Heart Internet is proud to sponsor SmashingConf Oxford, taking place on March 15th and 16th at the Oxford Town Hall. This two-day conference is filled with talks on design, user experience, CSS, JavaScript, development, and so much more. With 16 speakers, including Aarron Walter from MailChimp, Umar Hansa from Shazam, Hannah Donovan from Drip, and typography designer Tobias Frere-Jones, SmashingConf gives designers, developers, and other people working on the web a great place to learn, talk, and have a good time.

We sat down with the SmashingConf organisers and asked them a few questions about the conference and what you can expect.

Tell us a little about yourselves.

We’re the elves behind the scenes of the SmashingConf series! We run five international conferences, across Europe and North America and we absolutely love what we do. In a nutshell, we’re looking to produce a real-life experience of what Smashing Magazine does online – bringing smart, knowledge-thirsty people together to share new ideas and solutions, in a friendly, supportive environment.

What’s SmashingConf going to be like this year?

This is our third year returning to the Town Hall at Oxford, which means it’s going to be the slickest yet! We’re bringing in our own custom built wi-fi network, and have fine-tuned our schedule to offer plenty for everyone. From a packed, practical line up of the industry’s most knowledgeable speakers, to an “after-hours” programme of photo walks, lightning talk sessions and a fantastic afterparty; we’re confident that people will leave SmashingConf bursting with ideas, inspiration and a renewed motivation to make the web a better place.

Who would benefit from attending SmashingConf?

Primarily, we attract a smart, front-end focused crowd; our typical attendee is experienced, creative and eager to learn more. If you’ve never attended a web conference before, I’d like to think SmashingConf would be a great first experience! We’re known for (and very proud of) our friendly, inclusive atmosphere. This attitude permeates the whole event; we offer lots of chances for conversation and new connections – and you won’t find our speakers hiding away in a back room, they’re looking forward to meeting new people too!

What speakers are you looking forward to?

I always love watching Aaron Walter’s sessions. His opening keynote on Tuesday will be a fantastic way to kick off the conference; how do you design great design teams? He’s also leading a sold-out workshop, which is going to be incredible. In addition to Aaron, our Mystery Speaker opening for us on Wednesday morning will definitely be worth getting up bright and early for! I can say no more…

What do you hope attendees get from SmashingConf (aside from fun)?

Our goal is for people to leave SmashingConf excited about getting back to the office and their team! People should be bursting with new ideas to try, different ways of working, tips for improved workflow, fixes for recurring problems, and an overall sense of pride in the dynamic industry that we work in. The whole event is built around providing opportunities for conversation and new friendships, as well as learning, so we’d very much hope that people leave with a few!

What’s one surprise you can tell us about?

We’ll be running an extra session for attendees giving some advance details about some exciting changes coming to Smashing Magazine in the near future; they’ll be amongst the first to know, and we’ll be running a panel so that they can give their opinions and ask questions about the new elements we’ll be introducing!

SmashingConf is in the Oxford Town Hall. What one feature do you think people should look out for?

The whole Town Hall is an Instagrammer’s dream. The architecture is incredible; if we could recommend one thing, look up! The carved ceilings and stained glass used throughout the building are stunning. The Town Hall also has a great art collection, scattered around the rooms we’ll be using.

What excites you the most about the web industry now?

The people. It’s always the people. We’re very lucky in our jobs; we get to meet so many smart, engaged and passionate people, determined to make a difference – the web industry attracts an incredible crowd, and it’s a privilege to bring them together at events like SmashingConf.

We’ll be at SmashingConf, so come say hi to us at our booth!

And as a special treat for our readers, one lucky winner could win four whole days of SmashingConf! Win two workshop tickets and one two-day pass to SmashingConf by following us on Twitter and retweeting our tweet! Good luck and we’ll see you there!

Pictures from SmashingConf Oxford 2015, taken by Marc Thiele, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0