What happens when you combine a practical front-end conference with a spectacular resort experience? Guess what: that's exactly what we are going to find out with our very first SmashingConf in Canada— taking place on December 9–12th 2014 in a ski resort paradise Whistler, right next to Vancouver! Ah, right — and tickets are now on sale.
About The Conference
At Smashing Conferences, we take good care of the value that the event delivers to attendees. No speaker is selected randomly, no networking activity is an afterthought, and every single talk is thoroughly curated and reviewed. SmashingConf Whistler isn't going to be an exception: with 2 days of heavily practical front-end talks and 7 front-end + RWD workshops, you'll leave the conference with a treasure of useful tips and tricks applicable to your work right away.
But it's not just about tips and tricks though. Every project has issues, problems and valuable solutions that actually worked. That's why we also feature lessons learned and solutions found, but also strategies, skills and tools you might need every single day. The conference will do just that — uncover front-end techniques and tools that worked, design approaches that worked and failed, why exactly they failed and what decisions were chosen instead.
We like crowded multi-track conferences. No, we don't. We aim for a small, intimate conference experience with one single track and lots of networking before and after the event, with an attendees jam session, warm-up party and a cable car adventure! And this time it's topped with spectacular resort adventures from skiing to ziplining, an ultimate Smashing skiing challenge and perhaps even occasional snowball fights — with extraordinary scenery that will smash you away! Sounds like fun? It surely is!
Ah, by the way, since the conference will take place right in the middle of the ski season, why don't you bring along your family or colleagues, and enjoy a vacation that you well deserve together? We'll do it, and so could you!
First Speakers and Workshops
Alright, speakers! The line-up of speakers and workshop coaches is almost complete now, but of course we aren't going to reveal everything just yet. But let's spice up a bit of your appetite: the first confirmed speakers are listed below. Ready? Set. Go!
- John Allsopp
(Dao of Web Design, RWD) - Lyza Danger Gardner
(Mobile Strategy) - Paul Irish
(Performance, Google Chrome) - Susan Robertson
(Front-End, Style Guides) - Brad Frost
(Responsive Web Design) - Jenn Lukas
(Front-End, Workflow) - Tim Kadlec
(Front-End, Performance) - Val Head
(CSS Animations) - Stephen Hay
(Front-End, RWD, Workflow) - Yoav Weiss
(Responsive Images Group) - Vitaly Friedman
(Responsive Web Design) - Mystery Speaker
(Someone you definitely know.) - ...more speakers will be announced soon!
Hands-On Workshops
We’ll also host hands-on full-day workshops with more in-depth practical learnings taught by well-respected designers and developers. Be it performance of responsive websites, UX/design patterns and responsive workflow, offline client-side storage, responsive images or CSS animation, we carefully selected topics that will help you become better at what you do. So if you are going to attend the conference, why not attend a workshop as well?
In fact, if you book a workshop too, you'll save $100 off the conference + workshop ticket price. Well, enough already. Tickets are on sale now, you know.
Why This Conference Is For You
The conference is for you because you’ll learn quite a few valuable techniques for your workflow, and you’ll meet fantastic, like-minded people from the industry (no need to mention the ultimate hiking-skiing-adventure-ziplining-snowboarding-networking, right?!). You’ll learn:
- Strategies for building fast responsive websites,
- Guidelines for designing effective systems in complex projects,
- Front-end techniques for smart, delightful animations,
- How to build and maintain pattern libraries and style guides,
- How to use responsive images today without performance hits,
- Where icon fonts and SVG fit and how to use them properly,
- Tips and tricks for an efficient workflow in responsive projects,
- How to optimize the critical rendering path for better performance,
- Strategies for using offline client-side storage meaningfully today,
- Common issues, problems and solutions in responsive eCommerce,
- Guidelines for selecting an appropriate mobile strategy,
- Insights about effective and smart problem-solving,
- Guidelines for smarter front-end and CSS architecture,
- Advanced front-end tooling and setup,
- Mistakes and lessons learned from large projects,
- How to increase productivity and stay happy,
- …more practical takeaways from various areas of Web design.
Ticket Sales And Pricing
Only 400 tickets are available, and we do everything possible to keep our prices fair and affordable. The price for two full conference days is US$549 for early-bird tickets, and US$599 for regular tickets. And again, if you book a workshop as well, you'll save US$100. Now, enough already±what exactly are you waiting for? You can get your ticket right away.
Of course, we also prepared a neat Convince Your Boss (PDF) (0.15 Mb) that you can use to convince your colleagues, friends, neighbors and total strangers to join you or send you to the event. We know that you will not be disappointed, and neither will they! Still not good enough? Well, just tweet us @smashingconf and we can convince your boss for you — yep, we can be quite convincing, indeed!
We Welcome Lovely Sponsors, You Know
We do everything possible to keep ticket prices affordable for everyone, and we welcome sponsors to help us create a truly unique, unforgettable conference experience. And you can be a major part of it.
We have quite a number of attractive and creative sponsorship packages for you (adventure sponsorship package, anyone?), and we are also flexible and would love to adjust them to your needs. So if you’re interested, please email us at hello@smashingconf.com — we’d love for you to be involved!
See You In Whistler!
You'll find all the information you might need about the locations and hotels on the SmashingConf website. We are looking forward to seeing you in Whistler, and who knows, perhaps our paths cross at one of the snowboarding rounds or skiing routes? Grab your ticket and see you there?