Hi Local Guides! I hope you are doing very well.
I’m writing this post to tell you about my latest contributions to the Local Guides program.
My contributions online
Lately I’ve had some trouble with many things, which made it a bit hard to contribute daily to Maps and Connect. One of them: my cellphone broke. I still couldn’t get it fixed because of import policies in my country, so of course I had to start using another one. This one that I’m using, has a super low quality camera, which made me feel super sad because one of my favorite contributions to Maps is photos! Through photography you can express a thousand things in just one image, and that’s what made it almost magical for me. After this happened, I started to think… How can I still show people the amazing food that I’m eating, if I don’t have a good camera to express it?
Of course I didn’t stop taking photos because I’m passionate about them, but I had to put into practice much of the advice that I learned thanks to amazing Local Guides! I learnt a lot about how to take good photos in Local Guides Connect and in Connect Live 2018, so I remember all of that every time I’m taking a photo. I prioritize photos with natural light and bright places, because I know that my current camera can’t stand a dark or poorly-lighted atmosphere.
I had been thinking for a few days about the food that I had been eating during my last visits to bars and restaurants, and tried to narrate to myself a description of it. I always liked to write detailed reviews, but this event made me write even more!
So I kind of learned how to describe a dish entirely with words: Is it big, small? How is its texture? Is it a cold dish? Is it suitable for vegetarians? Can a kid manage to eat it? Will it be ok if someone wants to share it or do we need double-portion? What about the price? The atmosphere? Would it be better if we added some salt or lemon?
And these questions take me to talk about the following topic:
My contributions offline
After I started writing detailed reviews about the places that I visited and the dishes that I was having, many people that I know started to tell me that they were seeing my reviews online! It has already happened many times to me that I am talking with a coworker and they tell me something like this: “So I was searching for a place to have dinner yesterday, and I was honestly super lost about it.Then I remembered that you are a Local Guide and always write nice reviews about the restaurants that you visit. So I thought that I could start looking for restaurants in Google Maps and tell from the reviews if I will like that place. And I read your review with a great description of a dish and I decided to go there and try it, and it was great! So thank you!”. It’s great to know what a great impact we can have in somebody’s life, just by writing a review.
That’s why whenever someone asks me about the Local Guides program, I like to tell them about it and introduce them to this amazing world. I have encouraged lots of my coworkers and members of my family to contribute to Maps, because it’s like a friendly loop of infinite help.
Attending meet-ups
I honestly love attending Local Guides meet-ups. I am sure that these events are some of the most fulfilling for a Local Guide, because you are together with other people, contributing to Maps and following the same goal: improving the information for everybody. Whether it’s a gastronomical or photography walk, the result is always positive!
Some new members have joined the latest meet-ups in Buenos Aires community and that’s just amazing. I love to know that our community is slowly growing and incorporating more people because that means that more and more valuable contributions are being uploaded to Maps! Our community is super diverse and that’s what makes our contributions very rich.
At our meet-ups you can see cellphones, 360 cameras, professional cameras, tripods, monopods… We like to contribute in different ways: photos, videos, reviews, adding places, correcting wrong information… and some of us like to focus on certain topics like accessibility, vegetarianism, pet-friendly places… Without even noticing we cover such a huge part of Maps, and it helps many many people.
The flame of motivation is always lit, and we are always ready to contribute!
I hope you enjoyed reading my post as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Happy guiding 
All the best, Giuseppe