The Google Product Experts Berlin Meetup 2019
I attended the Google Product Experts Meetup 2019. The event, which took place from October 21 to 23 in Berlin, Germany, is one perk of the Google Product Experts Program.
Google invites the PEs to the program events and covers the travel and accommodation expenses. Another perk of the program is the opportunity of testing new products or features.
Google rotates between global summits, which usually take place in California and gather PEs from all over the world, regional meetups, and local meetups where PEs come from smaller areas such as Europe or specific countries.
Besides the October Berlin event, in 2019 there was a meetup in August for APAC PEs. A meetup in Boulder is scheduled for November for American PEs.
These events feature talks by Googlers, sessions with product team members such as engineers or program managers, activities for providing feedback to the product teams and discussing in person with Googlers, and socialization opportunities.
Like all such events, this meetup was a learning opportunity and a lot of fun. It was my first time in Berlin and, although I visited only a small part of the city, I loved it. The good, warm weather with mostly clear sky made the experience even better.
The award ceremony of the program’s peer award recognizes some ten PEs who stand out in categories such as Mentor and Ambassador. Completely out of the blue, I heard my name called on stage to receive the Troubleshooter Award.
Well, it looks like I’m an award-winning Product Expert.
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| Waiting for the opening session of the Google PE Berlin Meetup 2019. |
The Google Product Experts Program
The members of the Product Experts Program, i.e. the Product Experts or PEs, are volunteers who help the users of Google products in the official support venues such as the community forums. To assist the users, we have some additional tools and access to Google for reporting bugs, escalating issues, and providing product feedback.Google invites the PEs to the program events and covers the travel and accommodation expenses. Another perk of the program is the opportunity of testing new products or features.
The Berlin Meetup
The PE program holds at least an event every year.Google rotates between global summits, which usually take place in California and gather PEs from all over the world, regional meetups, and local meetups where PEs come from smaller areas such as Europe or specific countries.
Besides the October Berlin event, in 2019 there was a meetup in August for APAC PEs. A meetup in Boulder is scheduled for November for American PEs.
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| When in Germany, celebrate Oktoberfest. The closing event of the PE Berlin Meetup 2019. |
These events feature talks by Googlers, sessions with product team members such as engineers or program managers, activities for providing feedback to the product teams and discussing in person with Googlers, and socialization opportunities.
Like all such events, this meetup was a learning opportunity and a lot of fun. It was my first time in Berlin and, although I visited only a small part of the city, I loved it. The good, warm weather with mostly clear sky made the experience even better.
The Awards
At the Berlin meetup I got a pleasant, unexpected surprise. |
| The Troubleshooter Award I received at the PE Berlin Meetup 2019. |
The award ceremony of the program’s peer award recognizes some ten PEs who stand out in categories such as Mentor and Ambassador. Completely out of the blue, I heard my name called on stage to receive the Troubleshooter Award.
Well, it looks like I’m an award-winning Product Expert.
