As a Google product expert, they fly me somewhere once a year, put me up in a hotel, and put on a conference for me and all the other product experts. It's something I always look forward to. Meeting up with all the other experts, some of whom I see every year, and some who are new to me. We party and we learn. There's a welcome reception/ party and a farewell party. Food, drink, music, dancing. SO much fun. Then all day we have breakout sessions on different products. This year it was in Austin, Texas.
I was very disappointed this time that there were no breakout sessions on Google photos, but I still enjoyed learning other things. Like how to sell products on your Youtube channel and how they deal with spam in Gmail, and what improvements they've made to the pixel camera.
I feel so lucky to be a part of this team. It gives me a relationship with Google as well as a relationship with other product experts all over the world.
The summit was just one evening and one day. I almost always splurge for some extra time. For Austin I paid for one night before and one night after, then I invited Melinda to fly out from reno and join me. Sleepover!!
We talked and talked, and walked all over Austin. It was wonderful. I got caught up on all the changes in her life and told her my deepest secrets! We reestablished our sisterhood.
Then, my old friend Marty, who lives just outside of Austin, saw my post on Facebook and made arrangements to drive in and hang out a bit, then drive me to the airport. What a delight she is, and this was another walk down memory lane. I don't get a lot of girlfriend time when I'm home or traveling - it's just me and Jim. These two were nourishing my soul.
Then for the flight home I snagged a window seat and enjoyed the scenery.
I'm in London attending the Google product Experts summit. It is a gathering of over 600 people from around the globe who volunteer their time to provide product support for Google products. I've been in the program since Google photos was first released in 2015 and I've attended a few of these events, but this is the first one that was held outside of the US, and it is definitely the largest. Apparently it is difficult to get visas for the US, so fewer international PEs (Product Experts) are able to attend. Google picks up the tab for flying everyone here, the hotel stay, all the food, drink, and partying. The event took over the entire hotel - the Hilton London Metropole.
PES = Product Expert Summit. They met us at the airport and drove us to the hotel.
Jim came with me and hung out during the 3 days off the event, then we're staying for the following week to explore London. We got here after an overnight flight from New Jersey. The plane landed at 6am and we were zonked. SO glad that Google arranged fort our room to be ready when we arrived rather than waiting for the l normal 3pm check in. We're went straight to bed and crashed till nearly 3.
On Monday I took the Google-provided bus tour of London, then there was the opening celebration. Food, drink, music, and performers. There were 3 party nights and each one had a theme. Monday night was a welcome to London and the performers were dressed up as beefeaters. Tuesday night was Alice in Wonderland with the red queen and her entourage strutting around and ... Off with your head!
Wednesday night they loaded us in a bus and took us to the iconic madame Tussaud's where Google had rented the whole place for our private party. Have I said OMG yet?
Then there was the actual conference Tuesday and Wednesday. Mornings were keynotes with all 600 of us in one room and afternoons were breakout sessions devoted to individual products.
Here was my schedule ... Conveniently printed on the back of my name badge, so I had it with me at all times and knew where to go.
On Tuesday afternoon, my breakout sessions were at the Google campus in London. Apparently it is one of the biggest buildings in downtown London. Right across the street from kings cross train station of Harry Potter fame. They loaded us on a bus for the 20-30 minute ride and took us to a private entrance then escorted us too or breakout rooms. We didn't get to see much of the building. There was only one breakout session on my product, Google photos, so I attended some on maps, YouTube, and Google fi as well.
Notice the headsets on the people in the audience. These are folks who don't speak English as their first language. All the presentations are in English so there are translators speaking thru the headsets. English may be the agreed-upon common language, but it was not the most common language spoken. I think Portugese was! And, then there were many more: Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia, Korean, Spanish, French, Italian ... You felt like you were in the United Nations. And, what an experience to get the flavor of what it's like to be an International company. Ok - so you have an amazing new product ... but when will it be available in Korean??
My favorite breakout session was for Google Fi Wireless. It was led by the Product manager for Google Fi and Google Voice, she was also tasked with managing the interface with Apple products. Her name was Siri! I was having trouble with Google Fi and Google Voice on my iPhone - so I was in the right place! I couldn't help myself, I had to go up to her and say, "Hey Siri, can you fix my phone?"
Siri and Chris
All the presenters seemed very happy to be there and to be talking with us. I guess we are a unique audience for them. We're not customers, we're not bosses or even co-workers, but we are quite familiar with the product and we've signed non-disclosure agreements, so they don't have to be so secretive with us. We are quite expert on their products and may even make them aware of issues they don't know. I can see where we would be a desireable audience for them.
