I regularly conduct different training sessions, mostly about digital literacy, digital safety, technology, and online responsibility. Some sessions are around 4 hours, while others are full-day trainings.
These trainings are not organized as Local Guides meetups. They are usually part of another program, school, organization, or community activity, and the participants are already registered for that training.
But because I often have a group of participants together, I see it as a good opportunity to introduce them to Local Guides and show that Google Maps is not only for navigation — people can also help improve information for their community.
So I would like to ask experienced Local Guides and Connect moderators:
Would this kind of activity be appropriate to share as a Local Guides meetup, or should I simply share it as a Connect post/recap?
For example, if I have a 4-hour digital literacy training and include a 20-minute Local Guides and Google Maps session, can that part be considered a small Local Guides community activity?
I do this in many trainings, so I would like to understand the best and proper way to connect these activities with the Local Guides community without calling something a meetup if it does not fit the meetup guidelines.
I would appreciate your suggestions and experience.
Hai, @SophatCHY mohon izinkan saya untuk mengucapkan selamat dan semangat terus yaaa
Postingan ini sangat menginspirasi saya . Keren banget . Salam hormat saya untuk anda
Thank you so much, @TitikMariati, for your kind words and encouragement. I truly appreciate your support, it motivates me to keep sharing and helping more people learn about Google Maps and the Local Guides community.
menurut saya sah-sah saja asal mengikuti aturan yang berlaku, sesuai dengan ketentuan penyelenggaraan meetup ini How to organize a successful meet-up
yang terpenting menurut saya di penutup atau rekap terlihat kontribusi yang nyata dalam google maps.
mungkin yang jadi permasalahan , siapa yang mau menjadi host meetup tersebut?
dan ketika sudah di publikasikan apakah meetup tersebut di hadiri oleh para lokal guides?
karena biasanya para lokal guide banyak memiliki ide dan inisiatif untuk penyelenggaraan meetup namun mereka masih merasa malu untuk membuat meetup tersebut.
mungkin faktor persetujuan regional masing-masing setiap daerah yang berbeda.
jika pandangan saya semua lokal guides bisa menjadi host, asalkan mereka mampu untuk itu. apakah waktu Connect Live Singapura kemaren tidak ada pembahasan mengenai ini?
saya juga ingin mendapat jawaban langsung dari moderator atau googler Google tentang hal ini.
Hi @SophatCHY,
First of all, thank you so much for sharing this! It’s really inspiring to see how you are bringing digital literacy and responsible Google Maps contributions to your community.
I wanted to share my personal understanding of how this aligns with the Local Guides Community & Meet-up Guidelines, though our Connect Moderators or Googlers can certainly jump in if they have more detailed insight:
Regarding Official Meet-ups:
From my understanding, official meet-ups registered on Connect are meant to be focused primarily on Maps/Local Guides activities and open for any Local Guide in the community to RSVP and join. Since your 20-minute segment is part of a pre-registered external training, it might not fit the official meet-up format.
Sharing as a Connect Post/Story:
Sharing your experience as a recap or story post (under Local Stories or Google Maps tips & tricks) would be a wonderful way to go! It’s a great example of community outreach that could inspire many other guides.
Just a couple of gentle for community guidelines reminders for your sessions:
Volunteer Identity: It’s always good practice to mention that we are sharing as independent volunteer community members, rather than official Google representatives or certified trainers.
Branding: To stay aligned with guidelines, avoid using official Google or Local Guides logos in session slides or materials.
Thank you so much, @doni_hariadi and @doc_dells, for your valuable advice and for taking the time to explain this clearly. I truly appreciate your support and guidance.
I now better understand that my digital-literacy sessions should be shared as a Connect recap or story, rather than as an official Local Guides meet-up, because the Google Maps segment is only one part of a larger pre-registered training.
Thank you as well for the important reminders about being an independent volunteer and avoiding official Google or Local Guides logos in my materials. I will follow these guidelines carefully in my future sessions.
Your encouragement motivates me to continue promoting responsible Google Maps contributions in my community.
You can combine multiple meetups in a day at the same place or at multiple locations, as long as one of those is dedicated to LG Connect and Google Maps; it should count as a meetup, even if the attendees are the same
This is a great community building and proliferation of LG Connect and Google Maps to new users in our city/region.
Make sure to register the meetup, and write a recap - I know you do it perfectly.
