The Flutter Firebase Festival was a blast where we at Invertase tried to connect two communities together with outstanding success.
It took place over two insightful days in the captivating city of Prague, Czech Republic, from September 26-27, 2023.
The conference brought together a dynamic and diverse community of developers, Flutter enthusiasts, and Firebase experts, allowing them to explore the most recent advancements in these two technologies and gain profound insights into their applications and potential.
If you want to watch our events photos, just check the Flutter Firebase Festival Photo Gallery and if you’d like to see the videos once they are published join Invertase’s Youtube channel, video talks will be also added to this post once ready.
Day 1 Highlights
Registration & Check-in
The conference commenced with a seamless registration process, allowing attendees to check in, collect their personalized badges, and indulge in a delightful breakfast, setting the stage for a day filled with learning and networking.
Flutter & Firebase Keynote
The event kick-started with an inspiring keynote by two industry giants, Francis Ma and Michael Thomsen. Their presentation showcased the remarkable growth of the Flutter and Firebase communities and provided a sneak peek into what the future holds. They teased exciting developments, such as forthcoming Windows and multi-device support for Flutter and Firebase, sparking considerable excitement among the audience.
In-Depth Sessions
The day was packed with various in-depth sessions that catered to a diverse range of interests. Attendees had the privilege to participate in hands-on workshops, including sessions such as on-device machine learning, game development with Flutter and Firebase, creating language learning apps using FlutterFlow, and even optimizing strategies for ad monetization.
Lunch and Group Photo
After absorbing a wealth of knowledge, participants took a well-deserved break for lunch. This break refuelled them and allowed them to network and foster new connections. Following lunch, everyone came together for a memorable group photo, solidifying the sense of community.
Google AMA
The day concluded with an engaging “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session hosted by Frank van Puffelen and Seba Gnagnarella from Google. Attendees seized the chance to have their burning questions addressed by these experts, gaining valuable insights into Dart, Flutter, Firebase, and other cutting-edge topics.
Closing & Festival
The first day ended with a closing session, setting the tone for the future. It was followed by a vibrant festival on floor 1 of the Prague Congress Centre. It allowed attendees to unwind, enjoy refreshing drinks, play games, and savour light refreshments, strengthening the connections formed during the conference.
Day 2 Highlights
Breakfast & Opening
The second day began with a hearty breakfast, revitalizing attendees for another day of learning and networking.
In-Depth Sessions
Day 2 continued to provide a diverse range of sessions, ensuring there was something for everyone. Topics included pushing the boundaries of Flutter for mobile, desktop, and web, best practices and pricing strategies for building scalable and secure apps with Flutter and Firebase, and enabling non-developers to create tests, among others.
Lunch
A well-deserved lunch break allowed participants to refuel, re-energize, and reflect on the wealth of knowledge they had acquired over the two days.
Closing
The conference came to a thoughtful close as attendees bid farewell and shared their experiences, knowledge, and enthusiasm for future events.
Speakers
The conference featured an impressive lineup of influential speakers, each an expert in their respective fields.
Paul Ruiz: On-device machine learning for your apps
Paul delved into the TensorFlow Lite plugin for Flutter, a powerful on-device machine learning tool that empowered him to integrate machine learning features directly into his applications. Additionally, he explored Google’s latest initiatives to simplify the process of incorporating machine learning functionalities, ensuring that adding machine learning to apps was more accessible and seamless than ever before.
Erick Zanardo: Building the Google I/O Flip Card Game with Flutter & Firebase
Erick provided insights into the development process behind I/O Flip, the card game prominently featured at Google’s I/O 2023 event. He delved into the challenges we encountered, the valuable lessons we gained from those challenges, and, most importantly, how we harnessed the alliance of Flutter and Firebase to craft an unparalleled gaming experience. This discussion offered a detailed look at the game’s creation and the collaborative use of these technologies to achieve a unique and engaging gameplay environment.
Cynthia Jiang & Miguel Ramos: Develop Firebase Flutter apps on Windows
The Firebase team unveiled their latest enhancements to boost developer productivity, particularly on Windows, for building mobile and web applications using Flutter integrated with Firebase. The presentation guided attendees through a step-by-step process of introducing Windows support into a Firebase Flutter app seamlessly. Additionally, attendees witnessed the accelerated development iteration, highlighting the efficiency and ease of this integration.
Mateusz Wojtczak & Julia Borkowska: Why mock Firebase when you can just test it with Patrol!
