This year Uptech Studio made its first appearance at FlutterCon | USA with both a speaker (myself) and an attendee (my co-worker and Florida local Anthony Castelli). Uptech Studio has been working with Flutter since 2020, building and shipping many successful products with the technology, and we were excited to bring that expertise to the conference. Not only to just attend but to showcase our skillset with one of our own presenting on a rather technical and interesting topic.
But what is FlutterCon? FlutterCon is an event that elevates the voices of developers within the Flutter and Dart communities. FlutterCon joins passionate developers, tech enthusiasts, and industry leaders from around the globe under one roof to explore the powerful advancements of Flutter and Dart.
It was an exciting experience over 3 days. I have always enjoyed speaking and sharing knowledge with others, it reinforces the understanding of the topic. Being at FlutterCon was exhilarating, energy was in the air the entire time and many people were intrigued by my talk, some even saying “it was the most interesting talk of the entire conference” — an incredibly humbling comment to receive. More on that below, but first let’s re-cap our time at the conference.
This year, FlutterCon was hosted in Orlando, Florida at the massive Orlando Convention Center alongside DroidCon. The plan is to eventually host multiple cons side by side, including but not limited to FlutterCon, DroidCon, SwiftCon, ReactCon, etc. The goal: allow developers of all platforms to mingle under one roof and learn from each other. The Uptech Studio liaisons were myself and my coworker Anthony. Anthony’s background is from iOS, whereas mine is from Android, but we both now heavily work within the Flutter space.
We thought it was interesting and fun to mingle with “pure Android Developers,” highlighting that we are still developing for the same platform. There were some jokes and jabs but it was all in good fun. This mingling was accentuated inside the Vendor Hall, where we got to chat with various vendors and sponsors like Bitrise, RevenueCat, VeryGoodVentures, ServerPod, ShoreBird, Sentry, and so many more. The resounding statement was that all the vendors and sponsors were there to support and empower those seeking to build better products.
This was my first time presenting in person at a conference. I was equally excited and nervous. The weeks leading up to FlutterCon, all I could think about was my talk, constantly reviewing it in my head, tweaking slides, words, notes. When I met other attendees on the first day (also my talk day), they calmed my nerves by saying things like “FlutterCon has some of the nicest people to present to, people here are supportive and curious, not judgey.”
All the preparation leading up to the conference paid off, because when I was getting set up, I had an issue where I couldn't get my presenter notes to show. So you know I just did it live, no notes, only the slides and my knowledge.
I rose to the occasion and confidently presented my talk, which was about integrating a C++ library into Flutter using Dart Hooks and FFI. It sounds like a scary thing to achieve, and was a bit like trying to solve a puzzle where the box was missing the picture on the front. The elegant nature of these systems and a little curiosity lets any developer solve the challenge. These tools promise to make native integration easier, and they do, but only once you get past everything the official guides don't tell you.
My talk walked through that exact journey: taking a pre-compiled C++ library and wiring it into a Flutter app for both Android and iOS. Along the way, I focused on three big pieces that aren't explicitly covered in the existing documentation.
First, most Dart Hooks and FFI examples assume you're starting with raw source code. In the real world, you're often handed a pre-built library instead, which changes everything.
Second, there's a hidden connection between two configuration pieces that has to line up exactly right. Get it wrong, and you don't even get a helpful error message, just silent failures.
Third, a library often depends on other supporting files behind the scenes, and all of them need to be bundled together or the app won't run. I showed some tools, like nm and readelf, that help track down those hidden dependencies.
The goal of the talk was to avoid giving a checklist. I wanted attendees to walk away with a mental model of how Dart Hooks and FFI actually fit together, so they'd at least know where to start.
When giving a talk like this that blends technical concepts with a new solution, it's always tough to know if the audience is receiving it. I knew the material well, but were others picking it up? In the front row, a couple of people were giving approving looks and nods. Turns out they worked for Canonical (the makers of Ubuntu), and they praised my ability to deliver a clear talk on such a technical topic. The sense of pride and achievement was grand, to say the least.
Beyond my own talk, the rest of the lineup was just as strong. There were so many awesome talks, each presenter expressed their passion and expertise in their topic. I can confidently say there wasn’t one boring talk, each had something unique to share. While you can review the full list here, some of our favorites were.
FlutterCon ended leaving us hyped up! There were so many interesting and powerful talks that will definitely be referenced for years to come. The event highlighted Flutter's expanding reach, not only as a cross-platform framework but as a vibrant community of passionate people.
Looking forward, we are hopeful to participate in the next FlutterCon as speakers, attendees, and perhaps a sponsor. The experience of being a speaker at the 2026 edition filled me with an overwhelming sense of pride and honor. I was grateful for the chance to contribute to such a grand event. As Flutter continues to evolve, I am excited about the future.