When Google Photos first came out, I knew I wanted to become expert in it. I specialize in helping people manage their digital photos. I had been using, and teaching, Picasa (Google’s free photo management software) for over 10 years – and I loved it. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of other people were using Picasa and loving it because I taught them. But, the writing was on the wall that change was inevitable. Picasa was built for the world of digital cameras and computers – it only used the web occasionally, just for sharing your best photos. The world of photos was migrating to smartphones and web, no computer necessary.
There are plenty of people today who take lots of photos with their phones and don’t even have a computer! Google understands this trend more than anyone. Google doesn’t just see the future, they invent it! So when they announced Google Photos as a brand new product, re-engineered from scratch, to handle all of today's digital photo needs – I wanted in! I immediately started using it in May 2015. Then I jumped in on the user help forums. I wanted to become expert in this product because I knew it was going to be good. I started reading everything I could find, and then answering people’s questions in the forum. It didn’t take long before the Google community manager for Photos noticed and invited me to join the Top Contributors program. Here is a 2 minute clip from our Button Show Episode 95 where we discuss how to get help on Google products. In this clip, I tell why I became a Top Contributor.
This is a volunteer program. People become Top Contributors because they have a passion for the product, and a passion for helping people learn. Google then gives us perks. The primary perk is recognition of our expert status. The next is open lines of communication to Google and our other product experts. I am on a team that includes people from the Philippines, Germany, Ghana, UK, and of course Mountain View, California – Google Headquarters.
Top Contributors Meetup
Every year Google recognizes it’s Top Contributors for all products and gives us the biggest perk – a trip to Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA for a meetup. So this is what we were doing in California. Google paid for my flight and 2 nights in a hotel. Jim and I decided to make a week of it, sandwiching the meetup between teaching at a computer club north of San Francisco, and visiting friends south of San Francisco. The main event, for me anyway, was the meetup. The first night was a reception right in the hotel, so Jim got to attend this part, and he’s glad he did! The first person to come up saying, “I know you!” was referring to Jim! It was Michael Daniels who, with Jim, was very active in the Google Hangouts help with Ronnie Bincer.
The only person there that I had ever met in person before was Brenna. She was our host on our first Google visit in 2009, now she is apparently in charge of this whole program. It was great to see her again.
The main event began the next day and I was thrilled to meet the community manager for the Google Photos Top Contributors, Ben. He's kind of our "handler," acting as liaison between us and the product development team. He communicates with us at least weekly ,and sets up a monthly video call with all of us.
Google Photos wasn't the only product represented - there were Top Contributors for Google Hangouts, Google Voice, Google Blogger, Gmail, Calendar, Android, Nexus, Search, Maps, Youtube, and many more! We heard presentations from several "Googlers" - that's what you're called if you work for Google! And, I got to get definitive answers on some Blogger questions and Google Voice questions I had - yes, I am a geek!
They also facilitated several icebreaker activities, and of course meals. I think my favorite part was sitting with Googlers on the product development team for Google Photos - I had some questions of them, but they had even more questions for me! It was also wonderful to get to meet many of my team face-to-face. I not only have team members now, but also some new friends!
After our summer tour of about 4,000 miles, we are back in Florida, and back in our townhouse in Fort Lauderdale. We learned that our Air Conditioning had died while we were gone. That's OK, it's not hot here ...........
Right!
We called whoever we could find and paid whatever they asked to get that fixed ASAP!
We did Episode 94 of our Live "What Does This Button Do" Show in Air conditioned comfort, with blazing fiber-optic Internet, a big desk, and all our technology in one room where it can be set up and stay! Ahhhh.
Hmm, am I sounding like I'm getting tired of being on the road? Maybe a little. But leave me home for more that a few weeks and I'll sound tired of that too! I love them both!
We didn't have much time at home because we were scheduled to fly to California for Chris to attend the Google Top Contributor's conference (yes, waaay cool.) We had a lot of work to catch up on ... Chris wanted to get the first edition of her Google Photos book done before going to Google, but when we woke up Monday morning to a flat calm, perfect for kayak diving, day - we had no choice. We had to go.
And, of course, we had to visit Chris' mom. She may not know who we are, but she likes anyone who will take her for ice cream!
And, HEY! I did get the book done. It's not ready for prime time yet - but it's ready to give out to some folks at Google and get their feedback.
This is our view on our morning walk just about a mile around a circle by our townhouse. You gotta agree, this ain't a bad place to be!
When you see things first hand, they’re never as good as the hype.
Except for Google! Everything you’ve ever heard about their reputation for being a good work place, a crucible for innovation, and lots of energy … it’s all true. It was a very memorable experience. What we tend to tell people about the most is the food! Every building – and there are lots of them – has a cafeteria. But, you’ve never seen cafeteria food like this. I had stuffed portobello mushrooms with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes. Jim had savory roast chicken and couscous. I had dessert pastries to-die-for. We ate in the main building’s cafeteria with I’d guess at least 250 other people, all eating this gourmet fare.