This session delved into end-to-end (E2E) UI testing for Flutter applications, focusing on Firebase features like interacting with push notifications or Google login. Attendees explored how Patrol, a native automation tool, streamlined the testing process. They learned how to efficiently test these essential features and ensure a seamless user experience in their Flutter apps.
Alexander Nohe: Livecoding a Flutter app with just a browser
Attendees discovered how to quickly create a real-time chat application with Flutter. They learned how to leverage Firebase and Flutter to streamline development. In a short timeframe, they gained insights into building a chat app that simplified real-time communication.
Remi Rousselet: Perform type-safe queries using the Firestore ODM
Remi explored how cloud_firestore_odm was effectively employed to enhance type safety within Firestore. While prior familiarity with Firestore and Dart was beneficial, the session equipped attendees with the knowledge needed to make Firestore development more efficient and reliable.
Kevin Moore: Front-end and backend with Flutter and Firebase
Kevin delved into the seamless integration of Dart, Firebase, and Google Cloud, which enabled this harmonious approach. Specifically, he focused on utilizing Cloud Run to facilitate dynamic content hosting through Firebase Hosting. Furthermore, he explored how this setup enabled attendees to effectively respond to authenticated user requests and interact with various Google Cloud services. Additionally, Kevin delved into handling events triggered by Firestore document changes, emphasizing this integrated system’s versatility and comprehensive capabilities.
Roaa Khaddam: Real-time Animated Generative Art with Flutter & Firebase
Roaa embarked on a journey into Flutter’s painting layer, exploring the vast potential of the CustomPainter and Canvas API. Moreover, she integrated Firebase’s real-time features, demonstrating how these enhancements combined to create an engaging and delightful user experience.
Chris Thompson & Cynthia Wang: Testing Flutter apps built on Firebase
This comprehensive talk encompassed widget testing, integration testing, and the seamless integration of GitHub using GitHub actions and branch protection. As a bonus, attendees gained valuable insights into Test Lab and its potential to enhance Android testing endeavours. With Test Lab, they supercharged their Android testing, bolstering their confidence when uploading applications to the Play Store.
Laura Morinigo & Renuka Kelkar: Boost your web app using Firebase Extensions
Firebase Extensions are invaluable tools for developers, greatly expediting app development and enhancing productivity. In this insightful session, Laura and Renuka demonstrated the real-time implementation of a payment subscription feature using Firebase Authentication on our web platform, all facilitated by Firebase Extensions.
Prakhar Srivastav: Build a Generative AI app with Firebase & Flutter
This session offered a comprehensive journey into creating a user-friendly, cross-platform app that leveraged Google PALM APIs and Firebase Extensions. It unveiled the power of LLM prompting techniques and explored their integration into Flutter-based projects. By the end of this session, attendees had acquired the knowledge and skills needed to develop their very own Generative AI app.
Marya Belanger: Dart 3 for Flutter developers
This session was your guide to streamlining your Firebase Flutter code, simplifying intricate processes like JSON validation, creating classes for related data, and object type testing.
Amanda Cavallaro & Manuela Sakura Rommel: Create An Appointment Scheduler with Firebase
Amanda and Manuela witnessed firsthand the construction of an appointment booking system that offered the convenience of appointment confirmation through text messages with the flexibility of easy cancellations. Their toolkit included a strategic combination of Flutter, Node.js, Express, Firebase, and the Vonage Messages API.
Rachel Saunders & Barış Renda: Optimize ads monetization strategy
This session comprehensively explored revenue maximization strategies through precise ad placement, targeting, and optimization methods. It delved into valuable insights and industry best practices, enriching attendees’ approach to monetizing digital platforms. Whether they were newcomers or experienced professionals, this session equipped them with the essential knowledge and tools to efficiently and effectively achieve their monetization objectives.
Roman Jaquez: Pushing Flutter to the Extent – Beyond Mobile, Desktop and Web
In this talk by Roman, a distinguished Flutter GDE and Flutter Software Engineer at Philips, attendees embarked on a journey to explore the myriad possibilities of leveraging Flutter to reach users wherever they might have been at that time and in the evolving future.
Tomas Piaggio: Building Scalable and Secure Apps with Flutter and Firebase
Tomas embarked on a journey through the robust capabilities of Firebase and its seamless integration with Flutter. Participants learned to leverage these tools to construct highly resilient and scalable mobile applications. He intensely focused on security, guiding them through best practices for safeguarding user data and ensuring a stellar user experience. Additionally, he unravelled effective Firebase pricing strategies, helping participants optimize their investments and minimize costs.
