The story of how FFConf came to be, by FFConf co-organiser, Julie Sharp:

I want to share the origin story of FFConf with you, as I think it is a special one...it was a snowy February day back in 2009 when Remy and I found ourselves in a pub that brought back memories of our après ski days.

Remy was complaining about the lack of a conference in the UK that talked about things he was interested in (JavaScript and the web) and that he wanted to attend. So I grabbed a (paper) pub menu and together we sketched out the idea – venue, speakers, possible dates, budget, sponsorship, marketing, website. We still have that piece of paper (rather faded now!).

At the time, I was working full time for a charity running their fundraising events. Remy had been self-employed for just 3 years. It was the perfect collaboration - Remy would curate the line-up and build the website whilst I would run the logistics.

We reached out to contacts for speakers and potential sponsors. We started looking at Brighton venues. We were originally thinking 80-100 or so people until Jeremy Keith suggested Duke of York's (thank you, Jeremy!).

Nine months later, we ran our very first sold-out 'Full Frontal: JavaScript Conference' and Remy posted back in 2016 where the name came from.

We are grateful to every single person (240!) who took a chance on us that first year and bought a ticket. We had 7 speakers (we could claim we launched Jake Archibald's speaking career!) with Simon Willison presenting the first talk about Node in the UK.

The lead up to the conference was intense as we also bought our first flat that month! The day seemed to run smoothly, apart from (a comical) lunchtime and waiting the entire break for the speakers' pub lunch to arrive, we ended up buying sandwiches for them all from the local deli in order to get them back in time!

One standout memory from the end of the day, was listening to Remy's closing comments, when suddenly he calls me to the stage to say thank you. It was unexpected but set the tradition that now extends to the kids - from a seven-week-old baby asleep in my arms in 2011 to a teen and a tween volunteering; handing out ice creams and t-shirts in 2024.

My favourite feedback from all the years is "it felt like we were all invited into your lounge" and that is the vibe we go for – which is why we have never left Duke of York's Picturehouse, even when we sold out in 11 minutes in 2013.

The website for each year is still live and it's fascinating to look back and see the progression of the design and the content. We hold our hands up for the white, male line up for the first two years and we can see our own progression of awareness and acknowledgement of our own privilege and how we can make a difference with our little corner of the world.

We are grateful to the 110 speakers (to date), the (4,170) attendees, all the sponsors who have invested their time and money with the two of us, for 14 editions. At the end of each event, our hearts are full of love from spending the day with awesome people - we wish we could bottle that feeling!