[RECAP] Local Guides in the Media session at Community Live 2020

For the Local Guides in the Media session during Community Live 2020, I collected the stories of 12 local guides from all around the globe, who had been featured in the media because of their activities as local guides.

The point I wanted to make by doing so, was that the local guides program - familiar as it might be amongst us - is still relatively unknown to the public at large (just think of when you need to explain to family and friends what exactly it is you do on Maps all the time), but definitely considered to be newsworthy by the press. Some of the local guides featured here had been on national TV, or page-wide in newspapers and magazines. In some cases there had been a bit of help from the Google PR team to draw the attention of the press, but in other cases the local guides reached out to the press themselves, or the press ‘stumbled upon’ them.

Check out the video recording of the session here and discover the wonderful stories of (in order of appearance):

Feeling inspired? Why then not reach out to the press in your region or country? I can guarantee that the journalists - who eagerly need news 24/7 - will be interested, especially if you throw some interesting facts and figures to them, such as the millions of views our pictures are getting, the fact that we add loads of accessibility information to Maps, the active support we offer to local businesses in these challenging times, etc.

For copyright reasons, the clips shown during the session can’t be included in the recording, so if you want to check those out, you can do so on the following links:

Torben

TV Station: ProSieben

Show name: Galileo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skNh-PZA2pw

Crystal

TV Station: The Straits Times

https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/6000-hawker-stalls-on-google-maps

Caro

Show name: Puntal AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42en2oGQWQM&feature=youtu.be

Jan

TV Station: Een

Show name: Iedereen Beroemd

https://youtu.be/6i0ZCaRkVoY

TV Station: Een

Show name: Journaal

https://youtu.be/vTagR8BfpkU

And last but not least: a big thank you to the fellow Connect Moderators @SP31 and @Sagir for supporting me during the session.

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Extra comment to tag @SP31 @SumaiyaZafrin , as I ran out of tags in the main post :slightly_smiling_face:

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@JanVanHaver Hei fra den nyttige idioten i Norge :smiley: Takk for at du ville ha meg med i din interessante sesjon. Du er veldig flink til å sette opp programmet slik at vi alle forstår innhold og får utbytte av det. Klasse!
Jobben som Local Guides er viktig og føles viktig for oss som er dedikerte. Hvis vi kan få det mer ut i media vil det ikke bare være for oss spesielt interesserte. Oppfordrer alle til å få media til å hjelpe oss. I opptaket ser man mange gode eksempler på det. Bra jobb av alle, stolt av jobben dere gjør.

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@JonBekkevoll I dare to claim that I am at least as much of a useful idiot as you are :rofl:

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What a coincidence. I’ve just watched the recording video of this breakout session last night, and today you’ve just posted the recap @JanVanHaver

I really enjoyed watching this one. So inspiring! Well done for you, @SP31 @Sagir :clap:t2: :clap:t2: :clap:t2:

So awesome to share your own experiences being featured by the press and collecting the stories form the other Local Guides!

I’m so proud with @CrystalKoh , my fellow Local Guide from neighboring country.

A pleasure to meet you again and have a late night dimsum together when I visited Singapore this January :blush:

你好棒!

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@JanVanHaver :man_dancing:t2:

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I hope that other local guides will now get inspired and reach out to the media in their country - then we can do a follow up session somewhere next year :slightly_smiling_face: @Velvel

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Thanks so much @JanVanHaver It was an honor to be featured and I listened in to another of your sessions too. Very informative and clear, well presented and I enjoyed it a lot! Thank you for your efforts :slightly_smiling_face:

@Velvel i miss you sooooo much!! Hoping we can meet again one day to eat indomie or ayam penyet hahaha :slightly_smiling_face: in the meantime, see you online virtually and stay safe! Loads of hugs and love from Singapore!

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It was a great experience learning from you @JanVanHaver and other Local Guides across the globe.

I hope that other LG have taking home some valuable stuffs from this session. for me I have learn a lot. I cant wait for 2021 to put such in to practice.

Thanks and have a great year a head…

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Great idea @JanVanHaver

I also hope for the same and look forward to another cool stories from our fellow Local Guides.

Hey! I miss you too @CrystalKoh :hugs:

When everything is safe, you are very welcome to come to Indonesia. Let’s have Indomie, ayam penyet, gado-gado, soto, and anything that fit your taste. I’ll be very happy to be your Foodie Local Guide :kissing_heart:

I would also like to thank you for being an awesome Local Guide. I’ve just realized that nowadays, the food stalls inside the Hawker in Singapore are also available on Google Maps thanks to your media coverage and definitely your contribution. Kudos for that!

Stay safe for you as well :blush:

Happy holidays!

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Sir u completed 10 points in .u got any perks

From.localguide from google

The session was superb - informative, vivid, and inspiring. I was curious to see all the various stories of LGs. Thank you, @JanVanHaver , for the thoroughly prepared session. I don’t know how much time and effort you spent on it but it’s definitely worth it.

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As someone who’s studied and has worked in Media, being a part of this session was a great experience for me as we got to hear directly from so many Local Guides who’ve been featured in their local media and stories of those who weren’t able to be there live as well.

Quite the inspirational session for Guides globally who are keeping it true to themselves and providing quality, honest submissions to Maps. Thank you so much for the opportunity, @JanVanHaver !

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Dear @JanVanHaver

You’ve shared great videos that will be very helpful for new local guides.

Thank you so much for sharing amazing some topics to us.

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Well, @YuliiaZa when @AdrianLunsong asked the Connect Moderators if we could suggest any session topics, I just blurted this out, not thinking it would get selected. And not considering indeed what amount of efforts it would take to get it realized in a decent way (you might have figured out by now that when I do something, I want to do it ‘properly’ :wink: ).

So: yes, quite a few hours were spent in preparing it, especially collecting the material, coordinating with the guests and of course the video editing, like adding subtitles to the German clip featuring @TorM . For the Spanish clip featuring @CaroGuiniazu I did not find the time to figure out a way to provide subtitles, but fortunately @Marichams was around to do some live translation.

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As the session was only 45 minutes long @SP31 I had stopped searching for examples after a while, so I’m pretty sure there will be more. I had no one from US, for example, and I can’t imagine there would be none.

Perhaps we can continue collecting to do a follow up session? :sunglasses:

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Glad to hear you enjoyed the session @KamalHossenR .I indeed hope it inspires many others.

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Think that’s a fantastic idea, @JanVanHaver ! I know @lakeoftea from Kansas City (Missouri) USA was featured in the press if I can recall so there may definitely be more cases!

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This is a wonderful idea! I love it! Local Guides helping their communities while notify the world of their work. If you, @JanVanHaver , need anything please let me know!

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Great to see your enthusiasm @lakeoftea :grinning:

Basically I will start compiling a new list of local-guides-in-the-media. What I need is a short summary of the way(s) in which you were featured in the media ans if possible links to / pics of the material. I will send you a PM with my contact details where you can send it.

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