Why Úll?

A sense of place

Dublin is the ultimate conference city. Within a 2km square area, you'll find everything you need: restaurants, pubs, hotels, sights and architecture. Everywhere is walkable, low-rise and super-friendly.

A world-class venue

The Úll main conference sessions day will be held in the Coach House of Dublin Castle, right in the heart of the city, between the old city centre and Trinity College. It's steeped in history and intimate, with raftered wooden ceilings and stoned walls behind dramatic entrance gates.

Amazing speakers

At Úll, you'll not only learn how to build apps, but we'll look at the whole economy of building apps. You'll learn about market analysis; you'll discover insights from speakers who know and understand Apple inside and out. You'll learn how to plan your app's development, and you'll discover the importance of user experience through examples and stories from speakers who have been and done it themselves.

Quality relationships

Mostly though, at Úll, you'll get to hang out. We have a low speaker:attendee ratio and we encourage participation from everyone. There's ample time to socialise, chat and share your experiences. We're putting a huge emphasis on the things that matter: a quality lineup, a quality venue, quality catering and a high value event that we hope you'll never forget.

You're the customer, not the product. Like what you hear? Register now.

Sessions

Sessions will cover the journey from the planning stages, development, design, marketing and the business of app development.

What is Business Strategy?

Horace Dediu

A talk about what business strategy means.

Keynote Kung-Fu.

Michael Lopp

In January 2003, two years before their word processor and four before their spreadsheet, Apple released their presentation software, Keynote. In this talk, I'll discuss why Keynote was the first "office" application to land as well as why I think it's one of the best examples of Apple's application design philosophy. I will also teach you Keynote Kung-Fu.

Turning Ideas Into Apps

Matt Gemmell

There's nothing more exciting than having an idea for a new app, but as developers we often get carried away and start coding too soon. The best apps are created by putting user experience first, and that means spending time refining the raw idea into something that the customer will really want to use.

I'll talk about how to identify the core features for your app, how to avoid scope-creep, and why you should postpone launching Xcode for as long as possible. We'll touch on the hints Apple is giving you with its preinstalled apps and templates, and on the dangers of being too close to your initial idea.

Teaching Touch

Josh Clark

Touch gestures are sweeping away buttons, menus and windows from mobile devices—and even from the next version of Windows. The challenge: gestures are invisible, without the visual cues offered by buttons and menus. As your app sheds buttons, how do people figure out how to use the thing? Learn to lead your audience by the hand (and fingers) with practical techniques that make invisible gestures obvious.

Josh mines a variety of surprising sources for interface inspiration and design patterns. Along the way, discover the subtle power of animation, why you should be playing lots more video games, and why a toddler is your best beta tester.

Making Great Apps

Michael Simmons

Your app idea is important, but it's only the beginning. You'll also need a quality development and a launch plan. Learn how to manage, execute, market and sell your app beyond the usual details. Features, design, UI, UX, price, messaging and even the app's name all play a major role in your app's success. We'll take a close look at the things you should do and, of course, the things you shouldn't do.

We'll also question your app's finer details, such as marketing, design, product features, and even pricing.

The important questions will be asked, helping you formulate the answers necessary to give your app the best chance for success. A solid plan provides a solid foundation, and with a solid foundation, your app will have a greater chance of success.

You Are Not What You Eat

Kyle Neath

Designers can't be developers and companies who build web apps can't build desktop apps. Well, maybe in 1994 — but it's 2012. Things done changed. It's time to focus on building amazing companies full of fantastic people. Build amazing apps that people love to use. Screw false specialization, iOS shops, and mobile-only products. We're people building apps for other people to use on technofantastical devices of tomorrow.

A Happy Grain of Sand

Aral Balkan

A light-hearted, funny, daresay inspirational, talk on user experience & design.

Workshops

Workshops will take place on the afternoon of the 27^th April.

Tapworthy Mobile Design and UX

with Josh Clark

From first concept to polished pixel, learn to create mobile apps and websites that delight. The workshop explores the practical principles of mobile and touchscreen design, teaching you to "think mobile" by planning and creating app interfaces in tune with the psychology and ergonomics of an audience on the go. You'll learn to conceive and refine an app's interface and user experience in tune with the needs of a mobile audience... and their fingers and thumbs.

Free with a conference ticket, €300 without. Register here

Asymco Workshop

with Horace Dediu

A detailed workshop on Apple's strategy in the form of a question and answer session.

Free with a conference ticket, €150 without. Register here

Sponsors & Supporters

Platinum+ Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

Bronze Sponsors

We're proud to have Axonista and StackMob, HockeyApp, Converser, and Tethras as official conference supporters.

Want to support Úll? Buy a supporter ticket. We'll post your link, pimp your product at the conference and include you in our conference materials.