.Net is proprietary, PHP is dead, and everything you know is wrong.

As developers it is easy to get trapped in our comfort bubbles and assume that our 'knowledge' is informed. After all, many of us have spent years around or adjacent to programming technologies, and if we can't formulate educated opinions of those technologies... who can?

The problem is that at least *some* of your opinions are likely based on outdated information, personal experiences that don't reflect the whole, or learned bias.

Why should you care? Because you might be avoiding technologies (or sticking with others) because of those biases, even when they aren't the best fit for you, your employer, or your clients.

Together, let's dive into some of the most popular fallacies about web programming languages and approach them with fresh eyes - most importantly, acknowledging that our biases do exist, and that it is healthy to challenge them (even if we don't act on them).

You probably don't need JavaScript for that (anymore)

CSS is often overlooked by full-stack developers as 'not real code', but it's a critical part of crafting a beautiful, functional digital product. Also, you're probably doing it wrong.

The last few years have introduced some major improvements to CSS that allow for us to do more than ever using *only* HTML and CSS - improving front-end performance, accessibility and code maintainability.

Let's look at some code examples of new CSS features that will let savvy developers ditch the bloated JavaScript, for everything from select fields to dynamic popups, automatic light/dark mode adaptation, accordions, and of course - better animations than ever before!

Practical Usability Testing for Development Teams

Did you know that conducting well-structured usability tests with just five users can uncover over 85% of your product’s usability issues?

Usability testing is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve any website or software product. All it takes is a bit of planning - and a video conferencing tool of your choice - to get started.

In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to:
- Recruit and select the right participants for your study
- Develop focused research questions to test what truly matters
- Write usability tasks that yield actionable insights
- Confidently facilitate usability testing sessions
- Interpret and communicate findings for maximum impact

Through a mix of structured learning and practical exercises, you’ll gain the skills to incorporate usability testing into your design or development workflow - no lab or fancy equipment required.

Practical Information Architecture for Development Teams

Have you ever used a website or software product and struggled to find something you knew had to be there? That moment of confusion is often the result of poor Information Architecture (IA).
Information Architecture is the backbone of a product’s content strategy—it’s how information is organized, structured, and labeled to support usability and findability. It covers everything from site maps and navigation to the terminology you use and how you group content.

In this hands-on workshop, you'll gain a practical understanding of IA and how to apply it to your projects. Whether you're a developer, designer, content strategist, or product owner, this session will help you build more intuitive and user-friendly experiences.

You'll learn:

- The core principles of Information Architecture, with real-world examples
- Common IA fallacies and traps—and how to avoid them
- How to perform a content inventory and audit for your product or organization
- How to run and interpret card sorting and tree testing—two essential IA research methods

This workshop blends structured learning with practical, hands-on exercises, giving you tools you can start using right away.

Usability Testing is easier than you think

As developers, it’s easy to assume that customers will use technology the way we expect them to. They don’t, ever.

What if we had a magical way to find out what crazy things customers would try to do with our product… before we built it? Or before we launched it and put it in front of customers?

Anyone can learn to conduct qualitative usability testing, and you can make massive improvements to your products quickly and cheaply - if you test it right. To be clear - ‘user testing’ and ‘usability testing’ don’t mean the same thing.

In this talk, I’ll share the secrets that UX researchers use to take websites or software projects from good, to great - including how to do it, when to do it, and what tools you can use.

Join me and learn about the most cost effective UX research method at your disposal, and learn how to leverage it to build stuff better.

From Mess to Success: Embracing Full-Stack Architecture

How many times in your career have you thought to yourself - "You probably should have mentioned that before"? For most people, the answer to that question is TOO MANY.

Too often, there is a disconnect between what users need, what clients ask for, what designers design, what developers build, and what systems can support. Product architecture is not the responsibility (or the fault!) of any one person or team, but it is up to everyone to make sure it doesn't happen!

This talk takes experiences from all over the spectrum, from customer liaison, to UX consultant, to database architect, to software developer - to share a blueprint for how you can avoid common communication pitfalls, and make sure your next project is less mess, more success.

I bring a unique perspective to this talk, given that I have such a strong background in data and database design, as well as a globally recognised certification in UX research. I'm also a full-stack developer and have worked throughout almost all of the product development process. This talk is equally relevant for one-man-bands, or large silo’d teams and has something for everyone, whether they’re a software architect, a developer, or a UX designer. While there will be a bit of technical stuff (mainly database and UX research related), the fundamental thing this talk is really about is communication, and why it’s so important in any software development journey. This talk can be delivered as a keynote.

What working with grass-roots charities can teach us about creative problem solving

Enterprise teams are used to familiar trade-offs: scope vs. deadline, performance vs. cost. But charities and grassroots organizations play by a different set of rules - no real budget, almost no buffer time, and users who can be harmed (not just annoyed) if a system fails. The usual assumptions about risk, tooling, and process don’t survive that environment.

Working with charitable organizations means solving technical problems under conditions most enterprise developers never encounter. It might mean building for users who are experiencing trauma, who are in crisis, who are using decade-old devices on unreliable internet connections, or who have next to zero digital literacy. It might mean deciding between paying for a service, or paying your own wage. Every single decision about technology, architecture, and implementation has to account for limitations that would make most tech leads want to walk away from a project entirely.

This talk won't just share examples of real things we've shipped for charities (including the ugly workarounds, the uncomfortable trade-offs, and the surprisingly elegant solutions that emerged when the 'usual' options were off the table) - it will give you a fresh perspective on problem-solving that might help you find opportunities and solutions you can apply to your own day job next time you're faced with a seemingly insurmountable constraint.

The UX Research AI Frontier

It's unlikely that AI will ever truly replace UX researchers, but as LLMs come along in leaps and bounds, we'd be pretty silly not to consider whether we can use these tools to 'research' more effectively and save ourselves time and money.

The real trick that we need to discover is... what can we offload to an agent? When do we need real live humans to make sure we're not ending up in AI bubbles? Is there anything AI can do better than humans? And what are the repercussions if we get it wrong?

Nielsen Norman certified UX consultant Jo Minney looks at some of the most common UX research practices and how AI can be integrated into them ethically - and whether or not the trade off is worth it.