Hello Local Guides,
My name is Kashif Abdul Razzaq , and I’m a member of #LocalGuidesConnect family and a small contributor of LGC & Google Maps.
I love to write about different initiatives and majority of my posts on Connect are about Knowledge Sharing Meetups .
Today I want to tell you what Knowledge Sharing Meetups really are? What are their goals? And how can we host them?
First of All I want to admit that the motivation and inspiration arises in me for Knowledge Sharing Meetups after reading and watching the excellent work from @IlankovanT , who is brilliantly creating awareness in new generation and youth about new technologies specially Google Maps, LGC and other great topics
I had the honour to meet and learn from my mentor in Colombo and Learn alot by him and his team.
We all know about the importance and great effects of Google Maps and Local Guides Connect to the world, specially Google Maps can be your best friend and Guide when you are traveling alone for long and short distance journey and you don’t find anyone to ask the way and help you out.
And the people who continuously add and correct locations on Google Maps, guiding people around then by their reviews and photographs called Local Guides, who serve this noble volunteer work around the world without any expectations of achieving benefits or any sort of profits.
LGC is the home of those great Local Guides and here you can feel the feelings of a single and United Family
The main purpose of knowledge sharing Meetups is to invite people to inform them about this noble volunteer job on Google Maps and LGC & invite them to join Great Local Guides Connect Family.
By the way, sitting with friends while having a conversation regarding Google maps, LGC and related stuff is also called Knowledge Sharing Meetups, but today I want to tell you about the knowledge sharing meetups which we can host in colleges, universities,high schools or at any other gatherings at some where, where you have proper arrangements for your presentation.
There are some steps, which I’ve been writing by my personal experience.
Let’s take a look on them:
First step:
Select the time and date when you want to host a knowledge sharing Meetup somewhere . You should know the point during the selection of the day and time, and then that date and time should be convenient for your attendees and choosing the most ideal time can give you more audience to raise your point and knowledge. Here, you will have to make sure to hold your knowledge sharing meetup during the working days in order to avoid any sort of inconvenience due to academic holidays or vacations or elections etc. see that there are working days and your knowledge sharing meetup shouldn’t effected by schools.
After selection of date, time and place you can post a “Host a meetup post” at Host a meetup page, which probably takes a few days for approval.
Host A Meet Up post is the proper way to announce your meetup, and your message can reach those connect family members who lives in your city and who wish to attend any knowledge sharing meetup. So your Host a Meetup post can give benefit to many local guides of your city.
You can take some useful tips by the post of @AdrianLunsong which can describe How to Prepare for a Meet-up Submission.
Second step:
(A)
Be prepared!
for example, if you are going to a place where you have the facility of the multimedia, then you should download following documents/files in a USB flash drive or in a laptop.
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How to download and use Google Maps and how we can contribute in it ?
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What is Local Guides Connect and how you can become a source of increasing knowledge for yourself and other local guides by contributing in local guides connect?
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What is Accessibility? And how we could be the source to help millions of people and specially those people who have different abilities by our contributions in Google Maps?
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What is Clean the World project, and as a local guide, how you can fight against environmental pollution?
The information in the links mentioned above are the best to learn and teach, so try to understand it by yourself first before downloading it in a USB or Laptop, then you’d be able to explain everything about it to your audience very easily.
(B) If you are going somewhere, where you think it could be difficult to get multimedia facilities,you can make a booklet by taking printouts of above-mentioned links. This is pocket friendly and the best way to provide information to your audience.
Third step:
Try to reach earlier to your decided place, where you are going to arrange a knowledge sharing meetup, so you can review the place and select the visible and suitable places or walls for your Panaflex Banners.
Fourth step:
Now, you are about to start your presentation and people are waiting there and would be thinking and wondering "What’s new that you’re sharing about which could help millions of people as you said to them? "
Google Maps and Local Guides program :
Start your presentation by your introduction and explain why are you calling yourself a local guide?
(Because many people think that a tour guide and a local guide are similar, so your explanation will explain and clear their minds about this stereotypical concept 
)
After giving the introduction, continue your Google Maps presentation through the slides and the multimedia, and explain it to them how Google Maps is guiding billions of people around the world?
Then, describe them that you can also be a part of the community of helping people and can be a source of guiding billions of people by your contributions through Google Maps and how the audience can become part of the Local Guides Program?
Meaningful and useful reviews, beautiful pictures, check the facts, uncovering information, location editing, selection of right category of the place, opening and closing timings, add/edit the phone numbers and web sites, Google maps lists, these are the tremendous contributions that could be the great source of help by you for the world’s billions of people.
