Schedule

We are sooo excited! We are looking forward to two days of single track talks, two workshop days, and loads of side events.
For both the talks and the workshops, we have a good range of topics, from UX Research and Design to CSS and Accessibility. All talks and workshops are brought to you by amazing speakers and have practical takeaways everywhere!
Your conference or bundle ticket also gives you access to all our side events, from a city walk to morning yoga and runs, and — of course — our famous Smashing Party! If you’re joining us online, you get backstage interviews, online fun and networking.
✨ Attending the Smashing Magazine Conference in New York was an incredible experience! ✨ I had the pleasure of connecting with inspiring professionals in the UX design industry and gaining fresh perspectives on thoughtful design and innovation.
Pre-conf day Sun, 5th | Workshop Mon, 6th | Conference Tue, 7th | Conference Wed, 8th | Workshop Thu, 9th
Sun, 5th – Workshops
Smashing Yoga in the Park 🧘♀️
Kick off your conference experience with a bit of wellness! Whether you need to stretch out after traveling to New York, or you just want to share some mindful movement with fellow Smashing attendees, this outdoor yoga practice will be a perfect start to a great week of new ideas and networking.
This beginner-friendly, one-hour yoga class will be led by our Smashing Print Manager (and part-time yoga teacher), Ari. We'll meet at Sheep Meadow, in Central Park. Please register a ticket so we know you're coming!
Mon, 6th – Workshops
Workshops
On Monday, we’ll be running four hands-on workshops. Our workshops offer the opportunity to get to grips with new ideas and techniques in real depth, with a full day spent on the topic of your choice. We’ll be adding more confirmed workshops soon, stay tuned!
It’s a great way to round off your conference experience, and lunch will be provided, too. Our doors open at 8:30 for a 9:00 start. See you at the Microsoft Conference Center.
- Building Interactive, Accessible Components with Stephanie Eckles
- Designing For Complex UIs, 2025 Edition with Vitaly Friedman
- Practical Dashboards Masterclass with Nick Desbarats
Jam Session
The night before the conference kicks off, we're hosting a warm-up event at a our friends at Figma.
We hope you'll join us to connect ahead of the main event! We hope to see you to listen to a few talks, and have some friendly chats! Would like to give a lightning talk? Let us know!
Tue, 7th – Conference
Morning Run 🏃♀️
On both conference days, join speakers and attendees for a 30–40 minutes run. All levels are welcome, we'll meet at 7 AM and run about 5k! We'll be meeting at the Maine Monument just off of Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park. Our finish will be at the yoga, so you'll be able to join them afterwards if you like.
Morning Yoga at Broadway 🧘
Have some mindful movement at the start of Smashing Day One! This yoga practice will be a perfect start to a busy day of new ideas and networking.
Our beginner-friendly, 30-minute yoga class will be led by our Smashing Print Manager (and part-time yoga teacher), Ari. We'll meet at New World Stages, we'll meet inside at the stage door. Please register a ticket so we know you're coming!
Doors Open
Our doors open at 8:30 AM. Pick up your badge, grab a coffee and get ready for the day!
Welcome 🌄
We can't wait to welcome you for two days of practical talks.
Web Performance
Performance isn’t just about milliseconds, it’s about people. A sluggish app means frustrated users, missed conversions, and sometimes even abandoned products. But the good news? A faster, smoother experience is almost always within reach.
In this talk, Tim will explore what actually slows our sites and applications down, how browsers handle performance under the hood, and which optimizations make the biggest difference for real users. We’ll cut through the noise, look at practical techniques that work today, and peek into the tools and metrics shaping tomorrow.
You’ll walk away with a sharper sense of where performance fits into user experience, and a handful of strategies to make your apps feel fast, resilient, and delightful.
Overflowing Leadership: Becoming the Leader They’ve Been Waiting For
What would your leadership look like if influence and integrity were not just aspirations but daily practices?
This talk invites you to rethink leadership. Let's move beyond titles and embrace leadership as a transformative force that begins with you and extends to those in your care.
Drawing on this expertise, Calvin explores what it means to overflow with leadership — a mindset where influence, insight, and integrity are not merely reserved for those with prestigious titles but instead define leaders who inspire action and uplift others through intentional practice.
Through this session, you'll discover how to unlock your leadership potential while empowering those around you to rise to theirs.
Coffee Break 🍵
Time for a little refresher! Of course, we are taking care of tea, coffee and snacks.
Why Aren’t People Using My Dashboard?
You built a shiny new dashboard to help colleagues make data-driven decisions. You listened to their needs, studied dashboards designed by experts, and launched your baby into the world to... crickets.
Everyone logged in immediately after launch but usage then fell off a cliff. When you ask why, you get vague answers like "I'm too busy" (code for "It's not giving me enough value") or "It's missing what I need" (despite the fact you built exactly what they asked for).
What's going on? Most dashboards fail to answer basic questions like, "Are these numbers good or bad?" or "Do any of these numbers require action?" Often, important problems don't appear on the dashboard at all.
Designing dashboards that meet these fundamental needs isn't easy, but it is doable. How? Find out in this engaging talk by dashboard design expert and best-selling author Nick Desbarats.
