FrontMania Utrecht

This conference took place in the city center of Utrecht at the Jaarbeurs. What made this one extra special is the fact that this was my first conference where I could take the stage as speaker!

One of the major strengths of the conference is its wide scope. It covers various aspects of front-end development, ranging from specific topics to more general ones. As a result, each talk offers a unique perspective. The organising committee has done an excellent job curating a diverse and inclusive program of talks.

Experience as Speaker

The talk that was accepted was: 'The Future of 3D components.' It has been an amazing experience to share insights and passion with others. During my talk, I discussed the emerging trends in 3D components (WebGL, ThreeJS & React Three Fiber) and how they can enhance user experiences on the web. Also, the conference recorded all talks, and can be found here.

The experience as speaker has been really good for this one. As it was my first one, I had no idea what to expect. The briefing was crystal clear, which made it easy to prepare and to know what to expect. Next to this, all speakers got invited to a 'speakers diner'. This normally happens the day before the conference to build connections, and get to know the organisators (& other speakers).

I had no idea what to expect from this diner, but looking back this really made my experience amazing! During the first evening I met lots of like-minded developers which are passionate about sharing knowledge. As we all shared the love for speaking/ giving talks it was easy to connect. During the conference we all supported each-other and even went into the city all together. To this day, we're still in contact - which just shows the power of the speakers diner.

Alright enough about the food. Looking at the venue (Jaarbeurs) it's perfect for conferences like these. It suits around 1000 people and has lots of smaller rooms. All of these rooms have excellent tech set-ups, well suited for talks. As part of this conference, all rooms were being recorded with really good camera's.

Visualizing Connections

This talk is one of those talks you’ll remember for a long time. Nadieh Bremer gave a keynote talk on how she visualises big datasets. She has an amazing talent where she combines her data analysis skills with frontend visualization of huge datasets/graphs. From a family tree of 3000 people connected to the European Royal houses to those existing between our Intangible Cultural Heritage created for UNESCO to connections.

This skillset is really niche, and therefore mind-blowing to see. For me personally, this talk was the best one of the day and, therefore, a must-watch (link)!

Rethinking desktop applications with progressive web apps

“Yes, I’m using Comic Sans in my presentations, and there is nothing you can do about it.” A super informative and funny presentation by Nico Martin. I love seeing the possibilities of the web, especially when you’re going beyond the 'well-known' APIs.

Nico shows the possibilities of using service workers to access deeper layers of the system. From customizing fonts to storing/importing files in your progressive web app. This talk will inspire you to see what is possible beyond the 'safe' borders of the web (link).