Local Guides Connect:
Local Guides Connect is a home and like a main point for Local Guides.
You should surely give awareness about it, because of someone want to learn about Google Maps, there is no better place than LGC to learn, where Google moderators, & Connect moderators and local guides ready to greet, available to welcome and guide anyone who needs assistance and each other , and specially for new comers.
Inform the audience regarding different topics of Local Guides Connect about how they can learn and teach by writing and reading posts in photography, travel experiences, food and beverages, restaurants, meet ups & meeting experiences, and Questions or Solutions about Google Maps, you can use your creativity here beautifully. It serves as the perfect platform.
What are connect topics? By @AriMar
14 useful tips for using connect by @TraciC
Above mentioned are the renowned articles, which can be the great references by which you can clean your prospective in front of the audience.
Accessibility :
This is a highly important topic, whether you have a lot to say about it, even on just a few people, but you should make a great impact on them.
Most developing countries have lack of facilities for differently abled people, especially Pakistan. How many Restaurants, offices, shops, residential buildings that we can call accessibility friendly places or they have some special way or ramp for wheelchairs here, you can note it by yourself. We are not talking about toilets and lifts because these are next steps, we are just talking about the accessible way to access these places.
Through multimedia slides, you can explain the audience that when Google maps take information by reviews, photos, questions and answers about any place , differently abled people or wheel chair users, or the people with visual impairment are taking benifits by this information.
@IlankovanT and @EmekaUlor & Team #oneAccessibility are doing great impressive work regarding accessibility, and for the reference, you can visit any of the #oneaccessibility team member’s profile and you can learn many things, which could be the best source to convey your message to your audience.
Clean The World :
Mr. @ErmesT is a senior local guide and connect moderator, he started war, not just against environmental pollution, but specially plastic pollution on the beaches caused and now gradually local guides from around the world are joining this campaign to make our planet pollution free and beautiful.
You can also add logo of #cleantheworld project on your Panaflex banner, by the logo and your explanation will be the best opportunity to describe Clean The world to the audience.
By following links, you can reach to the link of Clean the world project’s introduction in many languages.
Miscellaneous topics:
You can discuss many more topics in your Knowledge Sharing Meetup.
Claim this Business: (GMB) This option is available in Google Maps, and when someone adds a new business on Google Maps, there are facilities for the owner to claim this business and add pictures, details and new promotions to his/her Google Maps business Profile. And they can get free business page too.
Kids friendly places :
You can tell the audience that through Google Maps, you can know that whether a place is suitable for the kids or not before your visit.
@KarenVChin 's Ask me about Kids Friendly Places will describe very well what exactly it’s meant by kids friendly places.
[Share live location](http://See%20my real-time location on Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ffxeiKQZeBLs2hv96) :
This is a very important feature of Google Maps, you can share your current location to anyone by Google Maps . Some of your audiences, specially young girls, boys and children who travel alone. For them this feature will be very fruitful for them. Because of this feature, they can keep their parents aware of their movements when they travel alone.
Google Maps Lists :
Google Maps Lists is one the best features of Google Maps, you can manage yourself while you are traveling or planning to go multiple places. And the sharing option of your list can provide other people to take benefit by your list and the notes on it. You can tell your audience about it, and can show how to Make a Google maps list, what you can get if you make a list with your travel planning and in the end you can show your own Google list, it can motivate people to start using Google maps list and it could really be beneficial.
There are so many topics but obviously you can get the chance to talk or brief for an hour or some more. Try to Cover as many topics in the time.
In addition, local guides program is for people who approximately age among 18 years or above.
If you are giving your presentation in a school or any place where the youngsters are under 18 or the majority of the audience consists of children, you can brief them about How to Use Google Maps, Live Location Sharing,importance of Wheelchairs Accessibile Entrances and about clean the world project because this presentation will increase their knowledge about all above mentioned important topics.
As I said this is the Essence of My Experience, But if you have any further Suggestions to make this Article more useful, please do write in Comments, it will be highly appreciated.
Here is The list of Knowledge Sharing meetups, Which I hosted In Karachi.
- Knowledge sharing session about CTW Campaign and Google maps/Localguidesconnect
- [RECAP] Second Knowledge sharing session about CTW Campaign and Google Maps/Localguidesconnect
- [Recap] 3rd Knowledge sharing session about CTW campaign and Google maps/localguidesconnect
- [RECAP] 4th Knowledge Sharing Meetup about Google Maps/LGC, Environment and Accessibility
- [Recap] Let’s Guide in Rural Areas Of Karachi, A Knowledge Sharing Meetup
for your great words for me, it will encourage me more.
