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A Conference Without Slides: Meet SmashingConf Toronto 2018 (June 26-27)

Quick Summary

SmashingConf Toronto is coming! Join us for a conference without slides, and see how experienced designers and developers work live. With lots of time for deep dive-ins. June 26–27.

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What would be the best way to learn and improve your skills? By looking designers and developers over their shoulder! At SmashingConf Toronto taking place on June 26–27, we will exactly do that. All talks will be live coding and design sessions on stage, showing how speakers such as Dan Mall, Lea Verou, Rachel Andrew, and Sara Soueidan design und build stuff — including pattern libraries setup, design workflows and shortcuts, debugging, naming conventions, and everything in between. To the tickets →

Smashingconf Toronto 2018
What if there was a web conference without… slides? Meet SmashingConf Toronto 2018 with live sessions exploring how experts think, design, build and debug.

The night before the conference we’ll be hosting a FailNight, a warm-up party with a twist — every single session will be highlighting how we all failed on a small or big scale. Because, well, it’s mistakes that help us get better and smarter, right?

Speakers

One track, two conference days (June 26–27), 16 speakers, and just 500 available seats. We’ll cover everything from efficient design workflow and getting started with Vue.js to improving eCommerce UX and production-ready CSS Grid Layouts. Also on our list: performance audits, data visualization, multi-cultural designs, and other fields that may come up in your day-to-day work.

Here’s what you should be expecting:

Dan Mall and Lea Verou are two of the speakers at SmashingConf Toronto
That’s quite a speakers line-up, with topics ranging from live CSS/JavaScript coding to live lettering.

Conference Tickets

C$699Get Your Ticket

Two days of great speakers and networking
Check all speakers →

Conf + Workshop Tickets

Save C$100 Conf + Workshop

Three days full of learning and networking
Check all workshops →

Workshops At SmashingConf Toronto

On the two days before and after the conference, you have the chance to dive deep into a topic of your choice. Tickets for the full-day workshops cost C$599. If you combine it with a conference ticket, you’ll save C$100 on the regular workshop price. Seats are limited.

Workshops on Monday, June 25th

Sara Soueidan on The CSS & SVG Power Combo
Sara SoueidanThe workshop with the strongest punch of creativity. The CSS & SVG Power Combo is where you will learn about the latest, cutting-edge CSS and SVG techniques to create creative crisp and beautiful interfaces. We will also be looking at any existing browser inconsistencies as well as performance considerations to keep in mind. And there will be lots of exercises and practical examples that can be taken and directly applied in real life projects.Read more…

Sarah Drasner on Intro To Vue.js
Sarah DrasnerVue.js brings together the best features of the Javascript framework landscape elegantly. If you’re interested in writing maintainable, clean code in an exciting and expressive manner, you should consider joining this class. Read more…

Tim Kadlec on Demystifying Front-End Security
Tim KadlecWhen users come to your site, they trust you to provide them with a good experience. They expect a site that loads quickly, that works in their browser, and that is well designed. And though they may not vocalize it, they certainly expect that the experience will be safe: that any information they provide will not be stolen or used in ways they did not expect. Read more…

Aaron Draplin on Behind The Scenes With The DDC
Aaron DraplinGo behind the scenes with the DDC and learn about Aaron’s process for creating marks, logos and more. Each student will attack a logo on their own with guidance from Aaron. Could be something you are currently working on, or have always wanted to make. Read more…

Dan Mall on Design Workflow For A Multi-Device World
Dan MallIn this workshop, Dan will share insights into his tools and techniques for integrating design thinking into your product development process. You’ll learn how to craft powerful design approaches through collaborative brainstorming techniques and how to involve your entire team in the design process. Read more…

Vitaly Friedman on Smart Responsive UX Design Patterns
Vitaly FriedmanIn this workshop, Vitaly Friedman, co-founder of Smashing Magazine, will cover practical techniques, clever tricks and useful strategies you need to be aware of when working on responsive websites. From responsive modules to clever navigation patterns and web form design techniques; the workshop will provide you with everything you need to know today to start designing better responsive experiences tomorrow. Read more…

Workshops on Thursday, June 28th

Eva-Lotta Lamm on Sketching With Confidence, Clarity And Imagination
Eva-Lotta LammBeing able to sketch is like speaking an additional language that enables you to structure and express your thoughts and ideas more clearly, quickly and in an engaging way. For anyone working in UX, design, marketing and product development in general, sketching is a valuable technique to feel comfortable with. Read more…

