EventMatch

Framing the Problem —
I'm Margarita, a QA engineer who builds products with AI, and goes to a lot of tech events. Too many events, too many people, too little time to actually meet the ones who matter. In a room of 50–400 you can't tell who to talk to, conversations are rushed, and a week later you've forgotten who you met and why (~70% of new info lost within a day — the forgetting curve). It hurts attendees — and organisers, sponsors and speakers with no shared way to turn a crowd into real relationships.

Idea Explanation —
A mobile‑first (desktop‑responsive) app to meet the right people fast: filter people by your interests for the chosen event (ranked by shared interests + skills, complementary intents like hiring ↔ open‑to‑work); safe contact exchange — you choose exactly what each person sees, no long chat; ice‑breakers & "people magnets" between sessions; and tasks that email‑remind you to follow up, with a note on each person's card. Loop: discover → connect safely → capture → get reminded → keep in touch.

Implementation —
Mobile‑first, desktop‑responsive SPA in React + TypeScript + KendoReact, live on GitHub Pages (Actions CI/CD); logic in pure, unit‑tested TS modules. No backend by design: profile/tasks/points live in the browser's localStorage. Matching works server‑free — your card is base64‑encoded into a share link/QR; the other person opens it and connects. Sample attendees, requests, sponsor leads and leaderboard peers are seeded placeholders a backend would supply.

Challenges —
Building solo in one session — kept logic framework‑free so features stacked cleanly. Real matching with no backend — solved with the card‑in‑URL share flow + "reveal only chosen contacts." Caught a React 19 StrictMode bug doubling points. Heavy mobile polish (safe‑area header, overscroll edges, exact tints).

Accomplishments —
A real, deployed product with CI/CD first try; full loop with value for attendees, organisers, sponsors and communities; two‑device matching with zero backend; 55 passing unit tests and a clean branded UI — built with AI as my pair, under time pressure.

Next Steps —
Weekend: thin Supabase backend for live cross‑device sync. Month: push notifications, organiser attendee/agenda import, post‑event "who you met" + vCard export. Year: native iOS/Android, Apple Wallet badge, sponsor analytics, lasting communities.