I am aware of the fact that meet ups are essential for overall development, sharing and learning from local guides throughout the world. I also know about the requirements for hosting meet ups on the connect.
But, There isn’t any information available or terms and conditions for hosting and attending meet ups.
I have few questions, please clear my doubts
Can one host Meetup un-officially with local guide and share the recap on connect ? Is it necessary to share recaps of only those meetups that are hosted via Connect ?
Can one invite a person who isn’t a local guide (like a motivational speaker, A chef or a Yoga instructor) as a guest to share his/her experience or guide others ? In other words is there any restrictions on the attendee ?
Can one host Virtual meetings of some particular local guide on other platforms like Face time, Facebook or other relevant platform ?
I have also covered TraciC’s post regarding tips for hosting virtual meetups. But I am not sure about the Guidelines or restrictions for a meet up.
Do Google keeps any track or fact or figures of the LG who is attending Meetup and who is not ?
Is it COMPULSARY to join and host Meetup ? Does it affect the image of a local guide ?
Please share your answers for the following questions dear moderators. Also, please provide a complete official guidelines about the terms, conditions and restrictions for joining and hosting a successful Meetup.
Hello @HkPs
I find all your questions to be raising some unnecessary anxieties.
The entire local guides program is entirely voluntary.
You may be asking these questions keeping in mind that as a criteria for selection to the live event.
However, as per my perception, there wouldn’t be any such linkup. Surely, substantial contributions to multiple aspects of the program may enhance the chance.
Nevertheless, in my opinion, if the topic is outside the domain of the usual activities, that wouldn’t remain an LG meetup.
Hi @HkPs , thank you for reaching out. I’ll try to answer your questions:
Yes, you can write a text about a meeting between Local Guides that wasn’t submitted as a meetup. But, why don’t you send an idea of meetup to allow other Local Guides to join you? You will let that any local guide who checks the meetup page finds your meetup.
You can invite a person who is not a Local Guide to speak in your meetup, but it should be a good idea this person shares something related to Google Maps Program. A chef, for example, to teach how to recreate a dish during quarantine or a business owner to tell the importance of reviews for his/her business, etc.
You can use any virtual platform to host your meetup. I suggest you use Hangout Meet, which is free now. Please refer to this post for more information.
The best benefit of a meetup is meeting others and interact. There are no points or badges. BTW, there is an idea on idea exchange to create badge and offer points. Feel free to support it by clicking here.
It’s not compulsory to join or host meetups. Feel free to join or host if you’d like to have fun and get to know other Local Guides.
P.S: As @C_T warned you,the Local Guides Program is for individuals not for business. So, if your account represents an organization or a business, you are not allowed to contribute as Local Guide, and you should quit Local Guides Program through this link.
Thanks for shring with us your questions and doubts.
Below you will find the answers to your inquiries and I hope they will help you:
We encourage all Local Guides to submit their meet-ups through the meet-up site. After getting approved the meet-up suggestion is visible for all Local Guides to RSVP on the meet-up section of Connect. If your meet-up is not approved officially it won’t be visible for all Local Guides on Connect.
If you‘ve participated in a meeting of some sort with other Local Guides and if you think what you’ve discussed during that time it’s worth sharing it with the community, feel free to do so. Just of course bear in mind that we encourage the commentary on Connect to be related to the Local Guides program or your Google Maps contributions. More information on how to share a recap, you can find here: How do I write a great meet-up recap? and How to write a great virtual meet-up recap.
There aren’t any restrictions about the speaker and the attendees. New members are always welcome to join the program. Just make sure that the agenda is relevant to the Local Guides program when hosting your meet-up and you’re following the above mentioned rules.
As a Local Guide we encaurage you to suggest your meet-ups through the meet-up platform.
To help you feel connected to one another when it’s not always possible to connect offline, we are encouraging Local Guides to meet-up virtually, using tools like Google Hangouts or YouTube Live which they share in their meet-up description or meet-up announcement. You can also use other virtual platforms for your virtual talks.
The Google team is following all suggested meet-ups through the meet-up platform to make sure that the rules are followed accordingly. The team encourages different types of worldwide initiatives and events related to the Local Guides program. The results and attendance of the meet-ups are shared by the Local Guides on Connect in their relevant recaps.
It’s not mandatory to host or join a meet-up. It’s optional for all Local Guides, however by joining a meet-up you get to know new community members, you can gain knowledge about the program, you can share your questions related to the program or your Google Maps contribution with others, and many more. Feel free to go around the meet-up board and check the meet-ups and recaps that have been shared by the other members of the community to find out how they usually do it.
More details on how-to host a meet-up, you can find in the links below: