2019 has been an incredible year for ZEIT. We announced zero-config, launched a new integrations platform, and even hosted a successful hackathon.
To end the year on a memorable note, we held our first-ever remote conference: backendlessConf_.

The Stats

This first edition of backendlessConf_ received a lot of interest from the developer community.
  • 3,888 registrations from every corner of the world
  • 1,500+ live attendees throughout various points in the event
  • 1,374 participants on the dedicated Slack
USA
774
India
246
United Kingdom
164
Germany
131
Spain
108

Breakdown of top registrations by country.

The backendlessConf_ Experience

We believe it's the new friendships and connections that make any great conference memorable. To facilitate connections in a remote setting, we set up a dedicated Slack for backendlessConf_.
We also created a /gif command to help participants record themselves into a GIF and add a fun and personal element to their introductions. It was absolutely heartwarming to see developers from every corner of the world join us!
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On the day of the conference, backendlessconf.com transformed itself to include a conference video stream, as well as a live feed of all activity from Slack and Twitter — messages, our assortment of emoji, even GIFs!

Live feed of chat activity next to the stream.

The Sessions

A total of 16 international speakers, representing various aspects of the frontend and JAMstack joined us live for backendlessConf_. They brought with them a diverse range of content, and patiently answered questions from all the participants.

Guillermo (ZEIT), Ahmad (Cloudinary), and Sadek (Prismic) did the first set of sessions,
elaborating on experiences with the JAMstack, and demonstrating the state of
the art in building and editing modern websites.

Maya (Cloudinary), Eva & Brendan (Crystallize), and
Simen (Sanity.io) shared insights on deployment best practices,
frontend performance, and the value of improvisation in software development.

Phil (Mux), Dan (Fauna), and Derrick (StaticKit) shared their experiences in
cross-browser video, data persistence, and building businesses centered around frontend development.

Belen Curcio & Dan Zajdband, Kim (Auth0), and Zan (Pusher) did the final set of talks, covering cutting-edge technologies like WebAssembly and the WebXR Device API, standards-based authentication, and uncovering how JAMstack and serverless are boosting productivity.

For the ending session, Jared Palmer and Ken Wheeler hosted a special episode of The Undefined Podcast, discussing everything from isomorphic web apps to air purifiers — all in a casual setting!

Sponsors

Without the support of our generous sponsors, putting backendlessConf_ together wouldn't have been possible. Each of our sponsors play a unique, critical role within the JAMstack ecosystem:
  • Cloudinary — upload, manage, manipulate, and optimally serve any type of media
  • Sanity — take advantage of structured data to seamlessly deliver content across devices
  • Mux — easily build & instantly stream video with straightforward APIs
  • Prismic — make your website editable by the whole team, effortlessly
  • Pusher — robust APIs for building scalable realtime communication features
  • Crystallize — fast GraphQL-based APIs for tailor-made e-commerce
  • FaunaDB — low-friction serverless databases for all your ZEIT projects

Conclusion

The videos for all the talks are published on ZEIT TV as well as YouTube.
Organizing the first edition of backendlessConf_ was a rewarding experience for the ZEIT team. We whole-heartedly thank our speakers, sponsors, and participants for their support, and eagerly look forward to organizing the next one!
Keep an eye out on our Twitter for upcoming announcements!
Shout out to Marcos Nils, Alyssa Rauch, Timothy Lorimer, JJ Kasper, Allen Hai, Christopher Skillicorn, and Callum Macrae for their contributions to the first edition of backendlessConf_.