A New Generation of Tech Conference: Innovating collaboration at RenderATL.
June 12th-14th Atlanta, Georgia once again experienced the magic that is RenderATL.
A 3-day conference that shines a lens on innovation and diversity within the tech, film, and music industries. Render does this by bringing together professionals, organizations, enthusiasts and companies from different markets and backgrounds. Since starting in 2019, and sustaining through the pandemic, RenderATL has made major strides towards becoming one of the top tech conferences on the east coast. This is a conference to keep your eye on if you’re a founder, a manager, a designer, a jobseeker, a recruiter, a tech newbie, or somewhere in between.
The conference offers 3 days for attendees to learn, network, and share their ideas.
Day 1: Offered various hands-on workshops for those looking to learn something new or sharpen their skillset. Workshop topics ranged from learning how to automate your content management to sessions on programming AI with JavaScript. Some workshops gave the opportunity for attendees to pitch their ideas and projects, for practice and for prizes. No matter where in your journey you are, there was a workshop that would have peaked some interest. The best part being the workshops were hosted twice a day, giving you time to double your investment!
Days 2 & 3 : Focused their dedication on exhibitions and 100+ speakers telling their stories, sharing their process, and giving advice. A fan favorite being, Jermaine L. Murray (The Jobfather) on, “Bridging the gap: Navigating the tech job market for underrepresented talent”. Many would say this was essential motivation and gave clear direction for the target audience. Some even took his words into their pre-scheduled interviews at Render.
“I feel like now I know how to fill in the gaps that have been holding me back. “
-Render Attendee
Closing out day 3, the Keynote speaker was none other than Shannon Sharpe. Shannon participated in a panel discussion with Justin Samuels and Detavio Samuels. The three champions took the time to breakdown the importance of “knowing how to pick your team and how to lead that team”. Shannon shared some key takeaways from his journey running his own shows: Club Shay Shay, and Night Cap.
He shared that in order for someone to be considered to be a member of his team they must be “obsessed with the vision”. In short Shannon explains how he does not want anyone on his team who does not want the vision to succeed as much or more than he does. This is because not only is Shannon demanding, but also he believes that in order for it to succeed the whole team must have stake it’s success.
“ I do not believe in failure, I believe in delayed success” he says.
With having this type of team you have to be able to lead them and you have to be able to let them lead.
“ If I am the smartest one in the room, I am in the wrong room” Shannon says,
explaining that being a leader is more than knowing the most, but also knowing when you don’t know everything and allowing your team to fill in the gaps and bring more perspective, preventing a ceiling.
Shifting the perspective, he concluded by affirming that as he approaches his 56th birthday, he has come to realize his purpose in life. To work and to give back. Give back at Render he did, with his words of wisdom that all the entrepreneurs and founders in the room undoubtedly took home with them.
Not only did attendees take home inspirational insights , they also made real life connections that can help further their knowledge and job opportunities.
The speakers, workshops, and exhibitions at RenderATL alone made it a worthwhile experience. Although, beyond the scheduled programming of the conference, the culture and atmosphere surrounding it played a significant role in garnering praise from attendees.
“I feel like everywhere I am today, I hear people talking about their next project, and amazing ideas. This is the energy I need to be surrounded by”!
-Render Attendee
Throughout each day there were numerous happy hours and mixers being hosted to allow attendees the chance to interact with peers and companies in a less “buttoned up” environment. This fostered more authentic conversations and catered to the changing climate around how to recruit talent. Some sponsors that participated were Slack, Black Men in Tech, Google, JP Morgan, and Baddies in tech. Although very different, they all understood a more intimate, yet social take was needed.
Typically when attending most tech conferences you expect to see all the big name companies like Zillow, Uber, and Microsoft. While these types of companies are notable favorites, they tend to have lots of competition and are not always the environment everyone is looking for. With 70+ partners present, it was clear RenderATL wanted to prioritize visibility of the mid and small companies and this was something that truly made a major difference to the attendees. Small businesses were able to showcase their products inside and outside of the conference. Some businesses that were featured were:
@dresscode.dev a black owned interactive clothing line for the code.ture.
@talleyandtwine a black owned watch company that operates outside the “norms” .
@thefunnelcakeguys a black owned company elevating your funnel cake taste.
@fuzzie.co black owned culture focused illustration project
Render also supported the small guys through their community partners program. Bringing on organizations such as @techsofcolor, @baddiesintech, @codehouse, @stemsoulcial, @blackgirlshack, @blksintechatl, @mcclintonscholars, @colorco.work, @tribaja.co and many more.
The cherry on top for supporting small businesses in the community was Render powered ATLTechWeek. A seven day stride of tech aligned events, showcases, workshops, and more. Atlanta tech week hosted 6000+ attendees, 100+ events, and delivered substantial exposure across Atlanta.
Everything was not about the “big guys”. You got to learn about so many small businesses, organizations, micro influencers, and the tech newbies had space to feel catered to….We love inclusivity!
-Render Attendee
Everyone loves a community supporter, but we also love the ability for everyone to unleash their inner geek, which made each day at RenderATL that much better. Each day you could see that everyone was in their element, no judgement, just vibes. Render gave space for this by assigning themes that paid tribute to the fandoms.
Day 1: Pink out
Day 2: Cloaks and Kicks
Day 3: Jersey Day & Render Haus
I love how all types of the nerd got to thrive here, the sneaker heads, the gamers, readers, and the programmers.
-Render Attendee
After a full day of conference and geeking out attendees kicked into overdrive with performances from artists like Rotimi, DJ Pee wee, D Smoke and more.
This was not your regular tech conference. This was for the Code and the Culture.
RenderAtl definitely left an imprint claiming its place as the largest developer-focused conference in North America. Drawing in 4500+ attendees, generating an estimated 20 million in financial influence, and showcasing the power of the Silicone South. The world is certainly coming to Render.
Congratulations to Justin Samuels and the Render Team.
