On Sunday, November 15, 2020, Italy Local Guide @ermest and I, USA Local Guide @KarenVChin, hosted our first virtual Local Guides “HOW TO SERIES" meet-up – Create Local Guides Virtual Meet-up Invite Talk.
With the new structure of how to create a Local Guides meet-up, Ermes and I wanted to share our experiences about how should a Local Guide create, specifically, a virtual meet-up invite and get Local Guides to RSVP successfully. Should you create an online event invite (such as an evite), a Facebook Event, or a Google Forms link?
Sharing our experiences, our opinions only!
Ermes and I explored in our new ongoing “HOW TO SERIES” Local Guides virtual talks what we think is the best way to create a virtual Local Guides meet-up invite while maintaining a high level of security and privacy.
The Prework – Before our Virtual Meet-up
Before having our November 15th virtual Local Guides meet-up, Ermes and I created an RSVP process geared to only current standing Local Guides who could apply using mostly free Google products.
To protect everyone’s privacy and safety before, during, and after our virtual meet-up, we made a conscious decision to promote our meet-up to only Local Guides in good standing with the Google Local Guides Program and Local Guides Connect.
How did Ermes and I do this?
We created a Connect meet-up post that included our Local Guides Google Form invite as part of our RSVP process.
We drove all social media traffic from each of our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. Also, we promoted the meet-up on two of the most popular private Local Guides Facebook group, using this Local Guides Connect post invite link.
Ermes and I wanted to prove a Local Guide can easily create and host a more safe, secure virtual Local Guide meet-up using only free online tools, mostly Google products, and word-of-mouth:
- Google Forms – the RSVP invite
- Connect’s Meet-ups Board – “the invite” link
- Google Docs – where Ermes and I collaborated and created all invite copy for both Connect and our social media channels
- Canva – a graphic design platform app that one doesn’t need to be a graphic designer to create beautiful social media graphics among other types of online and print designs
- Our social media channels, private groups, trusted Local Guides friends, and Connect – we targeted where we wanted to promote this virtual meet-up
- Google Meet – we are Google fanatics; this is our only option
- Google Calendar - from our RSVP Google Form, we collected our attendees’ Gmail addresses; Ermes emailed the Calendar invite with the Google Meet link. Using this method, only the recipient has access to the virtual meetup, no one else. We unchecked Calendar Guest Permission’s options not to “Invite others” (attendees cannot forward the Calender invite) and “See guest list” (an attendee cannot see other attendees’ email addresses) for maintaining security and privacy.
November 15, 2020, 7 AM San Francisco Time / 4 PM Italy Time
Out of the 25 Local Guides who RSVPed, we had 20 Local Guides from around the world who spent 90 minutes with Ermes and me. They came from North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia (Middle East, India, SE Asia).
Thanks to all of you who took the time and spent an extra 30 minutes with us! We do appreciate your dedication!
Our Presentation
In case you missed our meet-up or want to get a copy of our presentation, click here.
In it, we provided our rationale for using Google Forms and Local Guides Connect for creating our RSVP meet-up invite process.
We also included Our 9 Local Guides Create Virtual Meet-up Invite Tips to have a successful, safe virtual Local Guides meet-up.
Feel free to ask us a question
Local Guides, if you have any questions or comments regarding our HOW TO SERIES: Create Local Guides Virtual Meet-up Invite Talk presentation, please comment below. Ermes and I are happy to answer any questions or respond to comments.
Stay tuned for our next "HOW TO SERIES" Local Guides Virtual Talk meet-up in 2021!
Happy Holidays and the end of 2020!
Cheers,
Karen & Ermes
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