Probably the most remarkable characteristic of our Web design community is that we care about our craft. We care about best practices, about our work, about learning, sharing and improving our skills. This very spirit is the driving force behind our daily work at Smashing Magazine, and this spirit is what has prompted us to organize the very first Smashing Conference: a friendly, valuable and inspiring community event that will help us all become better at what we do.
Whether you are a designer, developer, content strategist or business owner, at the Smashing Conference you'll explore insights hands on and gain practical tips and new perspectives on our craft. We are very happy to provide an opportunity for you to share and gain practical knowledge in an intimate, informal atmosphere — right in our beautiful home town of Freiburg, Germany, at the foot of the legendary Black Forest.

When and Where?
We're delighted to invite you to come together for this inspiring, forward-thinking event on 17 to 19 September 2012. The conference will host a two-day single-track conference on September 17th and 18th, as well as three workshops on September 19th. By “we,” we mean Vitaly Friedman, editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine, and Marc Thiele, who has been running community events such as beyond tellerrand for over 12 years.
The aim of the event is to deliver the same high-quality content that we deliver on Smashing Magazine, in the familiar atmosphere that beyond tellerrand events are known for. This will be a high-caliber yet friendly event that brings great value to everyone involved, and we'd be honored if you took a part in it.
The conference will take place in Freiburg, Germany at the legendary Historical Merchants Hall at the foot of the Black Forest.

Keeping the conference affordable for everyone is important to us. All tickets includes two full single-track conference days, on Monday and Tuesday. Please note that only 350 seats are available.
We are pleased to announce that the first 70 early-bird tickets are on sale for a price of €249. The regular price after that is €349. And all prices include the German VAT of 19% and booking fees! Get your ticket now before it’s too late. We'd be honored to meet you in September!

Speakers and Topics
If you've been following Smashing Magazine for a while, then you won't be surprised by the focus of the Smashing Conference. We're aiming to cover a wide variety of Web design topics, such as visual design, front- and back-end development, UX design, mobile, responsive design, the business aspects of running a website, as well as the intricate details of the designer and developer's workflows. We’re encouraging our dear speakers to share details on how they work, what tools they use, and what their design and coding process looks like. We're aiming for valuable, practical and inspiring talks.
We’ve handpicked all of the speakers to ensure the high quality of the event. So far, 10 out of 15 speakers are officially confirmed. Please note that the topics presented here are subject to change. More details on the conference, speakers, talks and workshops are available on the conference's official website.
Speakers
Speaker | Talk | Details |
Aarron Walter | The Real Me | |
![]() |
||
Chris Heilmann | To be announced | |
![]() |
||
Jeremy Keith | The Spirit of the Web | |
![]() |
||
Jonathan Snook | Your CSS Is a Mess | |
![]() |
||
Josh Brewer | Responsive Is as Responsive Does | |
![]() |
||
Lea Verou | To be announced | |
![]() |
||
Paul Boag | Better Websites, Happier Clients and Improved Job Satisfaction | |
![]() |
||
Rachel Andrew | The Future of Content Management | |
![]() |
||
Stephen Hay | To be announced | |
![]() Stephen has been designing and developing for the Web since 1995. He currently helps clients with front-end design and development, multi-platform strategy and accessibility through his consultancy, Zero Interface. Aside from his client work, he can be found speaking at industry events about Web design-related topics such as CSS layout and responsive design workflow. Stephen is co-organizer of Mobilism, one of the world's leading mobile Web development conferences. He is also co-creator of Grip Workshops, a series of two-day intensive workshops for Web project managers on the client side. Stephen has written for publications including A List Apart and .net Magazine. He also coauthored the Smashing Book 3 with a host of super-talented folks. When he makes the time for it, he publishes his thoughts on The Haystack. |
||
Tim Ahrens | Web Fonts Backstage and On Stage | |
![]() |










Workshops
Trainer | Workshop | Details |
---|---|---|
Aarron Walter | Interface Design Bootcamp | |
![]() |
||
Andy Clarke | Fashionably Flexible Responsive Web Design | |
![]() |
||
Jonathan Snook | SMACSS: Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS | |
![]() |



Further Details About the Conference
As we finalize some major details of organization, we are working hard on a plethora of small details to make the event as valuable and memorable as possible. Please expect more speakers to be confirmed soon and more topics to be announced.
Also, we are looking for sponsors of the event, so if you are interested, please get in touch with us. More details on the location, hotels, speakers, talks, workshops and after party are presented on the official Smashing Conference website.

Facts
- In a nutshell: The Smashing Conference is a friendly, valuable and inspiring community event that will help designers and developers become better in their work, be it front- or back-end development, UX design, content strategy or running a business.
- Dates: 17 to 19 September 2012 (workshops on the 19th, and conference on the 17th and 18th).
- Venue for workshops and conference: "Zum Roten Bären", Historical Merchants Hall, Freiburg.
- Early-bird price (only 70 tickets): €249 ($315) (including German VAT and fees).
- Regular price: €349 ($440) (including German VAT and fees).
- Each workshop costs €349 ($440) (including German VAT and fees).
- Twitter: @smashingconf
- Lanyrd: http://lanyrd.com/2012/smashingconf/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/smashingconf
- Website: http://www.smashingconf.com

We're very excited about the Smashing Conference, and we'll do our best to make it a valuable, memorable and useful event. We can't wait to meet you, and please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about participation or sponsorship.