FrontKon#26 was different. AI had a lot to do with it

Three packed stages, relevant topics, lively discussions, and fun activities at partner booths. Eight hours of talks and conversations, wrapped up with a great afterparty at Apify.

At the beginning of the year, we announced that FrontKon would be different in 2026. And it certainly was. But in the end, things turned out a little differently than we had originally expected.

For the organizing team, the planned change was mainly about opening the conference up to a wider audience, beyond the Czech and Slovak community. We brought a number of international speakers to Prague and provided English translations for talks delivered in Czech. FrontKon’s social media communication also switched to English.

AI is reshaping our industry 

The biggest shift, however, came from AI and its undeniable impact on software development and the way we work. AI agents, AI adoption, orchestration, and AI-first approaches have become part of our everyday workflows over the past year. And this has brought major changes to the job market across our industry, too.

AI: High expectations and frustrations

We wanted our selection of talks, discussions, and speakers to reflect all these changes. Nearly half of the talks focused on AI and how to use it, but we also wanted to make room for classic frontend topics and valuable technical insights.

So, how did we do? Here are a few comments attendees shared on LinkedIn:

“Heading home from FrontKon. Big thanks to the whole team for organizing such a great event! One of the recurring themes throughout the conference was where frontend engineering is heading. As AI makes implementation faster and cheaper, craft, taste, architecture and product thinking become ever more important.“

Petr Kratochvíl, Lead Frontend Engineer

“Really enjoying the mix of frontend, AI, accessibility, performance, and tooling. My biggest takeaway so far: the tools keep changing fast, but good engineering still comes down to building things that are useful, maintainable, and actually work well for people.”

George X. Senior Frontend Developer

“It feels like the IT industry has been stuck in one long, gloomy autumn this year. Uncertainty, AI, changes in the job market, and questions about where our industry is actually heading. That’s exactly why this year’s FrontKon felt like such a refreshing dose of optimism!”

Blanka Semanová, Software Developer

“This year was an interesting mix of AI panel discussions, technical and non-technical topics, and plenty of lovely catch-ups with familiar faces and new people. For me, this conference is always a chance to discover interesting topics and get fresh ideas. And every time, it gives me a real boost and gets me fired up for what’s next.”

Lukáš Jeschke, Frontend Team Lead and Developer

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We’re really happy you enjoyed FrontKon and were part of the conversations that made it so special. Thanks for being there, and we can’t wait to see you again next year!