Strategic Objective 4.2: Educate, Inform, and Inspire the Capitol Hill Visitor Experience

AOC’s strategies for this objective include:

• Enhance opportunities for memorable visitor experiences that educate and inform.

• Enhance the visitor experience through effective use of digital media and tools.

• Facilitate the development of a collaborative Capitol Hill visitor experience.

Discussion: AOC’s efforts directed towards this objective are intended to ensure that AOC’s visitors receive an enriching, memorable and inspirational experience at the Capitol. AOC works to provide more opportunities for visitors to experience the Capitol, embrace technology and new media to improve visitor experiences and create a comprehensive experience.

In FY 2014, AOC efforts included educating, informing and inspiring AOC employees and volunteers. As part of this work, the strategy team developed a new employee orientation program that was implemented in early 2014. The revamped two-day on-boarding program now includes an in-person welcome by the Architect of the Capitol along with a comprehensive overview of the agency and a tour of the U.S. Capitol.

AOC also continued enhancing its operations to provide an exceptional experience for visitors who tour the U.S. Capitol. These enhancements included offering a new War of 1812 tour, expanding the Exhibition Hall Encounters Program and incorporating new middle-school civics curriculum into the standard Capitol tour. Additionally, AOC continued to expand the second season of educational student programs.

At the U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG), the agency sought to connect with Americans visiting Washington, D.C. from the agricultural parts of the country by featuring the crop plant wheat in the “Amber Waves of Grain” summer exhibit. This exhibit featured the work of famed biologist Dr. Norman Borlaug, who was honored by Congress in the spring of 2014 with a statue in the National Statuary Hall. The USBG created, in collaboration with the Capitol Visitor Center, a number of programs, exhibits and lectures to coincide with the unveiling of the statue.

In FY 2014 AOC continued focusing on expanding visitor engagement and targeting its reach to educate and inform the public about the buildings and grounds of Capitol Hill, the AOC and major projects underway. This work included redesigning the agency public internet site, www.aoc.gov, to make it fully compatible with mobile technology. Thirty percent of the site’s 2.4 million visitors accessed it using a mobile device. In addition, AOC conducted extensive media outreach for the Capitol Dome Restoration that included features on CBS’ 60 Minutes program (see In Focus: 60 Minutes Recognizes the U.S. Capitol Dome’s Anniversary in the Appendices of this report), The Washington Post, CNN, NBC and The Wall Street Journal among others. An AOC social media survey of its 68,000 Twitter followers, 7,000 Facebook followers and 5,000 Instagram followers demonstrated their 100 percent favorable impression of the AOC and its work.

AOC measures progress under this objective with one performance indicator, online customer satisfaction survey score. This indicator tracks online visitors’ satisfaction with the CVC website (www.visitthecapitol.gov). Table 46 provides the FY 2014 overview of this performance indicator.

TABLE 46: Performance Indicator—Online Customer Satisfaction Survey Score, See Full Report, Page 89

TABLE 47: Online Customer Satisfaction Survey Score, See Full Report, Page 89