Nick will also be giving a workshop on Practical Dashboards Masterclass on Monday, October 6.
The Invisible Divide
Understanding Layout Between UI Design and Code
Designers and developers often approach layout with different mental models, especially around grids, spacing, and responsiveness. That disconnect leads to friction and broken expectations.
In this talk, we look at layout from both sides: CSS Grid, Flexbox, and Container Queries from the code side, and Figma and Penpot from the design side. This is not about handoff perfection, but about building shared understanding and better outcomes through clearer collaboration.
Lunch Break 🥗
Time to recharge! Grab a plate, find some new friends, and enjoy good chats over lunch. Take a breather, share some stories, and maybe discover a new favorite dish. So… what’s on your plate today?
Writing is Designing
Imagine trying to use a website with no labels, buttons, or messages: just shapes and vibes. In this talk, we'll look at how language quietly carries the UX, from tiny tooltips to big brand moments.
You'll learn how interface copy shapes interaction, why tone matters more than you think, and how a few well-chosen words can rescue even the clunkiest flow. We'll also touch on how AI tools can help scale your content work, and what to watch out for if you care about quality and accuracy.
When Variables Cascade
There are a number of surprises developers run into when working with custom properties (aka CSS variables) – all coming from the way CSS handles typed values and syntax validation. New features like style queries, if(), and custom functions/mixins will make these surprises even more common. So let's talk about CSS types, syntax validation, and value resolution!
She will also be giving a workshop on Modern CSS Architecture on Thursday, October 9.
Closing remarks
Awww, already the end of Day 1! But don’t be too sad, we’ve got more great talks coming tomorrow. For now, let’s wrap things up together, and then… see you at the Smashing Party!
After Party! 🎉
Ah, the legendary SmashingConf parties! Bring your team members, or make some new friends, and we’ll have a wonderful night of chats, networking and fun. We'll take care of the drinks and bites. See you at The Waylon!
This party is only for Smashing attendees, please don’t forget to bring your badge
Wed, 8th – Conference
Doors Open
Welcome 🌅
Good morning and welcome back! We’ve got another day packed with talks, ideas, and plenty of fun ahead. Grab a coffee, settle in, and let’s get started!
Typographic Curiosities
Type is the voice of our words—and the majority of what we put on screen (the rest is dog pics and cat memes). Ever wonder why it doesn't work better? Me too.
So let's explore ways we can do it better, faster, and with greater finesse. How do we unblock render and display content faster? Can we respond to device size, settings, and layout more intuitively? Could we be more expressive and refined without resorting to hard-coding? Typographic curiosities to satisfy these challenges abound—so let's explore them together!
Coffee Break 🧋
Pfew, we hope our first two talks woke you up? To help a little extra we have coffee, tea and more.
Crafting a Design Language for Data
How do you bring clarity, consistency, and trust to complex data? In this talk, we’ll explore how the team at VISA approached the challenge of building a unified design language for data, from early principles to practical components.
It’s a story of systems thinking, visual storytelling, and the power of patterns in making data not just readable, but meaningful.
Lunch Break
Time for lunch! We hope you get to meet some new people, have great chats, and maybe visit our partner's booths?
Modern CSS Upgrades to Improve Accessibility
CSS features and behaviors have grown exponentially over the past few years, so let's dive into features that can enhance the accessibility of interactive experiences.
Most features are well supported across evergreen browsers so you can start using them right away! Others make for excellent progressive enhancements, meaning they will provide an even more optimal experience when used in a supporting browser. We'll also sneak a peek at incoming features that directly impact accessibility, and that you can provide feedback on to the CSS Working Group.
While encouraging the development of inclusive experiences is the goal of this talk, we are pretty sure you'll pick up a few fresh CSS ideas to use in all kinds of projects too ;-)
Stephanie will also be giving a workshop on Building Interactive, Accessible Components on Monday, October 6.
Reading Unknown Waters
What happens when your design system faces complex interconnected problems? Where do you begin when you don't even know what challenges lie ahead?
In this talk, Nate will show how he used AI prototyping to understand the challenges ahead for Adobe Spectrum's token system redesign. Instead of building prototypes to test solutions, he built them to discover hidden problems and explore different solutions.
You'll learn practical methods for using AI prototyping to explore challenges and help your team gain clarity on complex problems.
Closing remarks
And that’s a wrap on SmashingConf! 💙 Two days full of ideas, inspiration, and wonderful conversations—thank you for being part of it. We hope you leave with new friends, fresh perspectives, and a big smile. Until next time!
Thu, 9th – Workshops
Workshops
On Thursday, we’re running another four hands-on workshops. Our workshops offer the opportunity to get to grips with new ideas and techniques in real depth, with a full day spent on the topic of your choice. We’ll be adding more confirmed workshops soon!
It’s a great way to round off your conference experience, and lunch will be provided, too. Our doors open at 8:30 for a 9:00 start. See you at Studio1418!
- Modern CSS Architecture with Miriam Suzanne
- Design Patterns For AI Interfaces with Vitaly Friedman