Thank you, @TusharSuradkar, for clarifying this. My session is not a regular Local Guides meet-up—it is a 20-minute Google Maps sharing session within a larger pre-registered digital-literacy training.
I will mainly introduce responsible Google Maps contributions, so there will not be enough time to guide participants in real time. However, I will register it as a meet-up and share a recap afterward. Thank you again for your encouragement and guidance!
Hi @SophatCHY, adding to the thoughts shared above!
If you’d like to host and register a meet-up on Connect, please make sure the event is open to everyone (public). When you register a meet-up on Connect, it means any Local Guide is welcome to attend. If your session is exclusive to a specific group, sharing it as a recap or story post is a better approach—for instance, writing about how you introduced Google Maps to your audience as a Local Guide.
So, a good rule of thumb before submitting a meet-up on Connect is to ask yourself: “Is my meet-up open to the public?” If yes, go ahead and submit it! If it’s private, writing a Connect post about your activity is the way to go.
Terima kasih banyak sudah mention saya, Mas @doni_hariadi Saya coba berbagi pengalaman.
Saya pernah terlibat dalam meetup yang merupakan kolaborasi lintas komunitas, yaitu Malang Regency Local Guides dan Surabaya Raya Local Guides, yang saat itu diselenggarakan di BLSDM KOMDIGI Surabaya. Kebetulan waktu itu saya sedang magang dan memiliki akses ke fasilitas penggunaan gedung secara gratis, sehingga saya membantu mendukung dan menjembatani komunikasi antara teman-teman dari kedua komunitas untuk mewujudkan agenda pertemuan yang sempat direncanakan beberapa bulan yang lalu. Untuk host-nya sendiri, teman saya @AnisaAe yang menjadi host, dan @amughits sebagai pemateri dari Surabaya Raya Local Guides, dan banyak peserta dari local guides yang hadir pada saat itu @JeffryRisandy@Andhyka@FahmiAdimara dan beberapa local guides baru yang tertarik untuk bergabung, justru momen ini bagus untuk memperkenalkan program local guides kepada lintas komunitas agar saling mengenal local guides ini adalah komunitas yang inklusif serta saling terhubung.
Meetup tersebut memiliki tujuan yang cukup spesifik, yaitu penguatan literasi digital bagi UMKM, sekaligus berbagi praktik terbaik dari para Local Guides agar kontribusi di Google Maps tetap sesuai pedoman, berintegritas, dan memberikan manfaat bagi pelaku usaha maupun pengguna Maps.
Dari pengalaman tersebut, menurut saya kolaborasi lintas komunitas sangat memungkinkan selama tujuan, peran, dan pelaksanaannya jelas serta tetap mengikuti ketentuan meetup yang berlaku. Justru menurut saya menarik jika meetup bisa menjadi ruang untuk saling belajar dan mempertemukan komunitas dengan tujuan yang positif.
Terima kasih sudah membuka diskusi ini, Mas. Saya juga penasaran dengan pengalaman teman-teman lainnya.
@NunungAfuah, thank you so much for the clear explanation and helpful rule of thumb. Since my digital-literacy training is pre-registered and limited to a specific group, I understand that it should not be registered as a public Local Guides meet-up.
I will share it afterward as a Connect recap or story, focusing on how I introduced responsible Google Maps contributions to the participants. Thank you also for sharing your newcomer meet-up recap—it is a very useful reference!
@ISAIKBALULSURUR, thank you for sharing your valuable experience of collaborating with Malang Regency Local Guides and Surabaya Raya Local Guides. Your example shows how a cross-community activity can create a meaningful space for digital literacy, responsible Google Maps contributions, and introducing the Local Guides program to new people.
I agree that clear goals, roles, and compliance with the meet-up guidelines are essential. Your experience gives me great inspiration for future public collaborations in Cambodia. Thank you,
I’m certainly no meet-up expert @SophatCHY, but I don’t see this as fitting the description. You’re doing your job as a trainer, and you mention Google Maps and Local Guides as a small part of the curriculum you’re delivering. What would be the motivation for writing about it?
When I’ve attended meetups, it has always been from clicking on a link publicly advertised on Connect, and accepting an invitation to an event deliberately organised by a Local Guide around a certain topic. In your case, you have a group sitting in a class and you include Maps activity in the conversation.
