Smashing Conference Freiburg 2025
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Smashing Conference is one of my all-time favourite web conferences, along with beyond tellerrand, New Adventures and @media.
They share a similar format and set of values: they are warm, welcoming and inclusive events, sporting a single track, ethical and human values (inclusive), they value sharing and open mind, encouraging curiosity, breaking silos and favouring human exchange and contact.
I’ve leaned so much from attending these events over the years, met fascinating and beautiful people, and got inspired. I usually leave with my brain in overdrive, walking above ground with a big smile – before reality hits me.
One might say these events preach to the choir, but it’s comforting to have your gut feelings, your instincts confirmed by the speakers’ talks or fellow participants. It’s good to feel you’re not alone. We’re all trying to do our best, for our users and stakeholders and beyond, but it’s not always easy and events such as Smashing Conference are so important and act as a reality check, a booster, an arm around your shoulder.
Falling back online
I had to cancel my trip last minute having befallen to some early seasonal bug that grounded me with flu/covid symptoms. Luckily for me, the talks are livestreamed via Vito. We were between 60 and 80 following online at any given time. I met a few new acquaintances before and between the talks, but the chat didn’t really act as a back channel. I miss the days when Twitter was the go to back channel for events like these. I tried to post a bit to Mastodon and Bluesky, but it isn’t quite the same.
Anyway, I followed the talks on my iPad, screen shooting slides and taking notes on my MacBook Pro. The image and sound quality were good, and side-by-side pictures worked well (slides + speaker). You can’t quite read the room, but you hear the laughs and clapping.
In the Flow
The quality of the talks was very high. Most of them got me in the right in the flow, I lost track of time, and before I knew it, it was all over. Similar to what I experience in person.
At the time of writing, I still have to watch the last two talks by Kevin Hawkins and Cassie Evans as I got interrupted yesterday afternoon (the downside of online viewing if you’re not careful - other people live with me at home).
