One of the great things about being a Local Guide is that you can share your favorite “go-to” places through your Local Guides reviews on Google Maps. It’s even better when you can actually take people to your favorite “go-to” place and enjoy the experience together!
Last November during the last day of Connect Live 2019, I hosted an Early Friday A.M. Coffee Meetup for Connect Live attendees who wanted to join me at one of my favorite locally-owned Bay Area coffee shops – Philz Coffee.
Background
Philz Coffee specializes in customizable hand-dripped, made-to-order coffee. Walking into a Philz smells like coffee heaven.
Started in San Francisco in 2002, Philz has locations across the Bay Area and now in Southern California, Washington D.C., Chicago, Maryland, and Virginia.
Out of the many kinds of coffees to try, Philz is famous for their refreshing creamy Iced Coffee Mint Mojito, which uses fresh mint leaves on top.
Last April, Philz introduced their Iced Coffee Rosé, which tastes like drinking a bouquet of creamy, fragrant roses.
Philz is popular with coffee connoisseurs, especially tech workers.
Fun Fact: One of the first Bay Area Philz Coffee locations is inside Facebook’s Headquarters that is free to Facebook employees and their guests.
Testing Philz Coffee
On the Monday before the start of Connect Live 2019, @ermest and I spent the afternoon prepping for our 2nd Annual Local Guides Clean the World Connect Live Edition Meetup and this Early A.M. Coffee Meetup.
After we completed our LGCTW Connect Live 2019 meetup logistics checklist, we, then, walked over from the San Jose Marriott to Philz. This coffee shop is located across the street from San Jose State University, which is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the [California State University (CSU] system](California State University - Wikipedia).
I wanted to meet the store manager to alert her that I would be bringing over 30+ coffee drinkers that Friday morning at 6:30 and was wondering if her crew could handle these 30+ individual custom hand-dripped coffee orders.
The Philz Coffee manager reassured me not to worry. Her team handles that number of customers and even larger, especially during Exam Week, with no issues on a daily bases.
Of course, we had to get coffee!
I made Ermes order my new coffee passion – Iced Coffee Rosé.
The Meetup
On Friday, November 15, 2019, at 6:15 A.M., 31 Connect Live 2019 attendees woke up from their warm hotel beds and gathered downstairs at the San Jose Marriott entrance.
We started our 10-minute walk over to Philz.
We arrived!
We then got in line.
@LuisMGonzalez told us that it was his birthday that morning.
We ordered.
Of course, many of us did what Local Guides do best once we received our coffees.
Surprisingly, for not being yet 7 A.M., it was warm enough to drink our coffees outside. There was plenty of seating for all of us to enjoy our drinks together.
Some of us started getting creative with our group photos.
Last-minute unplanned add-on to this meetup
Thanks to @TorM we made an unplanned stop after we finished drinking our coffee. He suggested we walk over to the San Jose State University campus to get a glimpse of the beautiful architecture he saw earlier in the week.
We saw the official symbol of San Jose State University, Tower Hall and Morris Dailey Auditorium. The Tower is the oldest building on the campus. Rebuilt after the 1906 Earthquake, it was beautifully lit by the morning sun.
@AdrianLunsong had us pose under the Tower Hall one last time.
One last surprise
As we were walking back to the Marriott for us to return to our rooms to finish packing before going to the Connect Live 2019 Closing Brunch & Awards Ceremony, @Kinnari_Wagh @RiyaM both told me that attending this Early Friday A.M. Coffee Meetup was their first-ever Local Guides meetup that they ever attended.
I was speechless because I thought every Local Guide from India has attended at least one meetup in their community! It shows even at Connect Live, not every Local Guide has attended a meetup in their Local Guide community.
My Local Guides Meetup Hosting Tips
Here are my 4 Key Takeaways from hosting this Early A.M. Coffee Meetup and at the 2nd Annual Local Guides Clean the World Connect Live Edition Meetup during Connect Live 2019:
- To help “break the ice” (or start conversations going) with a group, besides having attendees introduce themselves, ask if this is their first meetup. If the answer is “No,” ask what types, if they have hosted, and the number of meetups they have attended. This helps you, as the meetup host, and your attendees learn more about everyone’s Local Guides meetup experiences to get conversations within the group started during your meetup.
- Be flexible with your meetup. The unplanned moments can make your meetup even better! If an attendee in your meetup has a great suggestion, as Torben did, and you still have time within your meetup schedule, go out and try out the suggestion. I never thought to walk over to San Jose State University after drinking coffee to take photos for Google Maps. It gave us an additional 30 minutes of more group fun before joining the rest of Connect Live 2019 attendees back at the hotel.
- Be respectful of your attendees’ time. Be sure to prep BEFORE your meetup. Figure out how you will get your group, for example, moving from Point A to Point B, especially if you have not been there yourself by either walking your meetup “walk” or determining what form of transportation and the appropriate schedule to get your group to your meetup location on time. You need to have all travel logistics already figured out before the meetup. For example, what public bus your group needs to catch, where, and when and the cost of the bus ride itself if you require your meetup attendees to pay for their bus tickets.
- Make sure your meetup runs smoothly. If your meetup will be at a business, visit the business beforehand to check out your site location and meet the coordinator/manager/owner (aka person-in-charge) in person. Be sure to go over what you expect the business to do during your meetup. Be sure you give yourself plenty of time to end your meetup on time and allow your attendees to say goodbye to each other.
Cheers,
Karen
Read my Local Guides review for Philz Coffee
Do you like to host meetups? Small or big ones? Have any hosting tips you want to share? Comment below.
. At least you recap have given me the opportunity to cach up your meetup.
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