Swarm Boots Up: Inside SWARM’s First AI Community Event in ChennAI
On August 28th, a room full of curious minds and a screen full of just as many – came together for SWARM, our first-ever AI community event. The event was part talk, part conversation, part celebration, and mostly a proof of concept for something we’ve been wanting to build for a while – a real, living community around people building with AI.
And while we had an agenda with speakers, polls, a quiz and networking planned, the real goal was to create a space where like-minded people could come together, exchange ideas, ask questions and simply connect.
Why SWARM?
For people building with AI, keeping up isn’t just about reading the latest article or attending another webinar. It’s about having conversations with people who are experimenting, building, learning and figuring things out too.
The idea behind SWARM is to create a living community around AI – a space for practitioners, enthusiasts, leaders and curious minds to come together and learn from one another.
“This is not another one-way presentation or another listen-to-a-speaker-and-log-off type of session; rather a community of people building with AI – not just within Galent – but across cities and across the country, so we can learn from each other, spark ideas together, and grow together.”
— Ramakrishnan Venkatasubramanian, CTO, Galent
It Started With a Buzz
SWARM was designed to feel like an experience. From the moment the doors opened, the room came alive with SWARM branding across the screens, followed by an icebreaker and a poll that got the room talking, laughing and engaging before the formal programme had even begun.
Ram opened SWARM with a welcome that went beyond saying hello. He set the context for why this community matters and what SWARM could become. And with everyone warmed up, it was time for the main event.
The Conversation That Got SWARM Thinking
For 30 minutes, the conversation moved beyond familiar AI headlines and into Agentic Graph Engineering and what it means for people actually building with AI.
Madan Sundaram, Founder & CTO of Pro Native AI, introduced a different way of thinking about AI systems: as coordinated workflows of specialised agents, rather than putting everything on the shoulders of a single, increasingly capable model.
The highlight of the session wasn’t just the concept – it was seeing it in action. In a live demo built on the Microsoft Agent Framework, Madan walked through a multi-agent development workflow, with architect, developer, and reviewer agents working together as part of an orchestrated system.
The audience could watch the workflow unfold in real time, from architecture and code generation through review, while observability made it possible to see what was happening inside the agents.
But the bigger idea went beyond the demo. As Madan put it:
“The future isn’t about having one agent that does everything. It’s about specialized agents working together, orchestrated through a graph, with the visibility to understand and improve everything happening along the way.”
That was the conversation Madan brought to SWARM. Or perhaps, it was exactly the kind of conversation SWARM was created to have.
Watch Madan’s full session:
The Q&A That Followed
As soon as the session ended the questions came flying from the room and our remote participants, turning the session from a presentation into an actual conversation.
Then Things Got Competitive
After all that AI thinking, it was time to have a little fun. The live quiz brought out a different kind of energy.
Suddenly, people who had been quietly listening were leaning forward, comparing answers and getting surprisingly competitive.
And then came the certification moment – an opportunity to recognise members of the community and celebrate their participation and learning.
Because a community isn’t just about showing up. It’s about getting involved.
Ram and Grace brought the official programme to a close with a thank-you to everyone who had shown up, tuned in, participated and helped make SWARM’s first AI community event a huge success.
But here’s the thing about good events: The official ending isn’t always the actual ending.
Coffee, food and conversations took over as attendees continued exchanging ideas, making introductions and picking up conversations that had started during the session.
Some of the best moments of SWARM happened here – in the conversations that weren’t planned, the things that weren’t on the agenda and the connections that will hopefully continue long after the event.
The First SWARM Was Just the Beginning
“What stood out to me about SWARM was that it wasn’t just another session hearing from an expert – I actually felt part of the conversation. I walked away with new ideas, new questions, and a lot to think about.”
— Senthil Kumar, Operations Lead
And that’s exactly what we hoped SWARM would create. Not just a room full of people listening to someone talk about AI. But a space where people could ask questions, exchange perspectives, challenge ideas, and learn from one another.
“It was great to meet people who are experimenting with AI in different ways. Incredible collaboration, brilliant minds and cutting-edge AI discussions at SWARM.”
— Rakesh Manoharan, Senior Software Test Engineer
That is the real promise of SWARM: bringing people together to form a growing community.
“We started SWARM here, but the vision is much bigger – to bring together people building with AI across India and beyond, so we can learn from each other, spark ideas, and grow together as a community.”
— Sriram, Founder of Galent
SWARM #2 is officially in the books.
Sign up at swarm@galent.com