent to which students perceived DataFest as “for me.” When we shared this with the organizers, they asked us what “for me” means.