Connect Moderators are Local Guides just like you and me. They apply the knowledge they’ve gained as active members of our community to moderate Connect and help improve the experience for everyone. You may see them welcoming newcomers, explaining the program, answering questions, and sharing their knowledge with others.
Each month, we share some personal insights from one of our amazing Connect Moderators. This month, meet Adam ( @AdamGT ). Adam lives inMelbourne, Australia, and speaks English.
Name: Adam
Location: Melbourne, Australia
What I love about being a Local Guide: Being a Local Guide has helped me learn to see things from a totally different perspective and has certainly changed the way I look at the world around me. Through this, I’ve learned a lot more fine details about my community and the global places that I’ve visited. It’s also proven to be a great way to share my story and photos and to help people everywhere, and who I will never know, make better decisions about where to dine, what to do, and see. It’s a great way of helping small businesses gain visibility and customers, too. All this is personally very rewarding.
Why I’m a Connect Moderator: Simple! I love helping and motivating fellow Local Guides from all corners of the world in a fun, engaging, and educational way to make better quality contributions and become better Local Guides.
My favorite things to explore: Well, I love to travel, who doesn’t, and have always loved sharing my photos and travel stories with anyone who’ll listen. But what I love most is visiting places that most only dream about. On top of this, I especially love architecture, exploring historical sites, and second-hand bookstores. I have more than a handful of posts to write about these.
My favorite type of contribution(s) to make on Google Maps: I love adding places and am excited when I get an APPROVED on my additions, giving these places visibility.
However, my favorite type of contribution is adding photos as they help people get a feel of what the place looks like and what they might experience. I love seeing how many views my photos get and through this, knowing how many people they may likely have helped or had an impact on. Most will know that I’m also fascinated about “star photos,” a term I coined for our most viewed photos, not just my own, but also those of fellow Local Guides. We all have “a star,” regardless at what Local Guide level we are.
I have to add, though, while I love adding photos, over the past 18 months, while mostly in pandemic lockdown and unable to travel, I haven’t been able to take and add many. So, I challenged myself to do something different. I started a bit of Maps cleaning, and over that 18-month period, significantly contributed to my now 20,000+ edits.
Languages I read/speak/write fluently: My gifted father speaks seven languages and fluently. Although not my native language and, I have to add, a language I failed in three successive examination attempts which prevented me from entering university, English is now the only language that I read, speak, and write fluently! My father is very disappointed!
Places I’d like to visit: Antarctica. I have numerous books and photos and have seen countless movies and documentaries about this continent, and I would love to visit before it all but melts away!
Fun fact about me: I love visiting and browsing through second-hand bookstores. I’m not a reader or bookworm by any stretch of the imagination as I’m more a visual person, so give me a movie any time. However, I love the mystic and the scent of old books. I flick through the pages and soak in the different views of the world in years gone by. I’ve even bought some old books, and they are nothing short of amazing and again will be the subject of a future post.
[Another fun fact:] By the time I reached 15 years of age, I was a talented musician, many said I was gifted and destined for bigger things. I began teaching others as well as playing in various pop groups at gigs throughout Australia. I also played as a fill-in or backup guitarist with various pop groups through the Musicians’ Union of Australia.
One night, while playing in a pop group at Melbourne’s Festival Hall (at that time a large entertainment center with a history of famous appearances including the Beatles, Bill Haley, Frank Sinatra, and so on), I was approached by a talent scout to join a soon-to-be-formed Australian pop group. Unfortunately, I had to decline the offer as I was about to become a young father and wouldn’t be able to travel and commit to the hours. This pop group was eventually formed and went on to achieve international commercial success.
Here at home today, I have seven guitars, a keyboard, and three amplifiers, and [I’m] well known by family and friends as a couch potato talent judge. I just love and watch every TV talent show and YouTube talent video that I can.
We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know @AdamGT . Say hi or ask him a question below as he has a lot to share about Google Maps and Connect.
Interested in becoming a Connect Moderator? Learn more here.
Want to learn about other Connect Moderators?
Learn more about Tushar in July 2021
Learn more about Silvina in June 2021
Learn more about Ricardo in May 2021
Learn more about Nyai in April 2021
Learn more about Sagir in March 2021
Learn more about Cecilia in February 2021
Learn more about Kashif in January 2021
Learn more about Feliciana in December 2020
Learn more about Penny in October 2020
Learn more about Alexandre in September 2020
Learn more about Shafiul in August 2020
Learn more about Jane in July 2020
Learn more about Luigi in June 2020
Learn more about Julien in May 2020
Learn more about Jan in April 2020
Learn more about Emeka in March 2020
Learn more about Omer in February 2020
Learn more about Sumaiya in January 2020
Learn more about Steve in December 2019
Learn more about Jordan in November 2019
Learn more about Torben in October 2019
Learn more about Hiroyuki in September 2019
Learn more about Jesi in August 2019
Learn more about Alejandra in June 2019
Learn more about Adrian in May 2019
Learn more about Gregg in January 2019
Learn more about Stephen in November 2018
Learn more about Paul in October 2018
Learn more about Sonia in August 2018
Learn more about Nunung in July 2018
Learn more about Shirley in June 2018
Learn more about Ilankovan in May 2018
Learn more about Farid in April 2018
Learn more about Ludwig in March 2018
Learn more about Karen in February 2018
Learn more about Ivan in January 2018
Learn more about Ermes in December 2017
. Or maybe our Next Simon Cowell:star_struck:. Thanks 
