The Tech World Render Built

ATLANTA, September 28 (Hypepotamus) - There are few people in Atlanta who know how to fill a room, or a giant trade-show venue, like Justin Samuels. 

As the founder and CEO of Render Atlanta, Samuels has grown a software engineering conference from about 300 attendees at its debut in 2019 to one that drew over 6,000 people to AmericasMart in Downtown Atlanta this August. And in just a matter of a few years, Samuels is building RenderATL into a year-round organization with a larger vision for Atlanta's tech ecosystem.

Inside The RenderATL Universe 

Those that walked through the doors of RenderATL this year were not greeted with a traditional conference experience. The boring blazers and business casual attire was largely absent. Instead, many attendees came in sports jerseys one day, a way that brings a different energy to a tech event. And rather than sitting through a single track of panels, attendees moved across three floors of AmericasMart, with conversations piped through silent-disco-style headphones.

Samuels told Hypepotamus the event is built to showcase the tech talent Atlanta has to offer.

The two-day event, which happened in the middle of Atlanta Tech Week, brought together technical talks, workshops, an expo, and evening concerts. The event saw 150 speakers and 70 sponsors and partners come together in a blend described as a mix of “community, culture, and code.” Killer Mike headlined as a keynote speaker this year and other speakers included Kelsey Hightower, Sarah Drasner of Google and Grammy Award-winning producer Dallas Austin.

Samuels said he didn’t necessarily set out to build what Render is today. But he did see a big gap in the Atlanta tech ecosystem.

Specifically, he said he was “tired of going to the West Coast” for large tech events and did not understand why Atlanta — with its strong technical scene and large airport — could not serve as a hub for a marquee tech event. 

Beyond the two-day conference

Samuels, a Mississippi State University graduate, says the vision for RenderATL now extends far beyond a two-day conference. The company has opened a headquarters in South Downtown, and after this year's events, Samuels announced that it will open the space once a week for community groups to host meetups and workshops.

The headquarters fits a broader shift. RenderATL is growing to be a year-round platform that includes Atlanta Tech Week, The Commits awards, and the Silicon South Foundation, which work toward positioning Atlanta and the South as a leading technology ecosystem. 

Organizers say the 2025 conference generated more than $55 million in economic impact for the region. Despite those numbers, Samuels pointed out that in 2026, sponsorship was down. 

“It was much harder,” he told Hypepotamus (a sentiment we’ve heard from several event organizers recently). But also, despite bringing in massive logos as sponsors, Atlanta-based companies were largely absent this year as RenderATL sponsors. 

RenderATL returns Aug. 18-19, 2027, according to its website.