Today we’d like to celebrate Bangladesh Local Guides who recently hosted their 50th meet-up at Fantasy Kingdomamusement park in Dhaka. @MahabubMunna has led this unofficial community since it was founded in 2015, so we asked him to share more about the community and its meet-ups over the past three years.
How did you get involved with Local Guides?
I was involved with the Google Map Maker community and learned about Google Local Guides from a Googler. She inspired me to get into Local Guides and contribute more to the Maps community.
How did you grow the Bangladesh community?
We started involving university students and also took help from the Google Developer Group Dhaka and the Google Women Techmakers community. We started hosting small Local Guides sessions in tech community events all over Bangladesh. Community members were very interested in Local Guides and the community grew really fast. I am very overwhelmed with the support I get from community members here.
Why do you enjoy organizing meet-ups?
I love to travel and to meet new people. Events help me to meet new people every time. It also helps me to learn from other members and increase my horizons. As we get more contributors involved, it helps my country also by getting our places reviewed and putting them on the global map. Another angle is that we can also contribute to the society in different ways with community events. For example, for Local Guides Volunteer Day we helped 20 doctors provide medical treatments to 638 villagers for free.
How do you make a meet-up successful?
I believe community events can be only successful if everyone feels ownership and support to make the events happen. I try to engage everyone by dividing the tasks. My community members are always encouraged to suggest venues, themes and agenda of the events. We constantly try to reach rural areas and diverse audiences. For example, we have collaborated with the Women Techmakers community and organized events in remote parts of the country like Dinajpur, Rangpur, Sylhet and Chittagong.
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What are tips you can share for other meet-up organizers?
My suggestion for other communities is to be as open as possible. Bringing youth, and members from diverse communities can make the whole journey more energetic and vibrant. Everyone will love to be a part of events that are fun and engaging.
Here are highlights from some of Mahabub’s favorite meet-ups:
Inspired to host your own meet-up? Check out this post to learn how you can organize your own, and don’t forget to search through the Let’s Meet-Up board to find other Local Guides in your city who’d like to meet-up. You can find additional meet-up resources on our Help Center and submit your meet-up for promotion.
