RenderCon Kenya Website

The public website for RenderCon Kenya, the ReactDevsKe community conference for React, React Native, and modern web developers in East Africa. The site is built with the Next.js App Router and presents the 2026 conference experience while retaining selected 2025 speakers, schedule data, and sponsor history.

Contents

• Technology
• Getting started
• Available commands
• Application structure
• Routes
• Data and integrations
• Updating event content

Technology

• Framework: Next.js 13.4.1 with React 18 and the App Router
• Language: TypeScript with strict compiler checks
• Styling: Tailwind CSS 3 with global component utility classes
• Motion: Framer Motion
• Icons: React Icons and inline SVGs
• Data fetching: Axios for the Sessionize schedule feed; browser fetch for local speaker data
• Analytics: Vercel Analytics
• Package manager: Yarn Classic (yarn.lock is committed)

Getting started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18.17 or later (Node.js 20 LTS recommended)
• Yarn 1.22.x

Install and run

yarn install
yarn dev

Open http://localhost:3000.

No environment variables are currently required. Speaker images, the embedded schedule, ticket links, and the Sessionize API are external services, so a network connection is needed for those parts of the experience.

Available commands

Command	Purpose
yarn dev	Start the Next.js development server.
yarn build	Create an optimized production build.
yarn start	Serve the production build after yarn build.
yarn lint	Run the project lint command.

Application structure

src/
  app/
    api/                 Local JSON endpoints for speakers and submissions
    components/          Reusable page sections, navigation, and UI helpers
    context/             Client-side schedule context
    images/              Imported conference photography, logos, and prospectus PDF
    about/ ... tickets/  App Router routes
    globals.css          Tailwind directives and shared visual primitives
    layout.tsx           Root metadata, font, analytics, scroll reset, providers
    page.tsx             Home page composition
  components/            Shared IconWrapper used by legacy surfaces
  config/event.ts        Event links, metadata, sponsor helpers, and configuration
  utils/                 Schedule types, formatter, date filters, and static data
public/                  Public Next.js assets

The root layout applies Poppins, Vercel Analytics, ScrollToTop, and ScheduleProvider to every route. Most current marketing pages use Navbar and Footer; the legacy schedule route uses Header instead.

Routes

Route	Purpose
/	2026 landing page: hero, conference value, community statistics, tracks, 2025 speakers, highlights, partners, ticket CTA, and FAQ.
/about	Conference mission, community context, organisers, vision, and CTA.
/attend	Attendee-focused 2026 experience with ticket, venue, schedule, and FAQ information.
/speakers	Speaker programme information plus the reusable 2025 speaker grid.
/community	ReactDevsKe community information, platforms, and community CTAs.
/partners	2026 partnership pitch, sponsorship tiers, comparison table, partner spotlight, and prospectus link.
/sponsorships	Legacy sponsor listing and technology marquee.
/schedule	Legacy speaker-submission browser with search, filters, modal details, and profile-photo enrichment.
/schedule_24	Embedded Sessionize schedule at renderconke24.sessionize.com.
/tickets	Redirects to /attend#tickets.
/speakers-schedule	Redirects to /attend.
/privacy-policy	Privacy policy.
/media-policy	Media policy.
/code-of-conduct	Code of conduct and reporting instructions.

Data and integrations

Speaker API

GET /api/speakers returns the static 2025 speaker payload defined directly in src/app/api/speakers/route.ts. The Speakers component uses it to render loading, error/retry, modal-detail, and responsive “view all” states. The legacy /schedule route also uses the response to replace matching static speaker placeholders with profile photos.

The endpoint returns permissive CORS headers for GET and OPTIONS. Speaker image hosts must be listed in next.config.js if components are changed to use optimized next/image; the current speaker grid uses native img elements.

Sessionize schedule

ScheduleProvider requests the Sessionize “All” endpoint and passes its result through formatSessions. That helper joins session speaker IDs and room IDs to the API’s speaker and room collections, then groups sessions with the date predicates in src/utils/formatDate.ts.

The current provider is mounted globally but is not consumed by the current route pages. The legacy /schedule_24 surface embeds Sessionize in an iframe instead. If the provider is reintroduced in a schedule UI, update all three of these together:

1. EVENT_CONFIG.api.sessionize
2. the URL hard-coded in ScheduleContext.tsx
3. the day boundaries in formatDate.ts

Static schedule and submissions

src/utils/sessionDetails.ts holds the older, manually curated session list and SpeakerSubmission records for /schedule. This is application data, not a form submission backend: src/app/api/submissions/route.ts does not currently implement a request handler.

Updating event content

Start each conference cycle with src/config/event.ts:

1. Set EVENT_CONFIG.year, dates, venue, ticket/CFP/gallery/schedule URLs, emails, social links, and metadata.
2. Add sponsors to SPONSORS_BY_YEAR. getCurrentSponsors() falls back to a hall-of-fame state when the selected year has no entries.
3. Replace or extend the Sessionize URL and date filters if the programme uses the schedule context.
4. Update date-, year-, venue-, and ticket-specific copy in components and route pages.
5. Replace previous-edition speaker data in /api/speakers when the new programme is ready.
6. Replace images and logos under src/app/images/, keeping import references in the relevant components in sync.
7. Update root and route metadata, especially social preview image URLs.

The partnership prospectus is an imported PDF at src/app/images/assets/RenderCon-Kenya-2026_Q2.pdf. Keep its filename or update the import/link when replacing it.