Spotlight on Guide Raju Gandha: Everyday is a learning experience

Raju has been happily married for the past 35 years. He and his wife have a married daughter, and they reside near Rajasthan. For the last 25 years, Raju worked in the hospitality industry, managing international expositions and conventions in India.

“Unfortunately, with the pandemic, all the conventions and meetings in India have been frozen.”

After years of consulting in a sector that has been practically shut down due to the pandemic, Raju was searching for something new that could utilize his practical hands-on experience in hosting.

“Working in hospitality is about getting the details, client meetings, and lots of coordination. It’s a long-drawn process. A good international conference takes about 4 years to mature.”

Event managers like Raju are exposed to all kinds of things, making communication and research essential.

“As we joke in the industry, we are 'Jack of all, and master of none.' We know everything and nothing.”

This extensive experience prepared Raju to seize whatever opportunity came his way.

Creating Connection in the New Normal

Adjusting to the new normal wasn’t easy for Raju, as he was used to working with many people. However, he found a positive aspect in the situation.

“Some things are great. In the sense that interaction in the virtual world has increased, which otherwise might not have been possible.”

While searching for new opportunities, a former competitor of Raju’s posted about a startup—GetSetUp. The post mentioned that they were looking for Guides over 50 with subject knowledge, internet skills, and time to connect with others. At 59 years old, Raju fit the description. He reached out, and after an interview, Raju was live and online as a GetSetUp Guide by November.

To brush up on his skills, Raju attended sessions by U.S. Guides like Donna and Vicki on Zoom and watched a video of Marv conducting the New Member Orientation.

“I found the classes interesting, especially how she conducted them. And Norman was there, so I saw how to make it interactive and conduct a class. It was helpful to watch them and how they made ice-breaking seem less intimidating. Plus, they make all the participants feel as if he or she was their neighbor next door. I learned a lot from them.”

Making people feel comfortable was already part of Raju’s work in hospitality. The challenge was transferring those skills to a virtual environment.

“It is more difficult to do that virtually, but with the experience I have, I got into the rhythm. Every day is a learning opportunity. Even while I am speaking, I learn.”

Using Hospitality Experience to Create a Virtual Community

Raju began by teaching technology classes. He also has some innovative ideas for unique classes.

“One of the topics that I found interesting on the U.S. website is 'From Trash To Treasure'. I feel it is a useful class as we can recycle a lot of trash lying in our homes using our creativity.”

Working with GetSetUp has been both a learning and networking experience for Raju.

“We connect people from all over the globe. In fact, today I had someone who just came from California or was based there. She had logged in despite the 12-hour time difference. She follows us almost religiously, and I see that.”

Raju finds GetSetUp to be a great platform, likening it to a university where you don’t have to pay tuition or worry about grades.

“This is a great platform, very well thought out and executed to perfection. There is no limit—you walk in and learn. And you just keep on learning.”

The very first class Raju taught on GetSetUp was Gmail-Useful Things You Might Not Know. Since then, he has continued to teach a variety of technology classes, including Microsoft Word, Google Drive, Excel, and more. He also teaches classes on social technology, such as WhatsApp, Google Meet, and Zoom. Raju enjoys helping others learn new tools to communicate better, considering this closely tied to his previous work as an event manager.

Staying Motivated and Connected

Working with GetSetUp helps Raju in many ways.

“It keeps me motivated to do something and give back to society. ‘Knowledge shared is knowledge squared.’ I enjoy my work, interacting, and learning from learning. This is all possible since sessions are interactive.”

Raju considers his learners as family members, having developed close connections over time. He enjoys asking them questions not just about the class content, but also about anything new they’ve encountered that could benefit the whole group.

He finds that GetSetUp provides an encouraging environment for bringing up new ideas and insights to enhance the community. Some of these ideas lead to new classes that he is eager to learn about or teach.

“I have six new sessions every week. Plus, I’m looking to teach more phone applications on health, media, and utility tools that are becoming popular.”

He teaches about 13 classes a week. He spends time learning new skills or revisiting past class topics. He often attends other Guides’ classes to gain knowledge that he can pass on to others.

“It has always been my personal goal to share my knowledge with people for their benefit. That has always been my drive. I have mentored freshers and seen them grow. As much as I can, I try to contribute to the growth of any individual or a business like GetSetUp.”

Raju enjoys welcoming each new learner to the GetSetUp community, which is creating an extended family that transcends virtual boundaries.

Join Raju to enhance your technology skills or have fun learning new tools to connect!