Danielle Cox: Testing Without Code: Enabling Non-Developers to Create Tests
Danielle unveiled her innovative approach to simplifying the process of creating compelling test cases. This task can be challenging for many developers, often demanding a different skill set. Danielle’s method streamlined this process, allowing attendees to create test cases in straightforward JSON format without extensive Flutter knowledge. She provided practical demonstrations using the techniques and code currently employed at Ardley for integration testing.
Sasha Denisov: Improving Firebase Backend for Flutter App through Cloud Functions
Sasha delved into practical techniques to enhance serverless backends for Flutter applications by harnessing Firebase Cloud Functions. He unlocked valuable insights into the advantages of serverless architecture and its smooth integration with the Flutter framework.
Filip Hráček: Flutter Mad Science
Filip took attendees on an intriguing journey of exploring progressively unconventional applications of Flutter. Sometimes, delving into impractical, out-of-the-box research and development catalyzed devising efficient solutions in the future. Notably, Flutter itself had its origins in the realm of ambitious experimentation. Filip shared insights into how daring and imaginative experiments can lead to innovation and ultimately create valuable and practical solutions.
Teresa wu: Flutter WebApp with Wasm & Google Cloud Deployment
This presentation provided an overview of the shift from traditional Single Page WebApps (SPAs) built with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to the modern use of WebAssembly to compile other languages for web applications. It included a deep dive into how Dart and garbage collection functioned in Flutter to support WebAssembly, with code examples and performance comparisons. Additionally, it covered deployment on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP), emphasizing Firebase and Cloud Run.
Mangirdas Kazlauskas & Daria Orlova: Make smarter decisions faster with Firebase Remote Config
This talk delved into the practical use of Firebase Remote Config to expedite informed decision-making. The discussion included:
- Setting up Firebase Remote Config.
- Managing remote config parameters.
- Testing and deploying config changes.
- Assessing their impact.
Real-world case studies were shared to illustrate how Firebase Remote Config had enhanced app performance and user experiences. By the end of this session, attendees were well-equipped to leverage Firebase Remote Config for quicker and more data-driven app improvements.
Oleksandr Leushchenko & Anna Leushchenko: Mobile apps distribution with Firebase
This session provided a comprehensive guide to making the most of Firebase Distribution’s web interface. It covered tasks like forming testing groups, setting up distribution rings, and sharing builds within your organization. The focus was on automation, essential for an efficient build distribution process, particularly within continuous integration (CI) workflows. The session demonstrated how to leverage tools like the Firebase CLI and Fastlane for this automation, ensuring that your release strategy was efficient and significantly improved the quality of your mobile product.
Martin Georgiu: C++ in Flutter
Leveraging computer vision in Flutter through C++ integration offered powerful capabilities. This setup enabled real-time image processing and analysis directly within your Flutter application. It allowed seamless communication and data exchange between Dart and C++, helping you harness the performance benefits of C++ while maintaining the flexibility of Flutter’s Dart language.
Darren Ackers & Guillaume Bernos: Firebase AI Extensions in Flutter Applications
Firebase AI Extensions for Flutter Applications offered a remarkable gateway to infuse cutting-edge artificial intelligence functionalities into Flutter projects. These extensions provided a straightforward means to embed AI-driven capabilities such as natural language processing, image recognition, and recommendation systems, supercharging mobile apps’ utility and cognitive abilities.
Fré Dumazy: Creating real-time bus displays in limited time
This presentation highlighted a remarkable achievement in rapidly developing real-time bus displays and stop announcements for shuttle buses, all within an exceptionally tight timeframe. This accomplishment was made possible by efficiently utilizing Flutter and Firebase, demonstrating the powerful synergy between these technologies in addressing real-world challenges.
Sumith Damodaran: Accelerating Time-to-Market and Ensuring Scalability
This presentation included an introduction to NovoWallet and the importance of speed in meeting consumer expectations. It delved into Flutter’s architectural strengths and Firebase’s capabilities, highlighting their unity.
Russell Wheatley: Zapp Architecture
By delving into Zapp’s architecture, attendees developed a comprehensive understanding of how it functioned and how it could revolutionize their development endeavours. Furthermore, they gained an exclusive preview of Zapp’s upcoming features, offering a glimpse into the cutting-edge enhancements that were on the horizon.
Cagatay Ulusoy: Crafting a Negotiation Training App with Flutter and Firebase
Cagatay delved into the origins and evolution of the Sopu App. This innovative platform has been meticulously designed to offer an all-encompassing training experience in negotiation. Attendees gained insights into the inspiration, obstacles, and strategic considerations that had moulded its development. Furthermore, he explored the features that rendered it an indispensable tool for individuals and professionals dedicated to honing their negotiation skills.
