Bringing local guides together for a Meetup is always challenging, as agenda slots need to get coordinated, travels need to be made, etc. That’s why I decided to try and set up a Virtual Meetup, where local guides from all around the globe could participate by logging in to an online session from a computer or mobile device. As a topic I picked ‘Lists’ (and added the attribute ‘Lovely’ to get a nice alliteration ).
The response was overwhelming… 76 local guides signed up, from a wide range of counties and LG levels. At that point I was getting a bit nervous, as I feared it would get impossible to manage such a big number of participants. But in the end only about 20 or so showed up, and it turned out to be perfectly manageable. Correction: manageable, not perfectly manageable, as the struggle with different windows and screens (the video chat itself, the text chat that went along with it, my shared desktop, my shared phone screen, the notes I had made in preparation) was quite challenging, but at the same time a good learning opportunity.
We had a nice talk about Lists on Google Maps and in between some other local guide related topics came up, which was fine of course. You can check the recording of the entire session here: https://youtu.be/zrFgfV-e47M.
As it was fun for all participants, I’m quite sure there will be more of these - at least I will host some more in the future (although no specific dates have been fixed as I have a super busy period coming up), and all other local guides should consider doing the same. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you consider hosting a Virtual Meetup yourself but still have some questions.
Congratulations, @JanVanHaver on this successful first virtual Meetup. I was impressed how you managed to share even your mobile screen with everyone.
The few questions I had prepared somehow got answered one by one as we went along. Normally I’m not THAT quiet in meetings
I thought about it and maybe we should consider making more of these as questions and answers sessions for entry level local guides as it seems super relevant to share and show how different tasks are carried out on desktop and mobile. Some experienced guides could share answering questions pre-submitted by attendees. And have questions repeatef live during the session for all to hear.
Another idea could be a tips sharing session where those who sign up are requested to share their best tips while sharing their screen.
Both ideas above would be more participatory in nature. Nice cultural exchange as an added bonus.
Cheers and thanks again for organizing and recapping this event.
Great suggestions @MortenCopenhagen , I will fully support you if you set up such a “LG newbies Q&A session” where some things are actually shown during the live session
Actually, it would be a good idea to prepare those kind of sessions with 2 people hosting it: one to do the moderation, and another one to share the screen & give the demos. That way, one of the 2 could always be monitoring the text chat when the other one is presenting.
Hi @JanVanHaver , you did a great job!
Awesome, you come up with so many great ideas and you successfully implement them!
Actually, I first took part in an event of this format and I first tried the Zoom tool.
It was interesting to listen to Local Guides from different countries.
Would like to continue this amazing experience of multicultural exchanging!
@MortenCopenhagen
Glad to see the emergence of new interesting ideas! I like them so much!
As for me, I can hold exchange sessions for a Russian/Ukrainian-speaking Local Guides.
Would like to see your ideas on the Idea Exchange.
I think many and many Local Guides will be interested about them!
Great add-on idea @JaneBurunina : Q&A sessions in specific languages. I did indeed get a few responses from people who would like to join, but are not proficient enough in English
Thanks @JanVanHaver for the Meetup! It was a great experience. And also, thanks for your suggestions! I’ve already started to work on a couple of ideas…
Though, did you have to choose the one screen capture where I made a weird face?
Thank you very much for the tag! I’m really glad that you overcame the obstacles and had a fruitful virtual discussion with Local Guides from all around the world. I can see how excited and inspired are the participants. It’s great that you had a ‘brainstorming session’ as @JaneBurunina said.
I hope there are more meet-ups of this kind in the future. Thanks once again for the awesome initiative!
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