If I say, Local Guides Program is one of the best of the best things ever happened to me, Its true.
I am lucky that I found this program. It has been a great ride from the past 2 years for me as a Local Guide. There are so many reasons. One would be, my way of seeing the world changed after becoming a Local Guide. Many of my assumptions changed in my journey as a Local Guide. From day 1, its been so much learning, sharing, making friends, exploring, contributing, etc. For me, it’s not just a program, its an experience.
When I started as a Local Guide, I cannot find anyone in my place from whom I can learn about this program so most of my learning is through Connect and fellow Local Guides, Connect Moderators and Google Moderators helped me at first place.
Meetup enthusiast
As part of my contributions, I also started to conduct meetups at different places and till now, I have hosted 15+ Meetups and each and every meetup has a special place in my heart because of different experience I had in the meetup on meeting different people during the meetup. I am glad that I even hosted a meetup at San Fransisco during my Connect Live 2018 visit. In some of my meetups, I was alone and I was not discouraged since it itself is an experience and yes and in those such meetups also, I get to meet people who asked about what I was doing and when I explained about the Program and meetups and how much it will be useful to everyone in Google Maps, there were very happy and became friends too.
Contributing to Google Maps
I love taking photos of places and most of the time. I myself approach the Business Owners and tells them how the photos of their place will help people in Google Maps. After explaining them clearly and most of the time, they allowed me to take photos of the place. This helps me take photos of the place on considering the quality as my top concern. Taking photos of the dishes is also one of my favorite contributions. I usually start having any dish in a hotel only after taking at least one photo of the dish. It became such a habit for me that sometimes, I didn’t remember taking photos and later I get surprised by seeing dish photo my phone.
Love for Connect
I always use to say Connect is my virtual home. Because I got so many like-minded friends from different parts of the world only through Connect. They are so close that when I visit their country and their place, I will try my best to meet them in person. Also, when they visit India and especially South India, I will try to reach and meet them in person. Getting to know about Fellow Local Guides and their contributions, new Connect Moderators and the Google Moderators is always a great thing. Friday Favorites, Local Guides Spotlight, Photo of the Week are one my favorites in Connect.
A valuable gift which I got at Connect Live 2018 experience
It was the Connect Live 2018 which made me get so much close to the Local Guides Program. Meeting Connect friends in person and the amazing Local Guides Team, sharing our feedbacks and learning, I felt like living my dream those days. The gift was the brand new Ricoh Theta V 360 camera which is given to all the Connect Live 2018 Attendees. Before that day, I was not having any experience in taking 360 photos. That gift changed everything to me. I started learning about taking 360 photos and in few months after Connect Live 2018, I became the Trusted Street View Photographer. Later, I learned about creating virtual tours in Street View App. As I use to approach Businesses, I tell them to allow me to take 360 photos of their places which will be helpful to people in Google Maps, most of the Business owners allowed me and I practically learned from it. I am glad to say that I now have uploaded 200+ 360 photos to Google Maps and my recent virtual tour of a place in which I was able to connect 50+ 360 photos. It is really an amazing experience for me to take 360 photos of the businesses irrespective of the standards because my aim is to contribute whether its a large business or a small shop.
Thank you
My heartiest thanks to each and every Local Guide who strive to make the world a better place to live. My thanks to Local Guides Team for providing us this amazing platform to learn, share and explore for the betterment of everyone. All of your support and encouragement is what makes me move forward and try my best.
