On 23 August 2026, React Kolkata hosted its second offline meetup at Techno India University, Kolkata in collaboration with React Siliguri. The event brought together more than 200 developers and technology enthusiasts for a day of technical talks, discussions, a quiz, networking, and a live Buildathon.
The event was larger than the organizers initially expected. Registrations filled up, and people continued reaching out after registration closed. Since the venue had a fixed seating capacity, the team had to keep the number of attendees within the available limit. With technical sessions, interactive activities, and hands-on building, the meetup brought together different ways for people to learn and participate.
The day began with registrations and preparations at the venue. The team worked on ID cards, stickers, attendee check-ins, and other arrangements as people started arriving. Managing more than 200 attendees required coordination across different parts of the team. Attendee questions, registrations, logistics, and other event requirements were handled throughout the day.
Techno India University provided the venue and supported the event with coordination.
The technical Programme featured four speakers covering different areas of modern React and frontend engineering. Supratim Dhara opened the event with “React Was Supposed to Build UIs- I Used It to Orchestrate a Compute Network.” The session explored an unconventional use of React while keeping the topic accessible to the audience.
Sayak Saha followed with “The React Compiler Era: Internals, Performance and AI Safety.” His session focused on the React Compiler, its internals, performance, and AI safety. The programme then moved to a more interactive part of the event before returning to the technical sessions.
Aparajita Verma presented “Architecting an AI-Native Frontend Engineering Stack.” The session looked at how AI is becoming part of frontend engineering and development workflows.
The final speaker was Ayushman Bhattacharya, who spoke on “Client Boundary – What ‘use client’ Really Does in Modern React.” The session focused on client boundaries and their role in modern React applications.
Arindam Majumder handled the quiz segment between the technical sessions. The quiz gave attendees a chance to participate directly and brought a different pace to the programme. It was also an opportunity for people in the audience to interact and compete with one another. The winners were announced during the event.
The Buildathon was one of the main activities of the meetup and was organized in collaboration with Miro. The organizers initially expected around 50 developers to participate. Instead, approximately 120 developers joined the Buildathon. The idea was simple: give developers a chance to build something themselves. Participants worked on their ideas and presented their projects for evaluation. They saw the event as a place where people could learn, meet others, and build things. The response from attendees was particularly encouraging, with developers working on products as well as people building their own communities. The projects were evaluated by the judges, followed by the announcement of the winners. Miro supported the Buildathon as the title sponsor.
Much of the work behind a meetup happens away from the stage. The React Kolkata core team divided responsibilities across event management, speaker coordination, presentation, community operations, design, content, and activities.
Tapas Adhikary, the founder of React Kolkata, was closely involved in putting the event together, from coordinating with the speakers to shaping the overall programme. He also introduced westbengal.tech during the meetup.
Sulagna Ghosh, the lead organizer of React Kolkata, played an important role in bringing the event together. She also presented the event and guided the audience through the programme. Priyankar Pal worked across community operations, registrations, sponsors, community partners, and event coordination. During the meetup, he also helped with attendee questions and supported different areas wherever required.
Arkajit Roy worked on the design and content side of the event. His work helped shape how the meetup was presented to the community, from the visual materials used around the event to the communication shared with attendees.
Arindam Majumder was responsible for the quiz segment. He handled the activity during the event and helped keep the audience involved between the technical sessions. The quiz added a more interactive element to the programme and gave attendees a chance to participate directly. Shyam Mahanta supported the event across different areas and helped the team with the work required before and during the meetup. His role was flexible, allowing him to step in where additional support was needed and helping the different parts of the event run smoothly. Alongside the core team were the Community Champions, the volunteers who helped make the event run smoothly. They supported registrations, guided attendees, helped with logistics, coordinated activities, and stepped in wherever assistance was needed.
The event also marked the introduction of westbengal.tech, an initiative aimed at bringing developers, communities, startups, events, and other technology activities across West Bengal together on one platform.
Tapas Adhikary presented the initiative during the meetup. The platform is being developed as an open-source initiative for the technology community.
The idea goes beyond individual meetups. While events such as React Kolkata provide a place for people to meet and learn, West Bengal Tech aims to connect different communities and technology activities across the state.
The meetup ended with more than just a set of talks and activities. It brought developers and community members together, gave them a space to learn from each other, and created opportunities to build and connect. For React Kolkata, the meetup was another step in growing the local tech community. The team is also looking ahead to next year, with plans to organize hackathons and larger tech conferences. With initiatives like westbengal.tech also taking shape, the community is looking beyond individual meetups and towards creating more opportunities for developers across West Bengal to learn, collaborate, and build together.
