Conferences at Atlassian, Level 6, 341 George St

(Event description is below the timeline. Click "Read more" to see it) **Event Timeline:** * **6:30pm - Pre-talk Networking Time - Anticafe Place Des Arts** (294 Saint-Catherine St W, 3rd floor, Montreal, QC): this is a coworking space, so the event costs about $10 that includes drinks like coffee/tea and snacks like chips/pretzels/cookies; sign in on Anticafe's computer when you enter and pay Anticafe for your stay when you leave; after signing in, ***go to the 3rd floor***\*, turn left, and then walk to the **presentation room** with the projector screen\*. The venue is a coworking space, so its employees might not know about the event. Contact the organizer, Andy Maleh, via DM if you get lost or have questions. * **7pm - Talk - Anticafe Place Des Arts** * **8pm - Networking Time - NYKS Bar** (1250 Rue de Bleury, Montréal, QC): Networking time continues at 9:00pm (if we don't find seats at NYKS Bar, we could meet at Benelux at 245 Sherbrooke St W instead). **Crystal: Ruby with Static Typing [1h] - Andy Maleh** Crystal is a relatively new programming language that aims to emulate Ruby's syntax as much as possible while supporting Static Typing. Although Ruby remains the most convenient and productive programming language for business app development due to handling types automatically with Dynamic Typing, in about 1% of Business Software Development cases, Crystal can help out when there is a need for much higher performance in response-time-sensitive and performance-intensive computations. In a recent RubyConf keynote speech, Matz (the creator of Ruby) compared using a Dynamically Typed language like Ruby to driving a car with an automatic stickshift and using a Statically Typed language like C to driving a car with a manual stickshift. Most of the time, the convenience and productivity benefits of automatic stickshift are more desirable to deliver value in a timely fashion to customers. But, every once in a while, driving manual could be a very useful alternative for the few cases that need it. As such, it is valuable to learn Crystal for the sake of augmenting Ruby with a language that trades off some programmer friendliness for performance whenever needed. This talk will provide a general overview of the Crystal programming language and show some Crystal code examples. **Speaker Bio** Andy Maleh is a Fukuoka Prefecture Future IT Initiative 2025 MoneyForward Award winner for Glimmer DSL for Web (Ruby Web Frontend Framework) and a Fukuoka Ruby 2022 Special Award winner for Glimmer DSL for LibUI (Prerequisite-Free Ruby Desktop Development Cross-Platform Native GUI Library) after getting judged by Matz (the creator of Ruby). He works at Lexop as a Senior Software Engineer. Andy has spoken at various Software Conferences, including RubyConf, RailsConf, MountainWest RubyConf, and MagicRuby. He has a Master's degree in Software Engineering from DePaul University, Chicago, and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from McGill University, Montreal. In his free time, Andy drums in a rock band, curls/plays softball in a league (won the 2024-2025 TGIF Curling League championship at the Royal Montreal Curling Club), and snowboards. He is also a big sports fan of the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Alouettes, Montreal Alliance, and Boston Red Sox. -- If you have a Ruby talk idea you would like to present at a future Montreal.rb meetup, please contact the organizer (Andy Maleh) to get your talk scheduled in an available future meetup month (it is also possible to bump talks by organizers of the group into later months to take one of their month slots for your talk). You can also contact the organizer if your company is interested in hosting a future Montreal.rb meetup at their Montreal office. Note that speakers must present in-person in Montreal because the goal of the meetup is to encourage more in-person networking and socialization around Ruby Software Engineering topics with maximum communication bandwidth. Talks are recorded and posted on the [@montreal-rb YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/@montreal-rb) if talk speakers agree.

We're lucky to have Sarah Stokes and Shari Elle kicking off SydDT for 2026 with a workshop on moving from conflict to co-creation... how to structuring hard conversations with nonviolent communication. This will be a practical workshop-style session on using authentic communication methods to navigate conflict and the difficult situations we face as designers. Things like saying no to a feature request, receiving pushback on design implementation, and the age-old speed vs quality conversations. In the workshop you'll get to use a simple, repeatable process for turning difficult conversations into opportunities for deeper connection and collective problem-solving. Come join us for some fun conversations with interesting people in and around the design thinking community. New members are welcome! **SPEAKERS** **[Sarah Stokes](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlucystoked/)** **Design Leader, Atlassian** Sarah is a Design Leader at Atlassian with over 20 years of experience in digital and service design. She’s spent her career building design teams, coaching people to do their best work, and facilitating the kind of strategic thinking that leads to products customers actually love. As a qualified coach, she’s genuinely invested in helping both individuals and teams grow. Sarah leads teams focused on creating products and services that make a real difference for the people who use them. **[Shari Elle](https://www.linkedin.com/in/shari-elle/)** **Founder, The Communication Group** Shari Elle works with purpose-driven leaders who know their real edge is navigating human friction while creating better futures. Founder of The Living Work and a globally recognised expert in leadership and human relationships, she helps leaders stay grounded, relational, and effective in moments of tension. With 25+ years experience, Shari has supported over 10,000 people and organisations including CSIRO, CommBank, PwC, and the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment to turn conflict into clarity and co-creation. Co-founder of Nonviolent Communication in Australia, she integrates NVC with contemporary leadership and design practice. **EVENT SPONSORS** This event is brought to you by [Atlassian](https://www.atlassian.com/), [Sh8peshifters](https://www.sh8peshifters.com/), and [Dynamic4](https://dynamic4.com/). We take photos and record our events for documentation and promo purposes. Just let us know if you prefer not to be featured.