Swift Rockies
A retreat-style iOS developer conference in the heart of the Rockies
📍 Calgary, Alberta
📅 July 22-23, 2026
Swift Rockies 2026
It happened.
Modern humans have been around for roughly 100,000 years. Written history spans about 6,000 of those.
Swift Rockies felt like a small chapter in that history got written - in a zoo (of all the places), in Calgary, by a group of iOS developers who clearly care deeply about their craft.
Dave DeLong opened Day 1. Daniel Steinberg closed it. In between: concurrency, macros, accessibility, AI, engineering culture, CloudKit, and a lot of honest conversations about what it means to build things well.
Ash Furrow opened Day 2. Ellen Shapiro closed the formal program. And then - an Apple session, a live podcast recording with Charlie Chapman, and a performance by James Dempsey and the Breakpoints (Danijela Vrzan, Rob Napier, Ellen Shapiro, Adrian Eves). Not a bad way to end a conference.
The venue was the Wilder Institute Calgary Zoo. The round tables meant you were talking to the person next to you, not just sitting beside them. The food was incredible - we wanted every part of the experience to feel worth the trip, not just the sessions.
That part, I think, we got right.
Thank you to every speaker, every attendee, and every sponsor who believed in this before it existed.
Not Your Typical Conference
Designed for Real Conversations
There's a stage, and there are two large screens so every seat has a clear view. But instead of classroom rows, everyone sits at round tables. The energy feels closer to a dinner party than a lecture hall.
There's no speaker green room. Speakers join tables before and after their talks, asking questions, trading stories, and having the kind of unscripted conversations that change how you think about your work.
Between sessions, we encourage everyone to switch tables. By the end of day two, you won't just know names. You'll know the people behind the apps you use every day.
The best ideas at Swift Rockies don't happen on stage. They happen at the table, over coffee, between two people who would never have met at a 5,000-person trade show.
What You Leave With
Depth, not breadth
Single-track. No breakout rooms, no schedule conflicts. Every attendee sees every talk - built for practitioners, not executives. In 2026, topics included:
- Swift Concurrency's Pit of Success
- Swift beyond Apple: Making Software for the Physical World
- Faster Builds With Xcode Compilation Cache
- Scaling Swift Development
- ...and 15 more talks across 2 days
Access, not an autograph line
180 seats. No speaker green room. Speakers sit at round tables before and after their talks. By Day 2, you'll have had real conversations with people whose work you've shipped against for years.
A trip worth making
The Calgary Zoo in July. Round tables instead of classroom rows. The zoo's pathways are your hallway track - coffee break conversations in a setting unlike anything on the conference calendar. You'll remember this one.
Hi, I'm Raman.
Founder, Swift Rockies · Lead iOS Engineer, theScore Bet
11+ years on Apple platforms. I currently work on live streaming and advanced search infrastructure at theScore Bet. Before that, I built the DRM system that powers digital lending for the New York Public Library.
I started Swift Rockies because Canadian iOS engineers don't have a serious, single-track, retreat-style conference of their own. I'm not a professional organizer - I'm a working engineer (and a busy dad) who wanted this to exist. So I built it the way I'd want to attend it: 180 seats, round tables, no filler, and speakers I personally want to spend two days with.
2026 was our inaugural year. Swift Rockies 2027 is coming - and I'd love for you to be part of it.
Final pricing. Online sales close July 18.
180 seats total. Single track. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Need manager approval first? Generate a Request-to-Attend letter in 2 minutes →
Bringing your team?
Groups of 3 or more get special pricing - and everything your manager needs to say yes.
- Discounted group rate for 3+ engineers
- A Request-to-Attend letter ready to forward to your manager
- A dedicated Apple session - your team hears the biggest WWDC26 updates direct from Apple's Worldwide Developer Relations team
- Concurrency, Swift Macros, build performance - skills your team ships faster Monday
Speakers in Progress
We're working on confirming these amazing speakers
Workshops
Small-group, hands-on sessions with the experts who built the tools you use every day
Labs
WWDC-style open sessions where you bring the code and the expert solves the problem, live, in front of you
Venue
Calgary Zoo
Travel & Stay
Our Sponsors
Frequently Asked Questions
Get in Touch
Questions about tickets, speaking, sponsoring, or anything else? We respond to every message.
Contact Information
Email:
info@swiftrockies.com
For sponsorship inquiries:
sponsors@swiftrockies.com