Speakers

The future of work is not something that happens to techies. It is something we actively build. Still, many developers and tech professionals don’t see themselves as “influencers” of any kind. Many of us are more comfortable with systems than social arenas.

This session challenges the idea that shaping the future requires loud voices, charisma, or constant visibility. Influence in tech can be quiet, analytical, structured, and deeply thoughtful. It can happen through design choices, questions asked at the right moment, boundaries set, or values embedded into code and processes.

As AI reshapes work, tech professionals have more influence than they often realize. Personality plays a role, but agency is shaped far more by values, perspective, and skills that can be developed over time.

We’ll explore ways to take responsibility and exert influence that respect different neurotypes and energy levels. The key message is simple: you don’t need to become someone else to shape the future of work. Recognizing that your way of thinking matters - and finding connection with peers who share your values - is not only how influence grows but also how work becomes more meaningful and sustainable.

Many tech companies say they want developers to take ownership and grow into tech leads - but at the same time they control decisions, avoid hard conversations, and expect people to “figure it out themselves”.

In this talk, Anastasiia Zvenigorodskaia shares practical lessons from growing tech leads inside small and mid-sized engineering teams. Based on her path from developer to COO, she shows how leadership can be treated as a skill set, not a job title - and how developers can grow influence without giving up coding.

The session covers how to spot leadership potential in developers, how to support growth without forcing people into management, and how trust and clear expectations directly affect motivation. It also looks at common mistakes companies make when they want mature teams but design systems that block growth.

This talk focuses on what teams can change today to grow stronger tech leads - and sets the foundation for discussing how these skills will matter even more in the future of work.

Guiding us through this adventure is Rami, our AI-generated, raccoon treasure hunter, equal parts explorer and troublemaker, armed with a mysterious treasure map and an ancient planchette lens to decode its mysteries. Each segment of the talk represents a new “clue” on the map, where we’ll dive into demos of web interfaces through the lens of Forced Colors Mode, uncovering what breaks, what disappears, and how we can bring clarity back to the screen.

Together, we’ll explore:

• What is Forced Colors Mode and how do browsers translate system color schemes?
• How can we detect and support the forced-colors media query?
• How do CSS keywords, color tokens, and custom properties behave in high-contrast settings?
• What are the best practices for building resilient, inclusive interfaces in Forced Colors Mode?
• When (and how) should we override forced rendering safely?

Throughout the talk, we’ll alternate between screen reader–guided demos and visual “treasure map” sequences, immersing the audience in the challenges users face when Forced Colors Mode is ignored, and the breakthroughs that happen when it’s embraced.

Much like the promise of cake in Portal, login forms are everywhere in web development. While they may seem functional at first glance, many users with disabilities perceive a maze of invisible walls, from keyboard traps to inaccessible CAPTCHA. It's as if GLaDOS designed these forms herself to test us!

In this talk, we will fix accessibility problems in a real React login component together. We will explore how simple changes can significantly improve the user experience. For example, by using ARIA tags correctly and managing focus more effectively, and what matters for authentication in particular. The promise of cake may be a lie (or isn't it? 🤔), but accessibility can and should be!

The future of web development isn't about chasing the latest library or framework—it's about rediscovering the evolving power of the platform. This talk will challenge your assumptions, and show you how the most exciting advances for the web are happening right now in HTML and CSS. Learn how to build complex patterns like hover cards and customizable drop down menus with zero JavaScript. You'll unlock the potential of modern, functional CSS and built-in semantic components to make building performant, accessible UI's faster and easier. The future is bright, and it's simpler than you think.

It is well understood many web applications are more complex than they should. My thesis is that this is because due to prevailing mainstream trends, we ended up taking a path leading us to this complexity. It turns out that an old idea, hypermedia, might allow us to overcome this complexity while making our websites agent friendly. In this talk I show you why hypermedia is more relevant than ever today and what kind of benefits it can provide for web developers. I will cover concrete solutions, such as Datastar or htmx, and give you a starting point for your explorations with hypermedia driven web application development.

As people spend more time using personal agents like ChatGPT and Claude, they spend less time using browsers and apps. But agents still source information from the Web and use tools like MCP servers to extend their abilities and access.

Here's the surprise: React developers might not be building websites in the future. They might be building streaming components.

MCP-UI lets your React components render directly inside agent interfaces—no browser required. Your design system doesn't just power your website anymore; it extends into every agent your users talk to. This talk shows you how to make content agentic web-first using MCP-UI, with a live demo surfing the speaker's award-winning web comic archive entirely through an agent.

What you'll learn:

• Why your React skills are more relevant than ever before
• How design systems teams can extend their component libraries through MCP-UI
• How to build an MCP server that streams interactive UI to agents