Moritz Theis: Let’s get Flutter on your Fridge!
In this presentation, Moritz extended Unleash Flutter’s capabilities beyond the usual platforms to embedded devices. “Why not have your fridge or office coffee machine run Flutter?” he asked. Major companies had already been exploring these possibilities, and it was time for our Flutter, Firebase, and Maker communities to innovate in the Internet of Things.
Jason Berryman: Modelling your Flutter app in Firestore
Jason delved into transforming UI designs into a robust data model for Flutter applications. He explored document and collection structuring, sub-collections, and methods for data denormalization. Moreover, Jason gave participants valuable insights on avoiding common pitfalls while working with a NoSQL database.
Nils Reichardt: Sharezone- A connected school planner for Android, iOS, Web and macOS
Sharezone represented an innovative, collaborative school planner, fostering efficient coordination between students, teachers, and parents in managing day-to-day school activities. This multifaceted app was accessible across various platforms, including Android, iOS, macOS, and the web, accommodating the diverse needs of its users. Its widespread impact was evident, with over 450,000 downloads. Moreover, Sharezone embraced an open-source ethos, epitomizing the harmonious integration of Flutter and Firebase technologies, exemplifying their potential to streamline educational organization and communication.
Kendi J: Fire up your Flutter Apps with Firebase Emulator
In the world of mobile app development, time was a precious resource, especially for Flutter developers aiming to create reliable, feature-rich applications. Yet, testing app interactions with Firebase could be challenging without risking production data or incurring additional costs. The solution was Firebase Emulators. Kendi introduced the power of Firebase Emulators in that session, showing how safe testing was without affecting production data. Attendees learned to integrate them into their Flutter projects seamlessly and discovered best practices for incorporating them into their continuous integration workflow.
Workshops:
The Flutter Firebase Festival workshops offered hands-on sessions for attendees to learn and apply practical skills related to Flutter and Firebase. These workshops covered various topics, including cross-platform app development, optimizing user experiences, and incorporating machine learning. They provided a valuable opportunity to enhance app development skills and gain insights into the latest techniques, making them an excellent resource for developers at all levels.
Pooja Bhaumik & Eilidh Southren: Building a Language Learning Game with FlutterFlow and Firebase
In this workshop, attendees delved into FlutterFlow, an intuitive low-code tool for Flutter, as Pooja and Eilidh created a language-learning game. They emphasized FlutterFlow’s seamless integration with Firebase, focusing on Firestore for database connectivity. Participants explored Firebase’s authentication and storage features, enhancing the app’s functionality. The session provided a sneak peek into the generated Flutter code and demonstrated how to add custom logic and use pub—dev packages. They also covered internationalization to make the app globally accessible. Despite its depth, the workshop aimed to accomplish all this in just two hours, making it an efficient way to bring a language-learning app to life.
Rosário Fernandes: Build your first cross-platform app in Flutter with Firebase without installing any tools
In this hands-on workshop, participants gained practical insights into constructing a chat application using the powerful combination of Flutter and Firebase. The journey began with creating a new Flutter project within an online integrated development environment (IDE).
Renuka Kelkar & Akanksha Singh: Empowering Flutter Apps with Machine Learning Capabilities
Attendees embarked on an insightful journey with Renuka and Akanksha as they delved into ‘Empowering Flutter Apps with Machine Learning Capabilities.’ In this session, attendees unravelled the transformative potential of fusing Flutter with state-of-the-art machine learning technologies. This convergence promised to reshape their approach to app development, offering a gateway to limitless possibilities.
Partners:
The conference’s success was significantly bolstered by its partners, including FlutterFlow, CodeMagic, DevAngels, TalSec, Widgetbook, Leancode, Blue Fire, MousePack, Bindworks, RevenueCat, and Tide.
These collaborations made the event possible and ensured it maintained its high-quality standard.
Introducing Conference App Development with the Flutter Conference Toolkit
The Flutter Conference Toolkit is a versatile app template designed to simplify creating a conference app created by the Invertase team. Whether you’re organizing a global industry summit, a local meetup, or a virtual gathering, this toolkit offers a solid foundation for developing a conference app that caters to the unique needs of your event.
In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, the importance of a well-crafted conference app cannot be overstated. The Flutter Conference Toolkit emerges as an indispensable resource for simplifying and enhancing the process of creating a conference app. With a solid template and a streamlined development workflow, this toolkit empowers you to provide event attendees with a comprehensive, user-friendly app experience.
