It was really a long journey since I got the email “Thousands applied—and you made the cut.”. I was really excited when I patiently read the email and it seemed “something big and fun” is going to happen.
New City - New Friendship - New Experience
Actually, this was my 3rd time with Local Guides event (I skipped last year) but this time the event moved from San Francisco to San Jose with additional one more half-day. Each summit I joined had different feeling but I would say the Connect Live 2019 was beyond my expectation. It’s truly AMAZING !
Pre-Connect Live
Before joining the Connect Live event. I had a chance to visit so many places that I’d never been before. For example, Golden Gate Bridge from another angle, at Battery Spencer Viewpoint. It was lucky that the weather was not too foggy and cloudy so that I could snap the photo of the giant bridge perfectly. Just to remind you that DON’T forget to bring your jacket since it’s heavily windy there.
Note: I took this photo from my phone and processed in Adobe Lightroom app.
Apart from the Golden Gate Bridge, I visited Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, watched American Football game at UC Berkeley stadium and also took a day trip to tech companies in Silicon Valley (Facebook & Apple) where I would not tell much in details here.
And now… the time has come… Welcome to Connect Live 2019 !
This year, the event was held in San Jose, mainly in San Jose Marriott hotel where was the accommodation for both Googlers and Local Guides. We spent three nights there, slept tight and utilized its facilities, especially “Local Guides Lounge” where had been set up for all Local Guides to relax and enjoy with each other.
Day 1 | 12th November 2019 | Welcome Reception
Welcome reception was the first activity we joined, Traditionally, Local Guides are encouraged to wear their national attires as well as bring souvenirs/gifts and exchange among the Local Guides. It was really optional but I had seen so people willing to bring tons of local things from home.
The highlight of this session was the moment when everyone knew that they got “Pixel 3XL” as an ultimate gift from this event. I remembered that many people screamed “OMG !” “Is it real?”, “Are they joking?” again and again (actually, me too haha).
Team ASEAN are even bigger and stronger, @ChamnanMuon from Cambodia, @StephenAbraham , @OmerAli @AdrianLunsong from Malaysia and also Connect Moderators Iyudhi and NunungAfuah (also Connect Moderators) and other new joiners from Indonesia, UyenHuynh from Vietnam, Nyai from Singapore and other Local Guides who I didn’t mention.
This year, there was a Local Guides Pop-up store temporarily open for Local Guides to select and shop official Local Guides merchandise stuff.
Featured with India & Bangladesh Teams Mahabub, Archit, Vandana and Aiman.
Apart from Luigi, Stephen is another Selfie King for this event.
Also thanks to AlejandraMaría for teaching how to start Spanish dance 
Day 2 | 13th November 2019 | When Community Comes Together
2nd full day will be at Google Event Center (MP7).One good thing that I recognized when we stayed in San Jose is about traffic issue. Staying in San Jose would help avoid some traffic congestion during rush hour - less time consumed for logistics from and to Google Campus.
When we reached the venue, the morning session started with speech from Jen Fitzpatrick, SVP Google Maps, followed by Mara Chomsky @mchomsky , Head of Local Guides Program and then continued to other Googlers who came up with update about Google Maps features and Local Guides program.
Personally, I would like to thank @HiroyukiTakisawa for his dedication from lying on the ground to make this photo really great. Haha.
Note: Please noted that visitors are not able to ride bikes. It’s okay to take pictures near them but not on them. I didn’t know that before and I would like apologize for that.
In the afternoon, all Local Guides were separated into breakout sessions to discuss various topics based on their interests, followed by Googler Office Hours where it was indeed a great opportunity to ask questions and give feedback to Google Maps developers. In the evening we had a quick free time to visit Google Merchandise store to grab some items as souvenirs and back to the venue for evening session. The evening session was introduced by Jaime Lyn, host of “The Review Review” in official Local Guides Youtube channel…After that, we had a free time for dinner and activities (e.g. photo booth, postcard corner, photo wall, etc.)
Day 3 | 14th November 2019 | Moving Forward Together
3rd day of Connect Live started with morning programming, followed by Googler Office Hours (in the same pattern as yesterday). Then Local Guides were assigned to various workshops (e.g. walking tour, photo walk, food tasting, street view, videos, meet local business owners) which were held around the downtown of San Jose.
For me, I chose the topic “Seen and Be Seen in San Jose”. It’s kind of a walking tour around San Pedro Square of San Jose. We passed by so many interesting places, for example, the oldest building since 1797, market square, the Tech Interactive building including other murals and so on. Thanks @DeniGu for your facilitation. 
Our tour guides were really informative and helpful. We learned a lot from him but the best thing I got was a chance to visit so many places in at a time.
After a long long day, evening party made all the Local Guides relax, happy and comfortable to connect to each other than ever before. DJ & musicians did the best job to make the party perfect.
I would like to share my kind of clumsy story at the party. That time I brought my Pixel phone given from Google in my trousers side pocket together with my current phone. I forgot to put it on the table before going to ball pit for photo shooting. When I finished taking photo, I stood up and realized that I lost my Pixel phone somewhere. When I tried to find it - it was gone out of my pocket. That moment I was quite shocked for a while but still optimistic for this case. My friend, Chamnan helped me to find out and finally it was kept by ball pit staff and returned to me later. Thanks for your help buddy.
All photos from evening party taken from Pixel 3XL. Its “Night Sight” mode was awesome - high quality of resolution with low noise.
In my opinion, Google Pixel 3XL is the beast for night photography - no need to process further at all.
Day 4 | 15th November 2019 | Celebrating You!
Our last day of Connect Live, we had brunch together and it’s time to celebrate award winners from various categories but nothing surprised me more than one last farewell bonus from Local Guides Team - “Top-viewed photo (all time).among Connect Live attendees” complimentary certificate. I was really appreciated and delighted to have this to continue keep up better and better work !
Finally, I would like to thank million times to @TraciC , @brittym for your efforts throughout the program along with all working teams to make Google Local Guides Connect Live 2019 happen. I’m surely believe that this will be a lifetime experience that we will not forget.
Learn: This event not only gave me new ideas, new amazing experiences and tons of gifts. It also gave me a time to learn.new things, learn from others and learn myself better.
Connect: Many times, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Connect Live is an excellent opportunity to connect with other people from different countries and cultures. It’s not easy to have a moment of getting to know more than hundreds of people and becoming friends from the first day we met like this.
Inspire: Many Local Guides inspired me a lot about how to be a better person to make this world better. From now, it’s time to inspire others and make a difference by giving something back to the world.
it was so good to meet you and was surprised of your kindness and smiling face. Congratulations for your award, you inspire all of us 
