What an Incredible Journey! Thank You for DevFest GemJam 2025!

On behalf of the entire DevFest Florida organizing team, I want to extend our deepest, most heartfelt thanks to every single person who made DevFest GemJam 2025 an unforgettable experience.

This year, we embarked on a new adventure: a week-long journey into the world of Generative AI. We called it “DevFest GemJam,” and our goal was to create a welcoming space for collaboration, learning, and building the future with AI. We watched this community come together to imagine, build, and share incredible ideas, focusing not just on technology, but on creativity, community impact, and responsible innovation.

From the kickoff and workshops at Seminole State College to the intense week of building and iterating, and finally, the amazing projects showcased on Demo Day… your passion and energy were the driving force behind it all. We are so proud to be part of a community that is helping to grow the next generation of technology professionals and spark new ideas right here in Florida.

Make sure to check out our pictures and YouTube short here.

This event is a labor of love, and it would be absolutely impossible without the incredible people who give their time, talent, and support.

🫶 A Massive Thank You to Our Volunteers!

To our amazing team of volunteers: thank you, thank you, thank you! You were the heart and soul of this event. You were the first smiles our attendees saw, the helpful hands guiding everyone, and the tireless crew working behind the scenes to ensure everything ran smoothly. From setting up, to managing sessions, to answering endless questions, your dedication and positive spirit created the welcoming atmosphere that makes DevFest so special. We are truly grateful for every hour you dedicated to this community.

🚀 Our Deepest Gratitude to Our Sponsors!

DevFest Florida is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors. Their belief in our mission allows us to keep this event accessible and provide a world-class experience. We ask our community to please recognize and support the companies that invest in our growth:

A special thank you to our incredible 2025 sponsors:

Partner - Gold

Google
Vonage

Partner - Copper

Black Orlando Tech
Employers 4 Change
Data Psy

Community Support

Microsoft
Kodeco
Orlando Devs
Orlando .NET Users Group
Postman

Venue Sponsor

Seminole State College

Thank you to our sponsors for their generous support.

Partners

Gold

Copper

Community Support

We also want to give a special shout-out to Seminole State College and their amazing team for providing us with a fantastic home at the Wayne M. Densch Partnership Center. Your partnership is invaluable!

💗 Thank You, Our Amazing Community!

And finally, to every attendee, speaker, and mentor who participated: Thank you! You brought your curiosity, your brilliant ideas, and your willingness to collaborate and learn from one another. You are the reason we do this. Seeing the connections made and the innovative projects built with GenAI tools this week was truly inspiring.

We hope you left DevFest GemJam feeling inspired, more connected, and excited about the future you can build.

A Special Thank You!!!

This hackathon would not have been possible without the support of our incredible Organizers, dedicated Mentors, expert Judges, and generous Sponsors.

Organizers:
- Christi Kapp
- Michael Rosario
- Javier Carrion
- Kendra Kennedy
- Gil Creque
- Carol Bolger, GDG Tampa
- Brittani Preschel, GDG Daytona
Judges:
- Dwane Hemmings: Software Developer and Advocate at Vonage
- Isabella Johnston: AI Ethics & Learning Thought Leader / Founder at E4CTech, Piv Consulting, and Cat 5 Studios
- Kendra Kennedy: Software Engineer at Design Interactive
Venues: Thank you to Innovate Orlando for hosting our in-person demo day and Seminole State for hosting our in-person DevFest Conference and Kick-off event!

We hope to see you all at our next event! Stay tuned for more workshops, meetups, and hackathons by Joining us at https://gdg.community.dev/gdg-central-florida/.

Feel free to join our community on Discord at googledevscentralflorida.com