So, when planning an event, no matter its scale, don’t let the idea of building a conference app deter you. Instead, harness the efficiency of the Flutter Conference Toolkit to streamline the development process and deliver a memorable event experience. Welcome to the world of effortless and effective conference app development.
Getting Started with Ease
Before creating your conference app, you’ll need to follow a few straightforward steps. You can see these setups here. We are happy to hear your feedback and improve the kit.
Our Booth and Activities
“The Legend of the Eternal Flame” game
We’ve had the pleasure of diving into the pixel-rich world of ‘The Legend of the Eternal Flame’, a retro-style game that’s a testament to the classic era of gaming, masterfully created with Flutter.
It’s an experience we’re eager to share with you. Together with the dynamic duo Sparky and Dash, we tackled intricate puzzles and embarked on a quest to collect keys that unlocked the doors to new and thrilling levels. And it gets even better when you bring a friend along for the ride, transforming this solo quest into a team effort full of camaraderie and shared victories.
But that’s not all – hidden within this nostalgic journey is a cherry, a secret treasure that promises a special reward to those who discover it. We found it, and let’s say it’s a game-changer that adds an extra layer of excitement to the gameplay in our conference.
This game was built by Eric and sponsored by BlueFire Flame engine.
“The Scavenger Hunt” game
At the F3 conference, we were treated to a delightful twist: ‘Dash & Sparky’s QRious Finds.’ This scavenger hunt game was created by Mike and was embedded directly into the conference app, transforming the venue into an arena of interactive discovery. Attendees scanned QR codes hidden in various locations; each scan was one step towards winning one of many prizes to be collected from the Invertase booth. The prizes varied from a custom Dash and Sparky pin to a custom-made F3 keyboard or other hardware. It was a brilliant blend of engagement and intrigue, adding an extra layer of excitement to the conference atmosphere. So, with smartphones in hand, we all became explorers, uncovering the digital treasures that lay in wait.
In the Scavenger Hunt, 211 attendees engaged in an interactive adventure, scanning a total of 5,648 QR codes scattered throughout the event space. This collaborative quest led to the discovery of 1,122 prizes, fostering camaraderie and a spirit of cooperation as participants made new friends and assisted one another in locating the numerous concealed rewards.
Recapping the ‘GIANT ROBOT GAME’ Experience
At the recent gaming showcase, we had the chance to dive into ‘GIANT ROBOT GAME,’ a real-time tactical mech roguelite built with Flutter. We played as towering battle robots tasked with the mission to save humanity from the onslaught of other formidable robots. This game was made by Filip and presented by him.
Looking Back at ‘The Gadget Corner’ with Roman Jaquez
We had the pleasure of joining Roman Jaquez at ‘The Gadget Corner,’ a segment that showcased the latest integrations of Flutter and Firebase. From innovative games to cutting-edge IoT devices, home automation solutions, and groundbreaking apps, it was a tech enthusiast’s dream. Roman guided us through each innovation, demonstrating the versatility and power of these platforms in real-world applications.
Reliving the Photobooth Fun at the Event
At the event, we had a blast at the Photobooth, where we snapped photos with friends and instantly shared them on social media. The highlight was having Dash and Sparky join in on the fun, adding a memorable twist to our keepsakes. It was a wonderful way to capture the moment and share our experiences with the world.
Swag
Among the swag, the unique Dash and Sparky pins stood out, quickly turning into desired items earned via the Scavenger Hunt. Tattoo stickers offered a playful and non-permanent option for participants to showcase their event spirit. Moreover, a handful of fortunate Scavenger Hunt victors had the chance to claim tech gadgets. Additionally, attendees had the opportunity to select from an array of stickers featuring specially designed F3 stickers with Dash and Sparky. Each item of swag was a carefully crafted symbol of the event’s dynamic community and its creative flair.
Sum up
The Flutter Firebase Festival 2023 was undoubtedly a resounding success, providing developers, tech enthusiasts, and industry experts with an opportunity to gain profound insights, practical skills, and a stronger sense of community. It served as a platform for attendees to remain at the forefront of technological advancements within the Flutter and Firebase ecosystem. As the event concluded, participants eagerly anticipated future gatherings, eager to continue exploring the limitless potential of these technologies.
Stay tuned for more updates and exciting news that we will share in the future. Follow us on Invertase Twitter, Linkedin, and Youtube, and subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay up-to-date. You may also join our Discord to have an instant conversation with us.