Nadieh Bremer on Creative Data Visualization Techniques
Nadieh BremerWith so many tools available to visualize your data, it’s easy to get stuck in thinking about chart types, always just going for that bar or line chart, without truly thinking about effectiveness. In this workshop, Nadieh will teach you how you can take a more creative and practical approach to the design of data visualization. Read more…

Rachel Andrew on Advanced CSS Layouts With Flexbox And CSS Grid
This workshop is designed for designers and developers who already have a good working knowledge of HTML and CSS. We will cover a range of CSS methods for achieving layout, from those you are safe to use right now even if you need to support older version of Internet Explorer through to things that while still classed as experimental, are likely to ship in browsers in the coming months. Read more…

Joe Leech on Psychology For UX And Product Design
Joe LeechThis workshop will provide you with a practical, hands-on way to understand how the human brain works and apply that knowledge to User Experience and product design. Learn the psychological principles behind how our brain makes sense of the world and apply that to product and user interface design. Read more…

Seb Lee-Delisle on Javascript Graphics And Animation
Seb Lee-DelisleIn this workshop, Seb will demonstrate a variety of beautiful visual effects using JavaScript and HTML5 canvas. You will learn animation and graphics techniques that you can use to add a sense of dynamism to your projects. Read more…

Vitaly Friedman on New Front-End Adventures In Responsive Design
Vitaly FriedmanWith HTTP/2, Service Workers, Responsive Images, Flexbox, CSS Grid, SVG, WAI-ARIA roles and Font Loading API now available in browsers, we all are still trying to figure out just the right strategy for designing and building responsive websites efficiently. We want to use all of these technologies and smart processes like atomic design, but how can we use them efficiently, and how do we achieve it within a reasonable amount of time? Read more…

Conference Tickets

C$699Get Your Ticket

Two days of great speakers and networking
Check all speakers →

Conf + Workshop Tickets

Save C$100 Conf + Workshop

Three days full of learning and networking
Check all workshops →

Location

Maybe you’ve already wondered why our friend the Smashing Cat has dressed up as a movie director for SmashingConf Toronto? Well, that’s because our conference venue will be the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Located within the center of Toronto, it is one of the most iconic cinemas in the world and also the location where the Toronto Film Festival takes place. We’re thrilled to be hosted there!

TIFF Bell Lightbox, our venue in Toronto
The TIFF Bell Lightbox, usually a cinema, is the perfect place for thrillers and happy endings as the web writes them.

Why This Conference Could Be For You

SmashingConfs are a friendly and intimate experience. It’s like meeting good friends and making new ones. Friends who share their stories, ideas, and, of course, their best tips and tricks. At SmashingConf Toronto you will learn how to:

  1. Make full advantage of CSS Variables,
  2. Create fluid animation effects with Vue,
  3. Detect and resolve accessibility issues,
  4. Structure components in a pattern library when using CSS Grid,
  5. Build a stable, usable online experience,
  6. Design for cross-cultural audiences,
  7. Create effective and beautiful data visualization from scratch,
  8. Transform your designs with psychology,
  9. Help your design advance with proper etiquette,
  10. Sketch with pen and paper,
  11. … and a lot more.

Download “Convince Your Boss” PDF

We know that sometimes companies encourage their staff to attend a different conference each year. Well, we say; once you’ve found a conference you love, why stray…

Think your boss needs a little more persuasion? We’ve prepared a neat Convince Your Boss PDF that you can use to tip the scales in your favor to send you to the event.

Diversity and Inclusivity

We care about diversity and inclusivity at our events. SmashingConf’s are a safe, friendly place. We don’t tolerate any disrespect or misbehavior. We also provide student and diversity tickets.

Conference Tickets

C$699Get Your Ticket

Two days of great speakers and networking
Check all speakers →

Conf + Workshop Tickets

Save C$100 Conf + Workshop

Three days full of learning and networking
Check all workshops →

See You In Toronto!

We’d love to meet you in Toronto and spend two memorable days full of web goodness, lots of learning, and friendly people with you. An experience you won’t forget so soon. Promised.

Smashing Editorial (cm)