Here comes a round of events I attend in the first 6 months of this year. I bet there will be more, but those are the ones – in chronological order – where I have travel and accommodation booked and where I’d love to meet you ;)

State of the Browser, London (UK)

State of the Browser, or SOTB in short, is an annual one‑day tech conference in London organised by London Web Standards (mainly Dave Letorey) that brings together web developers, browser vendors, and community members to discuss the modern web, accessibility, web standards, tools, and best practices. It typically features a single track of diverse talks covering topics like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UX, and performance. The event takes place at Barbican Centre and can be attended in person (sold out!) or online.

📆 28 February 2026
💰 £60–£100 (~€70–€115) – online £20 (~€23)
👉 More information on their website.

Web Day Out, Brighton (UK)

Web Day Out is a one‑day, in‑person event in Brighton. It aims to teach web developers and designers what they can actually do with web browsers today by diving deep into practical HTML, CSS, and JavaScript platform features you can use in production. It features a curated lineup of speakers giving hands‑on talks about browser capabilities, performance, accessibility, and progressive enhancement and intentionally avoids sessions on frameworks or theoretical topics. It’s organised by Clearleft (mainly Jeremy Keith) and designed to help attendees stay up to speed with the current state of the web platform in a single day.

📆 12 March 2026
💰 £225 (~€260)
👉 Tickets and information
👀 beyond tellerrand Podcast with Jeremy Keith, also about Web Day Out

Smashing Conference, Amsterdam (NL)

SmashingConf Amsterdam 2026 is our friendly, inclusive multi‑day conference. This time in Amsterdam, targeting UX designers, UI engineers and front‑end professionals who focus on real‑world design, usability, accessibility, modern CSS, design systems and related web and interface topics. It takes place at the historic Pathé Tuschinski and combines talks and deep‑dive workshops. Single‑track and social side events help attendees learn practical skills and network. We also offer an online attendance option so people worldwide can join live.

📆 13–16 April 2026
💰 €725 (Students €362), Workshops €665
👉 Full information and tickets

beyond tellerrand Düsseldorf 2026 (GER)

beyond tellerrand. My little baby. My passion and my joy. I run this event for 15 years now and want to celebrate. With you. I have announce a handful of speakers for this year already and it is going to be great. If you want to get latest news and announcements, please subscribe to the newsletter.

📆 27–28 April 2026 (side events before and after)
💰 €349 (Students €99)
👉 Information and tickets

Accessibility Club Summit 2026, Würzburg (GER)

The Accessibility Club Summit 2026 is a two-day community-driven event in Würzburg, Germany for developers, designers and accessibility enthusiasts to share knowledge, experiences and best practices around digital accessibility. It’s organised by tollwerk (mainly Joschi Kuphal) and combines a BarCamp format of participant-led sessions on the first day with hands-on community workshops on the second. Hybrid participation (in-person and remote) possible.

📆 9–10 May 2026
💰 €30 – pay-what-you-can/want (Barcamp Day), Workshops €25–€50
👉 Full information and tickets

CSS Day, Amsterdam (NL)

CSS Day is an annual conference in Amsterdam that brings together CSS experts, implementors, and educators to explore the current state and future of CSS. The 2026 edition runs with fourteen speakers presenting talks and demos. Organised my a small team around PPK, it’s a highly focused event for developers and designers looking to deepen their CSS knowledge and connect with the web community.

📆 10-11 June 2026
💰 €816,75
👉 All info and tickets

Head in the Cloud, Espelkamp (GER)

Head in the Cloud is a summit for cloud, DevOps, tech, and agency professionals organised by mittwald, bringing together experts to explore technology, collaboration, and digital innovation. The 2026 edition takes place at the open-air mittwald Campus. With sessions spanning Cloud & DevOps, Technology, and Culture & Creativity, the event is designed not only for developers and engineers but also for designers and creative professionals looking for inspiration and cross-disciplinary exchange. Oh hey, and I am speaking 🤗 …

📆 25–26 June 2026
💰 Free (Festival Pass), €236,81 (Masterclass on 25 June)
👉 Information and registration

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There are plenty of other events I’d love to attend and that I am looking into right now. Depending on time and other (family) things happening on or around those dates you might also find me at OFFF (16–18 April), All Flows (14–15 May), Pixel Pioneers (19 June) and others.

