More than 6,000 technology leaders, founders, entrepreneurs, executives, and creators gathered in Atlanta for RenderATL 2026, putting the city’s growing Black tech community in the spotlight.
Held August 12–13 during Atlanta Tech Week, the two-day conference brought together more than 150 speakers and industry leaders. The conversations focused on artificial intelligence, open-source technology, developer tools, cloud infrastructure, and the future of work.
However, RenderATL was about more than technology. The event also created a space where Black professionals and other diverse talent could connect, build relationships, find career opportunities, and show the wider industry what they can do.
RenderATL Puts Atlanta’s Black Tech Community in the Spotlight
RenderATL has grown into one of the country’s fastest-growing technology conferences. This year’s event attracted more than 6,000 people in person, while another 3,000 joined virtually.
The event featured major names from technology, entertainment, business, and entrepreneurship. Speakers included former Google distinguished engineer Kelsey Hightower, Google Chrome engineer Sarah Drasner, engineering executive Angie Jones, OpenJS Foundation executive director Robin Ginn, and Platformatic.dev co-founder and CTO Matteo Collina.
Rapper, entrepreneur, and activist Killer Mike also took part, showing how closely technology, business, culture, and creativity can connect in Atlanta.
Justin E. Samuels Built RenderATL Around Code Culture and Community
RenderATL was founded in 2019 by Justin E. Samuels, a former senior software engineer at Intuit. His goal was to connect Atlanta’s technology community with the city’s strong Black culture and creative energy.
Samuels said the conference is designed to turn Atlanta’s talent and connections into real opportunities for people and businesses.
“What makes RenderATL special is our ability to bring code, culture, and community together in a way that feels uniquely Atlanta,” Samuels said.
That idea was visible throughout the event. Along with panels and workshops, attendees had access to an interactive expo and career fair where they could meet companies and explore professional opportunities.
Atlanta Tech Week Expands the Reach of Black Technology Leaders
RenderATL was part of the larger Atlanta Tech Week, which Samuels launched in 2023. According to Samuels, more than 35,000 people took part in the week, which featured more than 300 technology-focused events across the Atlanta metro area.
The program included events such as the Silicon South Summit and Atlanta AI Expo. About 20% of attendees reportedly traveled from outside Atlanta, showing that people from other cities are paying closer attention to Atlanta’s technology scene.
Samuels said the turnout reflects Atlanta’s growing reputation as a place where founders, investors, operators, and technology workers can build businesses and relationships.
The event also partnered with the OpenJS Foundation to host the first OpenJS Summit. The gathering gave developers and maintainers working in the JavaScript ecosystem their own dedicated space.
AI Takes Center Stage at RenderATL 2026
Artificial intelligence was one of the biggest topics at RenderATL 2026. Speakers and workshops looked at how AI is changing the workplace, product development, software engineering, and business.
New Relic sponsored several sessions focused on helping engineers understand and use AI tools. Jemiah Sias, the company’s vice president of Market Strategy and Developer Relations, also joined keynote discussions and workshops.
Sias explained that technology companies need to understand what engineers are experiencing as they adopt AI while still being responsible for building and maintaining reliable software.
“We need to understand their pain points,” Sias said. “We need to empathize with them.”
The message was clear: AI may be changing how people work, but technology leaders still need to understand the people using these tools.
RenderATL Brings Technology and Legal Education Together
For the first time, RenderATL also included a dedicated Law & Tech Summit. The new track focused on an issue that is becoming increasingly important for entrepreneurs: who owns the work created with artificial intelligence?
Rebecca P. Beliard, founder and managing partner of RPB Law Firm, spoke about intellectual property ownership in the age of AI. She encouraged founders to understand how they can protect and monetize the ideas and technology they are building.
“It is not enough to use the technology,” Beliard said. “Entrepreneurs need to understand what they can actually own and protect.”
Her presentation also addressed the current position of the U.S. Copyright Office on AI-generated material. Beliard noted that work created entirely by AI does not qualify for copyright protection under the current position, while work containing enough human authorship may qualify.
For Black founders and entrepreneurs entering the AI space, that knowledge can be especially important as they work to turn new ideas into valuable businesses.
Black Professionals Want Recognition Beyond Their Labels
Perhaps one of the most important conversations at RenderATL was about how diverse professionals are viewed in the technology industry.
Ava Toro, a global market researcher formerly at Reddit, said spaces like RenderATL allow companies to see Black professionals for the impact they create instead of reducing them to labels such as “Black techies” or “Black marketers.”
Her point speaks to a larger issue in the industry. Representation matters, but so does recognition. Black professionals want their skills, leadership, creativity, and results to be at the center of the conversation.
“I’m not a ‘Black marketer,’” Toro said. “I’m the global researcher who has helped brands shift sentiment, brought one of the newest conversational AI tools to market, and a leader in my field.”
That distinction matters. Creating more opportunities for Black talent is not simply about putting diverse faces in the room. It is also about giving talented professionals the chance to lead, create, and receive credit for the work they do.
RenderATL Shows the Power of Black Talent in Technology
The conference also made room for culture and entertainment. Attendees could enjoy the Render Haus concert, presented by Vercel and Sanity, with performances from D4L and Dem Franchize Boyz.
RenderFEST also featured Atlanta artists Lloyd and Yung Joc, adding another layer to an event built around the relationship between technology and culture.
That combination reflects what makes Atlanta such an interesting technology market. The city has a strong business and technology community, but it also has deep roots in music, entertainment, entrepreneurship, and Black culture.
RenderATL continues to build on that connection. By bringing thousands of professionals into the same space, the conference is helping create networks that can lead to new jobs, partnerships, businesses, investments, and ideas.
RenderATL Creates a Bigger Future for Black Tech Talent
Six years after its launch, RenderATL is becoming more than a technology conference. It is becoming a platform for connection, education, visibility, and opportunity.
The 2026 gathering showed that Black talent is not standing on the sidelines of the technology industry. Black founders, engineers, marketers, researchers, creators, and entrepreneurs are helping shape the conversation around AI and the future of work.
As Atlanta’s technology ecosystem continues to grow, events like RenderATL can play an important role in making sure Black professionals have a place to build, lead, and influence what comes next.
The numbers tell part of the story. More than 6,000 people attended RenderATL in person, 3,000 joined online, and more than 35,000 participated across Atlanta Tech Week.
But the bigger story is what happens after everyone goes home: the connections made, ideas exchanged, businesses launched, and opportunities created.
And that could be the most important part of RenderATL’s growing impact.
