It’s been a month since I left Good-Bye brunch and the Connect Live 2019 was over. One month, but in my heart this special event is still so alive
I came to San Francisco on 6th of November to have some time to explore the city before the conference. Some of attendees were already there, what was a great opportunity to meet and get to know each other better. For a few months we were chating via Internet, so it was very exciting to meet them finally in person! On 7th of November we managed to go out for a dinner and I knew we would get along so well as we had the same passion - being Local Guide!
On 9th I joined @PaulPavlinovich San Francisco 36 Photo Walk and it was almost whole day of chating, laughting, trying sandwich ice cream, visiting new places, even dancing together in front of Coit Tower and (of course!) taking a lot of pictures as Paul let us take more than 36 (THANK YOU Paul so much .You can read a recap of this MeetUp written by Paul here:
Monday was the next exciting day as @christophesubilia and I were hosting our first time in our life MeetUp-Alcatraz Tour…and just before it I lost my voice :((( (Thank you so much San Francisco weather!!!) It was a disaster for me as I couldn’t talk freely to others through the whole week, till the end of CL2019 :(( I know I missed a lot great talks, but unfortunatelly there was nothing I could have done to make it better and I was very happy to be a part of such a great 200 attenedees’ group and frustrated at the same time not be able to socialize as I wanted. Chris wrote a recap about us going to jail together: https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/General-Discussion/Recap-Alcatraz-Day-Tour-with-some-local-guides-from-8-different/td-p/2095043#.XfS0sIwe67o.link
On Tuesday we were hosting another MeetUp- our Winchester Mystery Tour and you can read about it in my recap here: https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/Connect-Live-2019-Pre-Post-Event/RECAP-Winchester-Mystery-House-on-12th-November-2019/td-p/2069601#.XfS0hcOA-TA.link
These MeetUps before CL2019 were great ideas, as we were able to spend some time in smaller groups and I truly recommend to attend as many meetups as possible. It was easier to make friends with these Local Guides, sharing our free time with each other and before via internet planning these events got us closer together.
Finally the DAY of Connect Live 2019 has come! 12th of November. THE DAY we were waiting for it for months! Excited as kids at the end of school year or at Brithday time! I guess we all felt as we had won a lottery, at least I felt this way! The Marriott was greeting us with Connect Live 2019 sign on the floor in the lobby and it was so nice and warm welcome.
During Welcoming Party we could experience how awesome people were invited to be a part of this event! I felt truly honored to be one of such an incredible, friendly, inteligent, open-minded and unique group of Local Guides from all over the World. We received a lot of gifts from Google and other LGs, which will be reminding me this special week for a long, long time.
On Wednesday and Thursday we were attending presentations at Google Event Center and having some time for fun in the evening. I loved these Photo Booths- fun,entertaining and a photo souvenir for the rest of my life. Googlers were treated us like VIPs. Event, food, parties, workshops-everything could fullfill even very high expectations. Thank you @TraciC , @mchomsky , @brittym for an awesome organisation and unforgettable memories! The opportunity to have some time with Googlers, to share our ideas and consult our issues, was very helpful.They were also showing us how important our participation in Google Local Guides program is, how huge difference and impact our group can have globaly! It was incredible!
I love the feeling during CL2019 - no matter where we were from, what our religions, our political views were, no matter our age nor sex…WE ARE ONE WORLD and we have got the power to make a possitive change! All of you, CL2019 attendees, I consider as my friends now and I hope we will stay in touch.
On Friday I had to say Good Bye to all, because I was going back home just after the brunch. There were again nice good-bye gifts from Google, awards for Local Guides, whose contributions were above expectations. Great job!!! I admire that! Time during the CL2019 will stay in my memory and my heart forever. Thank you Google for such an amazing experience! It was very motivating and I plan to participate even more in Local Guide program.
You can find more photos of CL2019 at my Instagram profile “tequilapolaca” ( link below the post).