Where will we meet? What events are missing that I should attend?

I will list events of the second half of the year later ;)

A morning jog via fields and forest with Toffie, our dog.

I haven’t had much time to read anything online between October and now. beyond tellerrand Berlin needed all my attention as well as the post event stuff afterwards and now Düsseldorf.

But I am slowly catching up on my RSS reader unread count. One post I just read was “The Lifeblood of the Web” which is a perfect “convince your boss” document with reasons why anyone should attend events.

That’s when you realize: the Web isn’t just a bunch of servers and websites. The Web is the people building it. The Web is community.

Very true as well as …

That’s what’s so invaluable about conferences, about in-person events in general. They are like a cheat code, like a magic door – you enter, and suddenly, you find yourself on the inside of the conversation. The faces, the names, the people behind the blog posts – they become real. And you stop feeling like just being an observer of the Web community. You are now a part of it.

As well as all the rest he writes and with which he brings back lots of lovely memories.

Thanks for being part of the ride, Matthias!

⇾ Visit: The Lifeblood of the Web – Matthias Ott

Very happy that two events I am involved in are on Manuel’s list.

With Smashing Conference running for 13,5 years and beyond tellerrand running for 15 years now, I don’t take that for granted and am happy that this is the case after such a long time.

⇾ Visit: Manuel’s Favourite Front-end and Web Development Conferences

Jeremy says:

I haven’t “upgraded” my iPhone to iOS 26 and I have no plans to.

Same here. I really don’t understand such “upgrades”. And Jeremy’s example is only one very small bit. Everything looks broken, inconsistent and barely usable

⇾ Visit: Liquid Glass is so F**k’d Up

David Bowie. 10 years gone already, but forever here.

I started to download all my photos from Flickr and re-upload them on my own website.

This is the first album I created and it is from New Adventures in Web Design, hosted by Simon Collison on 20 January 2011, nearly 15 years ago from today.

Enjoy the memories the photos might bring back to you!

A while ago I sat down with Brad Frost for an episode of his podcast Wake Up Excited, which he recently released.We ended up talking about far more than conferences. It turned into a really honest conversation about creative work, motivation, self-doubt, community, and why it’s still worth doing things that are hard.

Waking up Excited (and Still Doing the Hard Stuff)

Since I run events, what usually gets me out of bed in the morning is the countdown to the next one. As the date gets closer, I’m deep in the details. Those final bits and pieces that usually make an event feel special.

At the same time, there’s always the less fun part of the job. Money, admin, promotion, social media. Brad called it the “shit sandwich,” and that felt painfully accurate. Some of these things used to be enjoyable. These days, especially with social media, they’re mostly sadly “just” work. But they’re part of the deal.

Every job has parts you love and parts you simply have to get through.

Imposter Syndrome Doesn’t Disappear

Even after all these years, self-doubt still shows up. Working alone (often from home) makes it easy to question yourself: Is this really special? Does anyone actually care?

What helps is perspective. And people! Sometimes you need someone else to remind you what you’ve built and why it matters. We’re not meant to sit alone with our thoughts all the time, especially the critical ones.

The Internet Got Louder and Less Honest

We talked a lot about how little room there seems to be online for vulnerability these days. I miss the old forum culture, where people could openly say “I don’t know, can anyone explain this and help me?” and others would help.

Today, everything feels polished, confident, and performative. Social media emphasises this. But I actually don’t believe authenticity is gone. It’s just buried under noise. It still shows up in smaller, quieter spaces and in real conversations.

