[RECAP] #LocalGuidesPanel Episode 1 - Aiman, Jan, Peter, Adrian

AdrianLunsong · July 5, 2021, 12:28pm

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of hosting and live streaming the first ever episode of my new project, #LocalGuidesPanel!

The concept is really simple: I place 4 Local Guides (including myself) into a discussion panel where each of them is given 5 minutes to talk about any topic of their choice and the topics need to be relevant to the Local Guides program. The panel members can query each other and share their opinions. And those watching the live stream on YouTube are also highly encouraged to join in and provide their feedback too through the live chat.

For episode 1, I had @AIMAN_SAEED (Level 8 Local Guide from Pakistan), @JanVanHaver (Level 10 Local Guide from Belgium) and @PeteMHW (Level 7 Local Guide from UK) come join me and we had, in my humble opinion, a fun time with our chat/discussion and figuring out whether the format of #LocalGuidesPanel work or not!

Aiman spoke about her experience of the Local Guides program, how she first started, how her contributions have evolved through the years and the differences between her experience in Pakistan versus Germany where she is currently based. Jan wanted to cover the changes to “Check the Facts” and there were quite a few interesting nuggets of information on how it now works and the implications it has on Local Guides looking to contribute in that particular area.

Peter was interested in the Connect Live event, what are the purposes, why do attendees constantly rave about it and what will the future hold for the event. Plus, the hot news on chip implants and tattoos! As for Adrian (me!), I wanted to talk about Connect’s 5th Birthday and the events that are being organised by the community to celebrate the occasion! Plus, I’m hoping that those watching the live stream will either join in the events or host their own ones too! Marketing 101!

I think the first episode went well and the 5 minutes guideline for rotating through the topics was really helpful. We decided that we didn’t have to follow the 5 minutes time slot too strictly so we could add on a few extra minutes but it did help to keep the discussion going. The recording of the live stream is now available on YouTube so do give it a watch and let us know in the comments what you thought of it!

#LocalGuidesPanel is a project that I hope to run on the first weekend of every month, usually the Saturday, and the next slot will most likely be on the 7 or 8 August weekend. If you want to take part in future episodes, do let me know (you can send me a Private Message here on Connect). I am hoping to structure each panel to be regional so that it’s easier to manage the scheduling. So for Episode 2, I’m looking for either Europe or Americas… I haven’t quite decided yet! Episode 3 will most likely be in the East Asia region.

Anyway, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this recap and do let me know your thoughts on this! Is it too long, too short? What topics do you want to see us talk about next? And please help share the project to your community and friends! Thanks!

JanVanHaver · July 5, 2021, 2:07pm

It was real fun to be part of this @AdrianLunsong !

And, dear reader, should you be in doubt whether or not to reach out to Adrian in order to be on one of the upcoming panels: by all means do!!! Adrian is making it really easy for the guests with an excellent preparation + detailed instructions.

KlaudiyaG · July 5, 2021, 3:30pm

Another great recap, @AdrianLunsong ! I really liked how compact the information is, and how entertaining the post is. Love your youtube streamings and the videos you create, so I can’t wait to check this one out. As always, thank you for sharing, and for everyone who participated.

AdrianLunsong · July 7, 2021, 3:25pm

Thanks for the endorsement @JanVanHaver ! Coming from you, it certainly means a lot! Thankfully there’s no 18 minutes long instruction video to go with this!

AdrianLunsong · July 7, 2021, 3:28pm

Thanks very much @KlaudiyaG ! It’s a much better setup (I think) as I don’t have to make any edits to the video at all! And that frees up my time to do other things! Phew! I still have videos from #LocalGuidesKitchen and #QuizConnect that I had planned to edit but video editing is tough…

KPatricia · July 30, 2021, 5:49am

Hey @AdrianLunsong - Greetings from Dakar Senegal. Thanks for the “Go Loco” podcast episode. (Love the name, by the way!) Can I ask a bit of a random, non purely “local guide” related question? You’ll note how old and “out of it” I am with this question. I tried “Googling” but a bunch of ads came up and it annoyed me. How did you get that cool framing and “four-person” (quad?) view when you were doing the episode? It it within Google Meet? Or within YouTube? (Or some other software or filter?) - I think the colors, and the “look” of the podcast were excellent. I also liked the use of the big timer - and I think your own “in studio” flourishes were fun and brought great energy (what was it that you had in your hand… a pom pom I think it was? - Brilliant!) - Anyway… in general: Thanks for being a Connect Moderator, and for the time you’re putting in to find great guests for your podcast. Well done!

AdrianLunsong · August 4, 2021, 6:27pm

Hey @KPG1970 ! Oops… I must have missed the notification for your message! Sorry about that!

There’s nothing ‘old’ about your question! I’ve had to Google a lot and it took me a long time of testing and trying out different stuff to get to where I am now and how Local Guides Panel looks like! There’s really no easy way around this unfortunately and the more you play around and test your setup, the closer you’ll get to where you want it to be.

Anyway, to answer your questions:

The four person view is done by Google Meet. It auto fits the number of people you have in the call, so I’ve limited my discussion to just four people to have that nice layout.
The framing with the animated backdroop and all the various effects etc are done through OBS. It is a popular software used by streamers. On a very basic level, it’s fairly easy to start using it but if you want a lot of modifications and fancier visuals (like what I’ve done), it takes a lot of Googling to get there. And thanks for the compliments on the look. It’s still a work in progress but I’m happy with where it is at the moment and will just take my time to add more stuff to it.

Hope that helps to answer your questions! Episode 2 is scheduled for this weekend so feel free to drop in as well.

KPatricia · August 5, 2021, 9:36am

Big thanks @AdrianLunsong - Definitely enough to get me started. I’m going to try this with my work colleagues at UNICEF (in Dakar Senegal) - I really loved the streamed podcast and learned a lot listening to the guests (and yourself) - and it was the “look” of it all that drew me in. Normally I’m much more “audio” than “video” - but I was intrigued, and I’m glad to have watched/listened. Once again, well done!