Paweł Czerski UX & Interaction Designer

Context

Front-Trends was one of the most respected front-end conferences, globally renowned for its high-quality content, meticulous organization, and exceptional attendee experience. I founded and organized the event from 2010 to 2018, turning it into a benchmark in the global developer community. It attracted some of the most influential voices in front-end development and a global audience of engineers, designers, and technical leaders.

Alongside Front-Trends, I launched Falsy Values, a companion event focused on advanced technical talks and hands-on workshops. I also ran events for external clients — including PayPal, who hired me to organize the Warsaw edition of BattleHack. These third-party events relied on our deep connections within the developer scene and our proven ability to execute complex event logistics with professional polish.

I also designed and led the development of our own ticketing platform, made to reduce costs and give us full control over the sales flow. It immediately paid off and was later used by another event, validating it beyond our own needs.

Challenge

Establishing and sustaining a premier front-end conference required addressing multiple complex and interconnected challenges:

• End-to-End Event Creation: Conceive and execute a conference from scratch, handling everything from branding and logistics to speaker curation and attendee experience. This included sourcing venues, managing contractors, negotiating AV and catering deals, planning schedules, and ensuring a high-quality experience year after year.

• Custom Ticketing Platform: Replace overpriced and inflexible ticketing providers with an in-house solution — designed by me and engineered by our co-organizer — that immediately improved profit margins and gave us full control over the entire ticketing process. The system was later used by another external event, validating its value beyond our own use.

• Community Presence & External Collaborations: Maintain a strong presence in the developer community while expanding our role into trusted logistics partners for third-party events. Our reputation enabled collaborations with international companies like PayPal, who relied on us to fully manage local production for their branded events while they focused on content delivery.

My Role

Front-Trends was my brainchild — a deeply personal, high-impact project I led throughout its nine-year lifespan. I oversaw the creative direction, product design, and operations that brought it all together.

• Concept & Vision: Developed the original idea for Front-Trends and evolved it year after year into a globally recognized event, consistently raising the bar for quality and relevance in the front-end space.

• Branding & Design: Created visual materials and assets — including event branding, website design, badges, sponsorship kits, print items, and digital promotion. Each edition featured a fresh visual identity tailored to the mood and trends of that year’s tech landscape.

• Production & Logistics: Handled all operational aspects: venue scouting and contracts, AV and furniture rentals, catering coordination, insurance, volunteer management, speaker travel, and the full event timeline. I ensured everything was executed to a high standard, often down to the minute.

• Platform Development: Conceptualized and designed our custom ticketing system, while my co-organizer handled the engineering — from tech stack decisions to implementation and deployment. He later earned his engineering degree based on this project. The platform not only saved us significant costs but also proved useful to external organizers, validating its design and functionality.

• Community & Partnerships: Led speaker research and outreach, managed sponsor relationships, and helped build a global network of supporters and attendees. I also liaised with companies like PayPal on externally branded events, where we took full ownership of logistics and delivery.

Outcome

Over nearly a decade, Front-Trends became a globally recognized name in the front-end space:

• It earned a reputation as one of the most respected developer events in Europe, renowned for its high-quality content, meticulous organization, and exceptional attendee experience.

• Our in-house ticketing platform paid for itself with the first event and was later adopted by other organizers, proving it as a viable, self-sustaining tool.

• Falsy Values became a respected companion event that expanded our offering and deepened our connection to the community.

• External brands entrusted us with their own events, validating our operational capabilities and reinforcing our professional credibility.

We left behind a legacy of thoughtful execution and documented standards that continue to reflect the high level of quality we set.