During my career, I have attended at least tens of technical events, if not a hundred. Each event has its own feeling, a vibe, and a purpose. My feeling is that technical events have a strong role in developing your professional identity and connecting you with your peers. I believe this has never been more important than now, as the industry faces significant challenges due to the adoption of new development techniques that are changing the nature of work.
Keep up with the changing industry#
One of the main reasons we organize Future Frontend is to keep up with this ongoing change. As React was starting to feel saturated as a topic, we realized that looking ahead to the future of the space has value, and decided to pivot from React Finland to Future Frontend. This initial mission remains important today, and I would argue it is more important than ever.
Although we have a bias towards development and frontend, we tend to plan our program so that it is not only about development but also about what happens around it. Given how fast our industry is changing and the constant need to learn new things, I try to craft our program so it includes topics I don’t know much about. I literally spend my days pondering what will happen next, and it is difficult even for me to keep up, so I can imagine how difficult it can be for you. Joining this conference is a great way to learn together.
Get inspired, stay inspired#
Based on attendee feedback, I think inspiration is one of the main values of Future Frontend. The conference allows you to connect with your peers and explore new ideas. It is often the topics that you know least about that leave the most lasting impression. For this reason, I decided to introduce separate days dedicated to design and development for the 2026 edition (8-9.6, Espoo, Finland). To address the growing interest in agentic development, I dedicated the latter half of the development day to this purpose so we could get a clearer idea of what it is. Our workshops, held after the conference days, allow you to dive even deeper into related topics (AI, product endings, visual facilitation).
For me, the conference content is only a springboard for interesting discussions during the breaks and after the long conference days. You will see that others have similar problems to yours, but maybe different approaches to solving them. Since the conference is quite small (usually around 180 people), you also have a great chance at catching our speakers for a chat, as they are in the same boat as you, figuring out what is going on.
The interesting thing is that the inspiration gained at the conference tends to stick with our attendees, who are happy to look back on the insights and friendships they made. In the end, we are all in it together, navigating this tumultuous period in the industry as we adapt to the change, perhaps even shaping it in our own ways. Future Frontend has always been about creating visions for the future, and I believe it remains at the core of the event as long as we run it. Not only is adaptation enough, but we also need to understand the potential destination.
Sponsors make the event better for all#
Although we are happy to have sponsors support our events, we tend to keep the conference hall focused on learning together, while our sponsors have their own space where you can hang out with people and learn about our sponsoring companies at your own pace if you so like. We see sponsors as a value-add, since their presence can provide additional services that enhance the conference and present the companies in a positive light. We use the money to improve the conference in tangible ways by increasing production values (space, small extras, etc.), while budgeting so that it should be possible to run without sponsors if we cannot find interested companies.
Conclusion#
I believe our conference has a valuable role to play even in these weird times, as many axioms that used to hold may no longer hold true, and the work is changing. With change comes opportunity, and I believe we are well positioned to help you navigate it. Even in the worst-case scenarios, you will go back home inspired by a fond memory of Finland and its amazing saunas (unless you are a local, since you sauna a lot anyway).