diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 743510a2..38c2fa96 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -76,8 +76,12 @@ group :development, :test do
   gem 'rspec', '>= 3.0.0.beta'
   gem 'rspec-rails', '>= 3.0.0.beta'
   gem 'capybara'
+<<<<<<< HEAD
   gem 'database_cleaner'
   gem 'capybara-webkit'
+=======
+  gem 'shoulda'
+>>>>>>> 374efd311fb7f82d0e8257a62675a663904708d5
 end
 
 # FIXME: We should use http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2012/3/21/strong-parameters/ 
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index ba6788b1..8bd4910f 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -252,6 +252,12 @@ GEM
       sass (~> 3.2.0)
       sprockets (~> 2.8, <= 2.11.0)
       sprockets-rails (~> 2.0)
+    shoulda (3.5.0)
+      shoulda-context (~> 1.0, >= 1.0.1)
+      shoulda-matchers (>= 1.4.1, < 3.0)
+    shoulda-context (1.2.1)
+    shoulda-matchers (2.6.1)
+      activesupport (>= 3.0.0)
     simplecov (0.8.2)
       docile (~> 1.1.0)
       multi_json
@@ -335,6 +341,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   rspec (>= 3.0.0.beta)
   rspec-rails (>= 3.0.0.beta)
   sass-rails (>= 4.0.2)
+  shoulda
   spring-commands-rspec
   sqlite3
   transitions
diff --git a/app/controllers/admin/conference_controller.rb b/app/controllers/admin/conference_controller.rb
index 70e56897..81820be6 100644
--- a/app/controllers/admin/conference_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/admin/conference_controller.rb
@@ -15,11 +15,21 @@ class Admin::ConferenceController < ApplicationController
 
   def create
     @conference = Conference.new(params[:conference])
+<<<<<<< HEAD
     if @conference.save
       redirect_to(admin_conference_path(id: @conference.short_title),
                   notice: 'Conference was successfully created.')
     else
       render action: 'new'
+=======
+    if @conference.valid?
+      @conference.save
+      redirect_to(admin_conference_path(id: @conference.short_title),
+                  notice: 'Conference was successfully created.')
+    else
+      redirect_to(new_admin_conference_path,
+                  flash: { error: @conference.errors.full_messages.join('! ') })
+>>>>>>> 374efd311fb7f82d0e8257a62675a663904708d5
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/app/views/admin/conference/new.html.haml b/app/views/admin/conference/new.html.haml
index 1b78f27d..f77d9d0b 100644
--- a/app/views/admin/conference/new.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/admin/conference/new.html.haml
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
 .row
   .col-md-6.col-md-offset-3
     = semantic_form_for(@conference, :url => admin_conference_index_path) do |f|
-      = f.inputs "Basic Information" do
-        = f.input :title, :hint => "The name of your conference as it shall appear throughout the site. Example: 'OpenSUSE Conference 2013'"
-        = f.input :short_title, :hint => "A short and unique handle for your conference, using only lower-case letters, numbers and underscores. This will be used to identify your conference in URLs etc. Example: 'froscon2011'"
-        = f.input :social_tag, :hint => "The hashtag you'll use on Twitter and Google+.  Don't include the '#' sign!'"
-        = f.input :contact_email, :hint => "Contact email address for your conference. Will be used as reply-to address in emails sent out by the system."
-      = f.inputs "Scheduling" do
-        = f.input :timezone, :as => :time_zone, :hint => "Please select in what time zone your conference will take place."
-        = f.input :start_date, :as => :string, :input_html => { :id => "conference-start-datepicker", :readonly => "readonly"  }
-        = f.input :end_date, :as => :string, :input_html => { :id => "conference-end-datepicker", :readonly => "readonly"  }
+      = f.inputs 'Basic Information' do
+        = f.input :title, hint: "The name of your conference as it shall appear throughout the site. Example: 'OpenSUSE Conference 2013'",
+                          input_html: { required: 'required' }
+        = f.input :short_title, hint: "A short and unique handle for your conference, using only lower-case letters, numbers and underscores. This will be used to identify your conference in URLs etc. Example: 'froscon2011'",
+                                input_html: { required: 'required' }
+        = f.input :social_tag, hint: "The hashtag you'll use on Twitter and Google+.  Don't include the '#' sign!'",
+                               input_html: { required: 'required' }
+        = f.input :contact_email, hint: 'Contact email address for your conference. Will be used as reply-to address in emails sent out by the system.'
+      = f.inputs 'Scheduling' do
+        = f.input :timezone, as: :time_zone, hint: 'Please select in what time zone your conference will take place.'
+        = f.input :start_date, as: :string, input_html: { id: 'conference-start-datepicker', readonly: 'readonly', required: 'required' }
+        = f.input :end_date, as: :string, input_html: { id: 'conference-end-datepicker', readonly: 'readonly', required: 'required'  }
       = f.actions do
-        = f.action :submit, :button_html => {:class => "btn btn-success pull-right"}
+        = f.action :submit, button_html: {class: 'btn btn-success pull-right'}
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml b/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml
index c844c4a3..e9e9e0af 100644
--- a/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!!!
+%html{:xmlns => "http://www.w3.org/1999/html"}
 %html
   %head
     %meta{:charset => "utf-8"}
diff --git a/app/views/proposal/show.html.haml b/app/views/proposal/show.html.haml
index 02173839..9f974ede 100644
--- a/app/views/proposal/show.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/proposal/show.html.haml
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
         %br
         %small
           = @event.subtitle
+      = link_to "Schedule", conference_schedule_path(@conference.short_title), :class =>"btn btn-success pull-right"
+      - if has_role?(current_user, "admin")
+        = link_to "Edit", edit_admin_conference_event_path(@conference.short_title, @event), :class => "btn btn-mini btn-primary pull-right"
 .row
   .col-md-3
     %p
@@ -13,6 +16,12 @@
     %dl
       %dt Date:
       %dd= @event.start_time.strftime("%Y %B %e %H:%M") if @event.start_time
+      %dt Duration:
+      %dd= show_time(@event.event_type.length)
+      %dt Room:
+      %dd
+        - if @event.room_id
+          = @event.room.name
       %dt Conference:
       %dd= @event.conference.title
       %dt Language:
@@ -22,6 +31,13 @@
         - if @event.track_id
           %span.label{:style =>"background-color: #{@event.track.color};"}
             = @event.track.name
+      %dt Difficulty:
+      %dd
+        - if @event.difficulty_level_id
+          %span.label{:style =>"background-color: #{@event.difficulty_level.color};"}
+            = @event.difficulty_level.title
+    - if @event.require_registration
+      = link_to "Registration required!", register_conference_path(@conference.short_title), :class => "btn btn-xs btn-warning"
   .col-md-9
     .row
       .col-md-12
@@ -42,6 +58,9 @@
           %h3
             by
             = @speaker.public_name
+            (
+            = @speaker.email
+            )
             - if @speaker.company?
               %br
               %span.muted
diff --git a/config/initializers/formtastic.rb b/config/initializers/formtastic.rb
index 69eaae95..b676d4a0 100644
--- a/config/initializers/formtastic.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/formtastic.rb
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ Formtastic::FormBuilder.required_string = "(required)"
 # You can opt-in to new HTML5 browser validations (for things like email and url inputs) by setting
 # this to false. Doing so will add a `novalidate` attribute to the `<form>` tag.
 # See http://diveintohtml5.org/forms.html#validation for more info.
-# Formtastic::FormBuilder.perform_browser_validations = true
+Formtastic::FormBuilder.perform_browser_validations = true
 #
 Formtastic::Helpers::FormHelper.builder = FormtasticBootstrap::FormBuilder
 FormtasticBootstrap::FormBuilder.default_inline_hint_class = FormtasticBootstrap::FormBuilder.default_block_hint_class
diff --git a/spec/models/conference_spec.rb b/spec/models/conference_spec.rb
index 5722b4a9..e1d2093f 100644
--- a/spec/models/conference_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/conference_spec.rb
@@ -1,72 +1,121 @@
+#!/bin/env ruby
+# encoding: utf-8
 require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe Conference do
 