FOR FREE
Yep, if you work at Google, you eat free. So cool. And – you’re encouraged to exercise and play, and get massages! All at work, all for free or subsidized. The company puts it’s money where it’s mouth is when they say that happy, healthy employees are productive employees.
You get the distinct impression that all the employees want to do good. They want to make their bosses proud. Because I was on a panel the first day we were there – lots of people recognized us on the second day when we were at Google’s offices. They came up and shook our hands and said things like, “I’d really like to talk to you about an idea my team has …” Or, “We’d really like to know how you, and your customers, use our products.” The energy was just buzzing.
If we were 20 years younger – we’d be knocking on HR’s door – they call it People Operations. As it is, we kinda like what we do even more! But, we felt proud to be a part of the Google team even for a day! We made sure to stop by the store and get a couple of t-shirts!
The recording of the Picasa Webinar is supposed to be available by the end of this week. I’ll let you know a link then.
We’ve Twittered about it, it’s on our Facebook page, our latest newsletter, and we just sent out a notice to our complete 4,000+ mailing list (members, newsletter subscribers and Picasa tip-o-the-week subscribers) but I just realized I haven’t told you about it on this blog yet! :-(
We’re going to Google!
Google has invited us to speak at an internal conference in Mountain View, CA. No, we won't be driving the RV! They agreed to fly us out there and put us up at a hotel. We will also be co-hosting a webinar on Picasa.
On November 13, at 1pm Eastern time, you can watch a webinar (seminar delivered over the web) on the basics of using Picasa for managing your digital photos. Jaysie, from Google, will introduce Picasa, and Chris, from Geeks on Tour, will show you how to make your photos look better with just a few clicks from her favorite software. We hope you can all join in. Please take a moment now to register for the event. It's one hour long and it's free. If you can’t make the live webinar, it will be recorded. We’ll post the link as soon as it is available.
We couldn't be more excited about this opportunity. We promise to take loads of pictures so we can share the whole experience with you. Google is well-known as being Geek-Heaven, and a great place to work. We've been promised a tour of the Googleplex (Google's Headquarters in Mountain View, CA) as well as lunch in one of the many employee cafes. Oh Boy!
Here's more ... this video even says that workers at Google can bring their dogs to work! Odie says he'd like that! But then Jim told him, 'y'know, if you come to work ... that means you'd have to actually work.' "Oh ... never mind!"
Chris will also be on a panel at an internal Google conference discussing what users want by way of support from Google. If you have anything you'd like us to tell them, send us an email.
I’ve been hard at work getting our Beginners Guide to Picasa updated and expanded for Picasa 3.5 – and making new videos to go along with it. I posted a couple of them as a freebies on our Youtube account: 2GeeksOnTour (someone else actually had the geeksontour account !*@!???)
It was great fun. Most of the people in the audience had already used Google Earth a little, but I know they learned a lot by the end. At one point during the seminar we mention that ‘some people think that Google Earth is just a way to look at a satellite image of your house.’ That brought a lot of nervous giggles from the crowd – apparently we were talking about them :-) Although we did show how to look at a satellite image of your house, we spent the rest of the hour and a half showing all the other things you can do with Google Earth, and exactly how to use it.
If you missed the seminar, you can download the seminar handout from our website for free. Actually, you can download all of the seminar handouts if you’d like. Just, please respect that this is for personal use only – if you’d like a seminar presented you can contact us with the email link also on our website.
The sun is out, the temperature is up, the flowers are blooming. It is gorgeous here!
Weather forecasts say it will be cold again this weekend. But, we'll enjoy this while we can. And, we'll be leavng soon - headed back east. Here's our route, with a few markers and photos from past travels. Click on the markers to see my text, links and photos. You can also use the controls to move up, down, left, right, zoom in, zoom out. Or you cand click the map anywhere and drag it around. Pretty cool huh?
View Larger Map
If you want to learn how to embed a map like this, sign up for my newsletter (link below)! That is what I'm working on today. You can also read Google's Help Center on My Maps.
Jim did his Google Earth seminar yesterday and I'm starting to understand it enough to get hooked! Someone today came up and asked if you could use Google Earth to look at a river and see if it would be a good area to paddle. You know, no dams, no waterfalls, stuff like that.
What a good idea!
We are planning to paddle the Peace River this Sunday (our good friend, Marie, is coming to visit) and we want to do a little more distance than the last time.
Here is a video recording - a 'screencast' - of me using Google Earth to decide exactly where to paddle on the Peace River.
