Conferences and Port Cancellations, Why I'm Skipping the Google Product Expert Summit

 As a Google Photos Product Expert I am part of a globe-spanning team of volunteers who answer people's questions about all sorts of Google Products on the official Google Support forums. Once each year Google gathers us all together for a conference - a PE Summit. They give us product updates, chances to get to know each other and our Google counterparts and a Party! I've attended every year since 2015 when we were called "Top Contributors." See some photos below.

This year the PE Summit is being held in Dublin. Google makes the travel arrangements and pays our way to these events, but only with one round trip ticket. Since I now live on a cruise ship I can't leave and come back to the same place and expect the ship to be waiting for me. When I registered for the conference, we were in Alaska. I looked at the itinerary and saw that the ship would be in the Philippines in October so I asked for round trip flights from Manila. Then I set about making my own flight arrangements to get from the ship to Manila at the beginning and back to the ship at the end. 

The Itinerary That Ate My Energy

The ship went thru several itinerary changes that required me to change my flights. The end result was 6 days of travel in order to attend the 3 day conference! Here's the timeline:

1. Event scheduled for Dublin Oct 8-10
2. Ship will be in the Philippines on those dates, so I requested round-trip from Manila, leaving Oct 6, return Oct 11 (roughly 19 hours of travel each way including layover in Abu Dhabi)
3. Oct 5 Ship is in Bohol (Tagbilaran City) I can fly from Bohol-Panglao Int'l airport to Manila MNL (about 8 hours including layover in Manila)
4. Oct 11 I can fly from Manila MNL to Guam GUM and get a hotel to wait for the ship to arrive in Guam on Oct 13. (overnight in Manila then about 4 hours to Guam and overnight in Guam)
5. Guam Cancelled: next port = Saipan. Flights from Manila to Saipan stopover in Guam, so keep the flight to Guam and add Saipan for 1 more hour
6.  Saipan cancelled: next port Yap. Once again, no direct flights from Manila to Yap so keep Guam and add Yap. Only 2 flights/week go to Yap so add another night in Guam then 2 hours to Yap. Ship doesn't get there till Oct 15 so add a night in Yap
7. Bohol port cancelled and replaced with Cebu. Cancelled the Bohol flight to Manila and added Cebu to Manila. Nice, shorter flight this time. Cool.

The Final Straw

And then, this week, fate delivered the final, chilling nudge. The news of the earthquake in Cebu, Philippines, where I was scheduled to fly from on Monday, sealed the deal. While the airport wasn't directly affected, the potential for lingering side effects—aftershocks, strained infrastructure, just general chaos—was the last weight that tipped the scales.

What had once seemed like a challenging but doable adventure now just felt reckless. The mental gymnastics and logistical juggling were simply not worth it. 

So, I officially threw in the towel. Registration canceled. Manila-Dublin flights canceled. Cebu-Manila flight canceled. And those labyrinthine flights and hotel stays for Guam and Yap? Canceled, canceled, canceled.

A huge wave of relief has washed over me. Instead of spending six days stressed out and stuck in airport purgatory, I now have ten unplanned, glorious days to simply enjoy my wonderful Odyssey at sea.

Sometimes, the best adventures are the ones you cancel. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

Geeks go to Google: Part 2 - Top Contributor Meetup and Google Photos

by Chris Guld

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!

Impressions of Google

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. 

Google and Geeks On Tour

The webinar is over, and it was a great success.  Working with the wonderful people at Google was quite an experience. 
If you don’t know, a webinar is a seminar presented live worldwide on the web.  The technology to make that happen is quite amazing.  WebEx is the company that Google uses to make that happen.
We had a run-through last night to make sure all the WebEx stuff was working and that it all worked with our computers.  It did not go as smoothly as we expected, but we were assured that everything was working for today’s event.
During breakfast, several Google employees came over and thanked us for participating on the advisory panel yesterday and expressed a desire for continued discussion of some of the things that were talked about.
There were a dozen Picasa team members in the room for the webinar.  Computers, headsets and phones were set up and the participants started coming online.
Jaysie from Picasa welcomed everyone and did some introductory demonstrations before introducing the star of the show, Chris.
Chris really showed her expertise during her 25 minute editing presentation.  The experts in the room were very impressed. 
The Q&A segment followed with many good questions from the online guests and answers from the experts, including Chris. 
Pictures were not allowed inside the offices, but I can tell you, the place is really cool!
Thanks, Google!
We’re catching a plane in the morning to return to our RV in Florida.

p.s. You can watch the complete webinar on Youtube.

Visit to Google

What nice kids these are here in Google land!  Yes, that’s right – they are kids.  Our main contact has been a delightful woman named Brenna … she was born in 1983 – the same year as Jim’s son Devon, and the same year my Mom and I started our computer training business, Computer Savvy.

 

Here’s Brenna and another Picasa team member, Christina when they took us out to dinner at a wonderful restaurant called the Left Bank.

 

On Thursday morning, I was a panelist at a meeting of 3-400 Google employees who focus on the users … You.  They think I know something about what you want.  I felt honored, and it was *really* fun for me.  Here’s Jim and me posing with my fellow panelists.  From left to right -

 

Terry from Nortwestern University, Danny from EnergyAction.net, and Mike from Blumenthal.com.

 

After the conference, we all had a tour of Google’s main campus.  It really does feel like a university.

 

 

'42' = the answer to life, the universe, and everything - just Google it!

 

Jim just had to leave a tweet using a computer in Google's lobby!

 

Then, last night we spent some time at Google offices getting ready for the webinar this morning.  Speaking of which … *gotta go*

Fort Lauderdale to San Jose

By RV, we would probably take a month to make this trip.  By plane it was one day.  I much prefer RV travel – but flying certainly has it’s advantages!  The main one of course is that it makes short trips possible.  Google wanted us here to be on a panel on Thursday, then we’ll do our Picasa Webinar on Friday, and be back home in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. 

 

The other advantage is the view.  I always get a window seat because I love to look out and see places I’ve been from this unique perspective.  I suppose I’d get tired of it if I flew for business all the time – but, as it is, I’m fascinated.

 

Here’s the view leaving Fort Lauderdale.

 

And, here we are landing in Chicago.  Yes, I said Chicago! … No clue how they plan these routes …

 

Then comes the midwest – and I think this is the Mississippi River, around Dubuque.  We were there earlier this year and visited the River Museum. 

 

Then came Denver airport, and the Rocky Mountains.

 

And, last is the rolling hills of California – Mt. Diablo in the distance I think – coming in to land at San Jose.

 

It was a relaxing flight – we read the magazines, and our books.  We had our computers in our carry-ons, but there was no power at our seats and no Wi-Fi – so they stayed in our carry-ons!  Now we’re at the Santa Clara Marriot, using the Wi-Fi at $12.95/day!  We’re looking forward to having dinner with the Google Picasa Team tonight.  And lunch with my oldest friends – Lanz, a friend since 8th grade who lives in the Bay area, and Arynne, a friend since 9th grade who lives in Santa Cruz.

 

I hope we get to take a nap sometime since we were wide awake at 4:30 am!  Now there’s another advantage of RV travel – the time zone changes are much more gradual!

Going to Google

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 !*@!???)