The Moment That Makes It All worth It

Brad asked me about a moment I am usually looking forward to, when I think about the process of organising and running my events.

For me, the best moment of every event is right before it starts. Tobi starts playing the music, the doors open, I’m backstage, and I know I’ll be on stage in a few minutes. Months of work suddenly become real.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed and tear up. Not from stress, but from relief and gratitude.

That moment when preparation turns into reality never gets old.

I shared a story about moving venues in Berlin, visiting dozens of spaces, and finally standing backstage on opening day in the new venue, emotional and exhausted. Only to be met with a wordless hug from Jeremy Keith, who was going to be the first speaker. No pep talk needed.

Those moments carry me through the harder days.

Why the One Negative Comment Sticks

Like most people, I’m way better at remembering the one negative comment out of a 100 than the 99 positive ones. That’s something I actively try to counter.

One small thing that helps is writing down “things that make (or made, if you do this after something took place) me happy.” It sounds simple, but it works. Sometimes life feels terrible until you stop and realise it really isn’t!

Showing up as Yourself (Even When People Box You In)

We also talked about confidence and identity. I’ve been boxed in my whole life. I mean: long hair, certain looks, certain assumptions. Over time, I learned to play with that instead of fighting it.

I never wanted to pretend to be “professional” in someone else’s definition. I always felt: if people work with me, it should be for how I think and what I can do. Not for how well I fit into a costume.

You don’t need to fake who you are to be taken seriously.

Reflecting, Adjusting, and Sometimes Pausing

Creative work changes over time. So do we. Every now and then, I sit down and ask myself: Is this still enjoyable? What needs to change maybe?

Sometimes the answer isn’t “stop”, but “pause”, or “scale down” or “get help with the parts I don’t enjoy anymore”. Most decisions aren’t black or white. They’re sometimes more like “yes, but …”, and then you figure out the “but part”

How I Reach out to People When They Cross My Mind and What Taught Me to Do So

After my first brother died in 2013, I was left with too many, what I called, “why didn’t I” questions. Since then, I’ve tried to do one simple thing: if someone comes to mind, I reach out. It has never been easier than these days with multiple channels and countless devices.

A short text. An email. A quick “thinking of you”. It costs almost nothing and it keeps connections alive.

I never want to regret not sending a message that would have taken 30 seconds anymore.

Creativity Is Curiosity – Not a Category

I don’t think creativity fits into a single definition. It can be art, code, music, problem-solving, really anything driven by curiosity and a willingness to look beyond the obvious.

That’s also what beyond tellerrand is about. It’s not just about “actionable takeaways”. It’s about energy, inspiration, unexpected connections and the ideas that start in hallway conversations and grow from there.

Closing Thoughts

I’m grateful for the conversation with Brad. It reminded me why I keep doing this: not because it’s easy, but because it creates moments of connection, joy, and courage. For others and for myself.

Video Version

Audio Only Version

For some it might be nothing special, but over here it rarely snows and I embrace this right now.

Everything is so silent. The crunching snow under my feet. Our dog enjoys a good play with a snowball or playing catch me if you can.

Happy moments.

Wow! Two Three month really went by so quick. I am, right now, sitting on my couch (not anymore, it’s the kitchen table now) and thought “Let’s see how long I haven’t posted on my personal site anymore” and ouch, that was quite some time. Reason for this was that I have done a couple of things that kept me busy (and happy). Sure, beyond tellerrand in Berlin, but a lot of other things also.

Let’s see what it was …

SmashingConf New York (1–10 October)

In 2014 we organised our very first SmashingConf in New York. This year, 11 years later, we are still running the show, but taking a break next year. New York and running SmashingConf there always has been special in some way.

This loud and busy city has a certain buzz to it that I love and that energises me. Back in 2018 I took our two oldest children to NYC for the first time, 2022 my oldest son and a friend of him and this year my oldest daughter again. It always is fantastic, if that is possible and they are not in university or busy otherwise. The event itself was a success and proof that events in the U.S. are still possible and needed.

