FlutterCon is a groundbreaking event that celebrates the power and versatility of Flutter and Dart, hosted by Google. FlutterCon brings together passionate developers, tech enthusiasts, and industry leaders from around the globe to explore the cutting-edge advancements in cross-platform development.
This year, Droidcon, an established event with a history of over 10 years, joined forces for the first time with FlutterCon to create an extraordinary joint gathering in the vibrant city of Berlin. This exciting event managed to draw an impressive crowd of 2500 enthusiastic attendees and spanned 3 action-packed days, taking place from the 5th to the 7th of July.
Our experience at Berlin
The day prior to the event, Mauricio Pastorini (CEO) and I had the opportunity to participate in a wonderful walking tour arranged by Salih Guler. During the tour, we explored all the major attractions of Berlin, taking in the city's rich history and vibrant culture.
Following the tour, we had the pleasure of visiting the Wolt offices for the speaker party. It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with fellow community members and share in the excitement of the upcoming 3-day event. We had a great time, and I believe it also provided a moment of relaxation before the busy days ahead.
About the event
Each day at FlutterCon opens with a captivating keynote, setting the tone for an inspiring and knowledge-packed event. On day one, we had the privilege of witnessing Todd Volkert, Director of Engineering at Flutter and Dart, take the stage to the first Keynote. His presentation shed light on the innovative technical investments made by Google, aimed at empowering developers worldwide to create robust and high-quality user experiences across multiple platforms.
The audience was enthralled by the insights and vision shared by Todd, igniting a sense of excitement and curiosity for the rest of the event. The air was abuzz with networking opportunities and learning prospects, making FlutterCon a truly remarkable experience for all attendees.
“Powering your Flutter apps with gRPC”: My talk
My talk showcased the process of building a full-stack app using Dart, leveraging the power of Flutter and gRPC. Utilizing the same language for both the frontend and backend offers numerous benefits, including code reusability, seamless tooling, and eliminating the need to switch between different codebases syntaxes. The focus was on integrating gRPC into the backend to unlock exciting features, particularly real-time capabilities, made possible by the bidirectional streaming in gRPC facilitated by the HTTP/2 protocol.
Furthermore, the talk highlighted how employing Protobuf enhances performance, enabling efficient communication between the frontend and backend components. This optimization contributes to a smoother and more responsive user experience.
To bring the entire tech stack together, I introduced Google Cloud Run as the ideal deployment solution for the backend. By leveraging Cloud Run, developers can abstract away infrastructure management and concentrate solely on their application logic. The platform offers autoscaling and downsizing based on the incoming traffic, ensuring optimal resource utilization. Additionally, the pay-as-you-go model allows for cost-effective operations, as you only pay for the actual container runtime, meaning zero charges when there are no incoming requests to the service.
By the end of the presentation, the audience was equipped with the knowledge to build an end-to-end tech stack, combining the powerful trio of Flutter, gRPC, and Cloud Run. This comprehensive approach streamlines the development process, promotes scalability, and unlocks the full potential of building high-performance apps with ease.
Being a speaker at this year's FlutterCon and presenting on this topic filled me with immense pride. The audience was filled with colleagues and enthusiastic Flutterists who actively engaged with my talk, posing numerous intriguing questions. It was truly a gratifying experience to share knowledge and insights with such an attentive and curious audience. Their enthusiasm and interest reaffirmed the significance of Flutter and its thriving community, making FlutterCon a memorable and rewarding event for me as a speaker.
If you'd like to deepen into this topic, you can always read my blog or watch the Observable Flutter episode about Flutter & gRPC.
Interesting Keynotes, Talks & Workshops
With an abundance of talks taking place simultaneously across four stages, it was practically impossible to attend every single one. Nevertheless, we had the pleasure of catching a few captivating presentations that I’d like to mention.
The keynote lectures were a highlight of each day's schedule. Todd Volkert's keynote, titled “FlutterCon: The Keynote” set the tone for the entire event and is a must-watch for anyone looking to grasp the essence of FlutterCon.
Additionally, Eric Seidel's talk on “Leaving the Nest: The Next 10 Years of Flutter” provided valuable insights into the future trajectory of Flutter, making it another recommended session.
Lastly, David DeRemer's presentation, “The Culture of Flutter: Transforming Orgs from Within” offered an insightful perspective on the impact of Flutter within organizations and is well worth checking out.
While we couldn't attend all the talks, these were some of the standouts that left a lasting impression on us. We encourage others to explore these thought-provoking sessions to gain a deeper understanding of Flutter's potential and its impact on the development community.
More recommendations
During the exciting days of FlutterCon, a lot of talks captivated the audience. For me, these are some highly recommended:
- “Writing a Flutter and Dart FFI plugin” by Lubo Blagoev
- “Flutter Wasm & Cloud Deployment” by Teresa Wu
- “Flutter tips and tricks” by Simon Lightfoot
- “Building a multiplayer game with Flutter and Serverpod” by Viktor Lidholt
These talks are just a glimpse of the wealth of knowledge shared at FlutterCon. So I encourage everyone to explore these and other sessions to expand their expertise and gain valuable insights from esteemed experts in the Flutter community.
The Workshops
One of the coolest aspects of the conference was its inclusion of not just talks, but also hands-on workshops. These interactive sessions provided us with the opportunity to gain practical experience alongside the speakers' presentations. A standout workshop was delivered by Renuka Kelkar and Tomas Piaggio, titled “Building Scalable and Secure Apps with Flutter and Firebase: Best Practices and Pricing Strategies.”
In this workshop they explored the seamless integration of Flutter and Firebase, emphasizing how these two technologies complement each other exceptionally well. While their compatibility is widely recognized, the workshop focused on addressing a common challenge – scaling apps without compromising on Firebase pricing.
Overall, the workshop provided valuable insights and practical solutions, empowering attendees to build scalable and cost-effective apps using Flutter and Firebase. It was a hands-on learning experience that shows the valuable input of this type of talks.
Summing up
FlutterCon ended leaving us with many insightful talks that will undoubtedly be uploaded in the coming days. The event covered a wide range of fascinating topics, shedding light on Flutter's diverse applications, its evolving nature, and its immense value in fostering a strong and vibrant community.
Looking forward, we are eager to participate in the next edition of FlutterCon. The experience of being a speaker in the 2023 edition filled me with an overwhelming sense of pride. It was an honor to have the opportunity to share my insights and ideas with a receptive audience, and I am grateful for the chance to contribute to such a remarkable event. As Flutter continues to thrive and evolve, I am excited about the future possibilities and the chance to be part of this incredible community once again.
