2022
Hi everyone!
There are so many things I want to say on this post and please believe me when I say I’m not trying to attack someone, it’s just the way I see everything happened.
I will start sharing with all of you that I did not receive the invitation for this year Summit which got me really sad due to all the effort I made for more than a year contributing with the program.
As the minimum age to be a Local Guide is 18+ we know that must of us are working all day and we use our spare time to contribute with the community.
When I knew I was not selected to attend this year summit I knew there were a lot of things that I will have to improve in order to be considered for the next year, I believe most of the ones who didn’t get selected will agree on this.
Since I’m from Mexico I’ve been looking for the user who got selected to attend this year summit but so far there are no post here, twitter and facebook. I know just a few (less than 5 users) applied and they are active on this forums contributing trying to help other people around. I’ve seen some users from other countries who just created an account on the forums 1 or 2 days before, even the last day to submit their application and still they received the invitation to attend the Summit this year.
Here I quote their informative application post:
Applicants will be selected based on a number of factors including, but not limited to:
- High quality, well-rounded and consistent contributions to Google Maps in the past 12 months.
- Consistent involvement with the Local Guides community such as being a supported community moderator, Connect moderator, meet-up host and active Connect contributor
About this, I feel like contributing with the Connect community was not considered at all since I’ve been trying to help users (also some those other people from Mexico as I mentioned above). I can say I’m the only Supported Community Moderator active on this forums according to what I’ve seen during the past 6 months that I joined Connect.
- The ability to understand and speak English
I’m not trying to be selfish, I understand that someone from my country deserved the opportunity to attend but unfortunately I haven’t see any post or person who said he/she was invited to the Summit.
I see some countries have more than 1 Local Guide invited which is awesome to see more than one had the chance to attend, I feel happy for them and I know the trip is better when you have someone from your country to travel with you.
My conclusion is that Mexico got excluded from this year Summit. I don’t know if it was because of the problems with the government, cultural problems with people who doesn’t like us, I really don’t know and I won’t say those are the real reasons because this program is made of volunteers who want to contribute with their every single person around the world no matter their religion, sexual preferences, nationality or else. We build a family as Local Guides around the world. Maybe I did get invited but my email was wrong (I wish that was true). I do believe we, Mexicans, had good candidates to attend this event, we have so much culture and tips to share with other people around the world. Also I saw people sharing an email about their entry confirmation which I did not receive and I don’t know why. According to Analytics, only had 2 views from US which makes me thinkg my application was not reviewed at all. I do have a Visa so it wouldn't be a problem to get invited.
Last but not least, I want to share with you how I feel about everything mentioned before.
I’m proud of all my contributions I’ve made for more than 1 year. I learned so many things thanks to this Connect Community and made friends and family around the world. I know this program is just more than contributing to win a trip. I believe I gave the best of me by helping my community in Mexico and people who visited my country.
Maybe it’s time for me to have a hiatus from this program as I feel my contributions in Google Maps and Connect forums are not important to the Local Guides Team because their decision to exclude my country from this event. (I keep believing this because not everyone got time and money to make trips around their countries or the world to contribute with this program, we only have energy and dedication in our spare time to contribute as much as we can with Maps and Connect and even that people who just created an account got invited. I saw less than 5 application posts from Mexico which was a requirement) Here’s my application post if you want to see it. My experience as a Local Guide (only if you are Level 5 you'll be able to see it)
Here in Mexico we have a semiarid weather so our temperature is always between 28Cº - 32ºC. Contributing with pictures always demand to be walking around under the hot weather and It got me really tired but I knew the best pictures needed a bright scenario, I was looking for quality pictures. Taking pictures of some places got me in trouble because people feel insecure about having a guy taking pictures of stores, buildings, etc. I had to deal with that with professionalism, we are not supposed to let people have a bad impression about the Local Guides program. I tried to be online at Connect forums all the week to help users with their concerns, sharing content about my city or my country. I do believe my contributions here were really helpful even sometimes users don’t select our answer as one because they don’t use the option. There is no way I can say that the time I spent at Connect forums was a waste of time, I made friends, I learned a lot about the program, I received feedback about my contributions to improve the quality. One of the best things about this program is the Connect forum. You can check My Profile in order to get an idea on how I've been contributing.
I didn’t contribute just to get invited. I knew this program got a huge potential with tourism as I mentioned on my application post. Having info about places that we were able to answer is also the best thing of the program, to let people know about accessibility and the services places can offer you. As I mentioned on my app video, one of the best rewards I got from Local Guides program was to know more about my city, to fall in love with it. I don’t really care about having more benefits since knowing the place where we live is more than enough. I believe on this program to make the world a better place by letting people know about the places around them and others around the world. I do not believe on excluding people by any circumstances. I believe on Summit 17 to be the best opportunity for Local Guides to give the feedback they need to keep improving the program.
I want to thank everyone for your time, dedication and helpful contributions to the program, remember you make this world a better place. My time contributing will always be something I’ll be proud of but if we (Mexicans) are going to be excluded after all we did (even the videos on YouTube showing the worst activities and “cultures” some people have. Because there is a lot of potential in other cities), there’s nothing I can expect from this program in my country anymore and the time I was using to contribute will be used in some other projects I have. I know some people from Local Guides team were always friendly to me and I really appreciate that.
Thanks for everything!