St. Johann in Tyrol (11–19 October)

For decades we take the family to a hiking trip to St. Johann in Tyrol. We always aim for the complete family, including my parents in law as well as my sister’s in law family. And while it is not always possible and we mostly drive with our family and my parents in law, this time it worked out and we went on longer hiking trips all together again. Pure joy for the soul.

Gastspiel

My friend Andreas Dantz has been to beyond tellerrand quite often. In fact we have been to quite a number of other events together also already. A longer time already, he decided to leave his career as a web design and wanted to focus on YouTube. Unter the label of “Spiel & Zeug” he produces videos around smart home tech and all things that somehow touch this topic and does a really good job in my opinion. Close to 400k subscribers might agree to me.

Lately he had the idea of running his first ever event for his channel and the people supporting him. He asked me if I would support him and his team and I surely was up for another event adventure. It was great fun being part of this and once more showed, that a person (or people) driven by passion for what he does is one of reasons why people follow a channel or a community builds around a channel/event/product.

beyond tellerrand Berlin 2025

11 years after starting a second edition in Berlin each year, this years marks the last one for now. It was such a fantastic experience once more and surely everybody who came was sad to hear that I take a break in Berlin. They are not the people responsible for the break and therefore they are not to blame for it and I was very sorry to tell them.

The years after Covid have been incredible tough for me. Mostly financially, but that also has an effect on me mentally. Not directly, but after a while and with steadily rising importance the more I worry about paying the bills for my family etc. Especially Berlin has proven to be a tough job. People buy tickets very late or get approval too late to get their tickets. Sponsors went down to 10% of what it has been before the pandemic and in parallel everything gets more and more expensive: flights, hotel, venue rent, staff …

2026 will be the 15th year since I started running the show under the name of “beyond tellerrand” and I want to focus and celebrate the 15th year of the show in Düsseldorf on 27th and 28th of April with the known friendly and positive vibe and a positive push for anyone in our industry.

SPOILER Concert

We started this band in 2002, I know three of my bandmates since I am 14 or 15 years old and I can’t repeat often enough how much joy every Thursday is, where we meet for a few hours of making music together and chatting about nonsense.

2025 marks the year when we started playing live again after a longer break and have written a whole lot of new music. We decided a while ago that we focus on a few gigs a year where we know the audience would like our music and are not younger than our children.

Skate-Aid Night

For a number of year I am supporting Skate-Aid, a charity organisation that helps to empower children through skateboarding. What sounds like a strange way to get children off the streets and give them a purpose works wonderfully. So far Skate-Aid has created more than 25 projects in 18 different countries around the world.

Part of the money we make with beyond tellerrand always supports Skate-Aid and during the last two years I helped bringing artists like Rob Draper and Salventius to the Skate-Aid Night where they performed live and gave 100% of the revenue to Skate-Aid.

TYPO3 Conference and Awards Gala

For two years TYPO3 is supporting beyond tellerrand as a Global Partner. Next top their input to beyond tellerrand, this partnership is a two-way partnership which means, I bring in myself also. In 2024 I spoke at their event, have been a jury member of their awards and was interviewed on stage during the awards gala show. This time I had been a more passive role and visited their well organised events. They improved the conference days with a different setup and had a police cover band playing in the breaks of their gala.

I once more can say “Congrats! Well done.” and hope that our partnership continues in 2026. 🙏

Christmas and Our Journey to 2026

Last but not least – and that is the reason for publishing this post 3 weeks after starting to write it – I took some well needed time off with my family. We had a calm and cozy time around Christmas and celebrated New Year with a few friends.

As this post marks the first one for 2026, I’d love to end it with a favour to ask you for: spread love and positive energy. Motivate each other, celebrate achievements and push everyone who does something lovely into the spotlight to share how great it is what they do or who they are. We need each other to multiply positivity against anything negative. And where one might be not strong enough, let’s support each other.

♥️