   let(:subject) { create(:conference) }
 
-  describe "#registration_open?" do
+  describe '#registration_open?' do
 
-    context "closed registration" do
+    context 'closed registration' do
 
-      it "#registration_open? is false" do
+      it '#registration_open? is false' do
         expect(subject.registration_open?).to be false
       end
-
     end
 
-    context "open registration" do
+    context 'open registration' do
 
       before do
         subject.registration_start_date = Date.today - 1
         subject.registration_end_date = Date.today + 7
       end
 
-      it "#registration_open? is true" do
+      it '#registration_open? is true' do
         expect(subject.registration_open?).to be true
       end
-
     end
-
   end
 
-  describe "#cfp_open?" do
+  describe '#cfp_open?' do
 
-    context "closed cfp" do
+    context 'closed cfp' do
 
-      it "#cfp_open? is false" do
+      it '#cfp_open? is false' do
         expect(subject.cfp_open?).to be false
       end
 
     end
 
-    context "open cfp" do
+    context 'open cfp' do
 
       before do
         subject.call_for_papers = create(:call_for_papers)
       end
 
-      it "#registration_open? is true" do
+      it '#registration_open? is true' do
         expect(subject.cfp_open?).to be true
       end
-
     end
-
   end
 
-  describe "#user_registered?" do
+  describe '#user_registered?' do
 
     let(:user) { create(:user) }
 
-    context "user not registered" do
-      it "#user_registered? is false" do
+    context 'user not registered' do
+      it '#user_registered? is false' do
         expect(subject.user_registered? user).to be false
       end
     end
 
-    context "user registered" do
+    context 'user registered' do
       pending "isn't tested yet"
     end
-
   end
- 
+
+  describe 'validations' do
+
+    it 'has a valid factory' do
+      expect(build(:conference)).to be_valid
+    end
+
+    it 'is not valid without a title' do
+      should validate_presence_of(:title)
+    end
+
+    it 'is not valid without a short title' do
+      should validate_presence_of(:short_title)
+    end
+
+    it 'is not valid without a social tag' do
+      should validate_presence_of(:social_tag)
+    end
+
+    it 'is not valid without a start date' do
+      should validate_presence_of(:start_date)
+    end
+
+    it 'is not valid without an end date' do
+      should validate_presence_of(:end_date)
+    end
+
+    it 'is not valid with a duplicate short title' do
+      should validate_uniqueness_of(:short_title)
+    end
+
+    it 'is valid with a short title that contains a-zA-Z0-9_-' do
+      should allow_value('abc_xyz-ABC-XYZ-012_89').for(:short_title)
+    end
+
+    it 'is not valid with a short title that contains special characters' do
+      should_not allow_value('&%§!?äÄüÜ/()').for(:short_title)
+    end
+
+    describe 'before create callbacks' do
+
+      it 'has an email setting after creation' do
+        expect(subject.email_settings).not_to be_nil
+      end
+
+      it 'has a venue after creation' do
+        expect(subject.venue).not_to be_nil
+      end
+
+      it 'has a guid after creation' do
+        expect(subject.guid).not_to be_nil
+      end
+    end
+  end
 end