Seven MORE Sessions I Don't Want to Miss at Google I/O

Frank van Puffelen

Engineer

Google I/O is rapidly sneaking up on us. I hope those of you attending have your bags packed by now, and those joining on the live stream have started marking the sessions you want to see. It's quite a lineup.

Personally, I'm looking forward to all the new great Firebase content that we're going to be sharing. I know Todd shared the five I/O sessions he was most looking forward to, but here's a list of some of the sessions that you'll find me at:


What's new in Firebase
I have been calling this our "Firebase keynote" internally. I've been following the rehearsals closely and it's shaping up to be a great overview of everything new that we're announcing for Firebase. It'll also be your essential starting point for all things Firebase at I/O; go to this talk and you'll have a good idea of what other sessions you might want to attend.

The future of Fabric: gaining momentum at Google
What is is like for a startup that joins Google? How do you maintain what made your startup unique, but also make optimal use of the resources available at Google? Will Google keep investing in Fabric and Firebase? And what on earth is Bring Your Pineapple To Work Day? Come to this talk and find out from the folks that started Fabric and Firebase, and the Googler who convinced them to join.

Rewarding for engagement
Building a great app is one thing. But convincing your users to keep using your app is another. Gus and Damien have great experience in this area, and together with some developers using Firebase in their app, they'll show you one approach that was very successful. Then they'll show you how to implement that very same approach yourself using Firebase.

Using Firebase to accelerate app growth
There are many ways to use Firebase to get more users on your app. Firebase's product managers Jumana and Jon are the perfect teachers for this topic. I'll be going to their great session to get a fresh overview of the Firebase features that help with growing your app's user base.

Using Pirate Metrics to grow your user base
Ahoy matey! Who can resist a session about Firebase that's centered around Pirates? I certainly can't. I expect buccaneers, swashbucklers and pirate ships! Or, at the very least, an analytics-focused discussion on how to best acquire and retain users through best practices. It might be less pirate-y, but it's easier to put into a business plan. AARRR….!

Single Codebase, Two Apps with Flutter and Firebase
Sure, maybe you've seen live-coding demos where we've built Android and iOS apps on top of Firebase before. But have you ever seen us do it with one codebase? Using Flutter makes it easy -- and maybe even fun -- to build cross-platform apps, and Emily and Emily will show you how in this session. I'm a sucker for live-coding talks and this is one that won't disappoint.

Great app performance with Firebase
Having a smoothly running, well performing app is critical to ensuring your app's success. With Firebase, this is easy to do, not only during development, but also in production. I've seen Nalin and Ali running around the hallways of the Googleplex all excited about the great things that they'll be sharing in this session. So not only will it be an exciting session, but it's done wonders for their metabolism!

And of course there's one more talk that I won't want to miss: Zero to App. Because missing your own I/O talk would be un-Googley. :-)

These are seven (well, okay, eight) Firebase sessions that I will definitely be attending. If you're not at I/O or just missed them, you can find them on the Firebase YouTube channel at the end of each day!

See you at I/O!

Read More

Five Firebase I/O Sessions I'm Excited About

Todd Kerpelman

Developer Advocate

Over the last few weeks, I've had many of you approach me with questions like, "Hey Todd! I'm super excited to be going to I/O this year! What sessions should I go to?" And my answer has always been the same: "Who are you, and how did you get into my apartment?"

But yeah, I can understand that picking sessions at I/O can feel overwhelming. Between the VR awesomeness and the new Android O stuff, Google I/O has a lot to offer. And while the Firebase VR Data Viewer is still a work-in-progress, there's still plenty of great Firebase content for you to check out this year.

Of course, asking me to pick my favorites among all the sessions is like asking me to pick my favorite child -- I love all of them equally¹. But with that said, here's a few Firebase sessions that I'm certainly looking forward to next month:

Supercharging Firebase Apps with Machine Learning and Cloud Functions -- This combines two of the most intriguing (for me, anyway) technologies happening in cloud-land. First, you've got Cloud Functions for Firebase, which essentially allows you to run server-side code based on events happening within your app, and then there's Machine Learning, which is still basically, "We're living in the future" kind of wizardry as far as I'm concerned. Combine them together, and you can pull off some really cool features to enhance your mobile app. Or, in this case, a giant crowdsourced game.

Firebase Analytics: Overview and Updates -- Apparently, launching StreamView wasn't enough for the Analytics team. They've got a whole bunch of other new features popping up, including what might be the most commonly-requested feature since they launched last year. (No, it's not changing all the fonts to Papyrus. That's just my most-requested feature.) What is it? You'll just have to swing by the session to find out.

Zero to App: Develop with Firebase -- This is one of our most popular sessions from last year, and it's been brought back for 2017! We're gonna bring up four Firebase engineers for a realtime cross-platform app development deathmatch! But… uhhh... without the "death" part. HR wouldn't allow it. I've been told this year, there will be some Cloud Functions involved and possibly some other new twists and turns to keep things interesting. Will they end up with a real app by the end of the session? Or will Mike be unable to compile his code because he forgot a semicolon? Only time will tell!

AdMob and Firebase Analytics: Better Together -- Remember those Reese's commercials from the 80's, when people apparently walked around with open jars of peanut butter all the time? Well, this talk is a little like that, but instead of resulting in a delicious candy, you end up with some solid ad-driven analytics-backed monetization strategies for your app. Which you can then use to go and buy your own peanut-butter cups.

Shipping Santa Tracker: Carefully Rolling Out a Feature to a Million Users -- What happens when you've essentially got one day to launch an app to millions of people around the world with a whole slew of features that you've never really tested before in front of a large audience? You would think "mass chaos and hysteria", but in Santa Tracker land, things were as smooth a baby elf's bottom. Come by and listen to Sam and Dan tell you how they were able to pull it off. I know it's an early session, but they promised me there'd be costumes. So that might be worth rolling out of bed for.

So there ya go! Five Firebase sessions you should definitely keep an eye on. Not able to make it to I/O in person? Don't worry! All of our presentations will be available either in the livestream that day, or in the Firebase YouTube channel a few days later.

---

1. Well, except you, Janice. Are you really going to use emacs over vim? You're breaking your mother's heart. 

Read More