Render ATL 2025
I love Render ATL for many reasons! First off, they continually put together a lineup of speakers, topics, and sponsors that are in line with what’s happening in the industry right now. Also, it’s a vibe. The energy is unmatched and I have such a great time. This year was no different, but the topics sure were. I’m bullish on AI and so I was really curious how much would make its way into the lineup.
AI Summit and Workshops
I grab the super early-bird tickets, which include workshops. Plus, this year there was also an AI Summit. I ended up flying in the morning, so I focused on the AI Summit sessions. There were lots to choose from, but these are the ones I caught in the afternoon.
Vibe coding and how to make it viable
J. Chris Anderson, Cofounder of Vibes DIY
Sean Roberts, Distinguished Engineer, Head of AI/AX Strategy at Netlify
Shawn Meyer, Auth0, Vice President of Engineering
My Takeaways
Great conversation on security concerns, efficiency debates, and opportunites for agent workflows. Best quote for when you're working with LLMS: "How much can you trust this thing?"
Plugging AI into everything: MCP Simplified
TODO,
My Takeaways
Excellent walkthrough of Goose and MCP in general
AI Agents in Action
Hamza Farooq, CEO & Founder Traversaal.ai | Adjunct Professor Stanford & UCLA
My Takeaways
"Security in data and AI: there's no such thing." and some great examples of ways that companies are using IBM products
GenAI in Action: Transforming Business Through Practical Applications
Swati Sharma, Builder Solutions Architect for GenAI Solutions at AWS
My Takeaways
Interesting demos for large business usage
Conference Day One
Build your own AI engineer like Copilot & Devin
Anand Chowdary, GitHub Star, Forbes 30 Under 30, Y Combinator Founder
My Takeaways
I need to experiment with GitHub actions, the demos around executable prompts from a PR were fantastic
Harnessing the Next-Gen Graphics API for High-Performance Redering on Web
Preetish Kakkar, Adobe, Senior Computer Graphics Engineer
My Takeaways
Technical breakdown of the core concepts: command buffers, pipelines, and resource bindings
The Future of Work: Thriving in a Remote-First World
Dan Spaulding, Chief People Officer at Zilow
Dr. Shante Lyons, Director, Engagement & Belonging, Zillow
Marissa Brooks, VP of Corporate Affairs
Roz Harris, VP of Talent Acquisition and Engagement & Belonging
My Takeaways
Great discussion on ways to stay engaged and balance a remote-first, but not remote-only working culture
This Session Might Just Save Your Career: Rewriting Work in the Age of AI
Brandon Butler, Founder of Butter.ATL and founder of iHeart's Butternomics Podcast
My Takeaways
Question everything, specifically using a QUEST framework
Vibe Coding with MCP
Ebony Louis, Developer Advocate
My Takeaways
Another example of rad Goose is
Back to the future: of web development
Una Kravets, Staff Developer Relaions Engineer, Web UI
My Takeaways
You might not need JS, the 2025 version
The missing piece in full-stack AI app development
Wayne Sutton, Head of Community / Startup Programs at Convex
My Takeaways
Convex is pretty rad and they were up when Supabase and others were down while this talk was happening
Letting AI Interface with Your App with MCPs
Kent C. Dodds, Software Developer and Educator
My Takeaways
MCP servers are so powerful and I should take his workshop on building one
This search result is perfect... but for whom? Questioning Alignment in AI Systems
Paul-Louis Nech, Machine Learning @Algolia
My Takeaways
Tons of great pieces, but the summary is learn and apply the principle of caring for both the goat and the cabbage
The rooftop party had a well-needed break with some great music. Didn't stay late, but loved the jams and watching people dance
Conference Day Two
OPFS: Redfining Web Storage for High-Performance Apps
Piyush Gupta, Senior Engineering Manger - Expedia
My Takeaways
Performant file storage I hadn't heard of, excellent for large files and likely what allows Photoshop in the browser
What no one tells you about Server-Side Rendering Micro-Frontends
Luca Mezzalira, Principal Serverless Specialist Solutions Architect at AWS
My Takeaways
Best quote was "data has gravity", which is valid reasoning for isolating UI that is tied to it
Culture, Community & Capital: Atlanta's emergence as a Top 5 Tech Hub
Avoilan Bingham, President of Atlanta Tech Week, Gneral Manager & Investor at Drive Capital
My Takeaways
Great explanation of the goals of the Atlanta tech community and how Render and Tech Week help
The New Blueprint: Skills Every Engineer Needs for the AI Era
Mercel Weekes, VP, Engineering at Figma
My Takeaways
AI automations allow us to focus on what we're building, not how we're building it
To embrace AI you need more hackathons
Jean-Luc Vanhulst
My Takeaways
Specifics about plannign one, but moreso that an ideal cadence is quarterly
Fireside Chat: AI is everywhere... now what?
Angie Jones, Global VP of Developer Relations
Dana Lawson, Chief Technology Officer at Netlify
Tobin South, Head of AI Agents at WorkOS, Standard Research Fellow
My Takeaways
Be the human in the loop and focus on the last mile of delivery
The Future of UI/UX: AI-Generated Interfaces Tailored Just-in-Time
David vonThenen, AI/ML Engineer
My Takeaways
Combine micro and macro context for the ideal UX
Seeing is believing: How data visualization shapes our reality
Marisa Morby, Principal Researcher, Design & Strategy, Observable
My Takeaways
Data is not neutral
Business Development Lessons for Building Bold Careers and Companies
Nicole Guido-Estrada, Intuit Credit Karma, Head of Credit Card Partnerships
My Takeaways
Pinpoint the real challenges and solve high value problems
AI-Driven Product Management: Setting Vision, Crafting PRDs, and Prototyping Faster
Imad Abusam, Product Management Leader - Uber Gifting & Financial Products
My Takeaways
Evals are the new product requirement documents
The end of the conf was an announcement for 2026, with the main conference moving to August and some additional events throught the year in Atlanta and beyond.
Also, holy shit that’s a lot of talks in 2.5 days!
Renderfest
Render typically ends with a concert and this year was soca and dancehall. As you can see here, a lot of fun was had!