Ronald Reagan Building mobilizes visitor center with new app

By Rebecca Borison

September 6, 2013

The Ronald Reagan Building

Washington's Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center is releasing a mobile application that will help its visitors access the building?s numerous events, restaurants and other offerings.

The app will provide users with detailed maps and self-guided tours along with educational and interactive games. Trade Center Management Associates, which operates the Ronald Reagan Building, partnered with XCO Digital to develop the app.

?We are a unique federal building, chartered by congress, open to the public 365 days a year, 7 days a week,? said Julia H. Rapley, vice president of sales and event planning at the Ronald Reagan Building, Washington. ?We host over a 1,000 conferences and special events every year. It?s a very dynamic and exciting place.

?Because there is so much going on all the time, the start of the development of the app was really to come up with a way to help people find where they were going and find things of interest in the building,? she said.

Mobile trade center
By the end of the month, the Reagan Building?s app will be available for free in Apple?s App Store and Google Play.

It will offer an interactive guest experience for people visiting the building.

The app will list the various public events and conferences taking place in the building as well as direct visitors to the locations within the building. Maps will locate exhibits, tenants, restaurants, shops, restrooms and parking.

Visitors will also be able to create customized self-guided tours that explain the history, artwork and highlights of the Reagan Building.

Additionally, the app will list building hours, directions, contact information and a calendar of events. It will also provide transportation information, including next Metro train/bus, Capital Bikeshare locations, airport departure times and taxi cab information.

Not only will the app provide practical information, but it will also offer fun games that relate to the building?s history and goals.

If the building wants to send relevant information out in real-time, the app enables push notifications as well.

Enhancing the building experience
Many different buildings have related apps that guide visitors through the venue itself.

For example, the Museum of Modern Art offers a number of apps that guide guests through the museum. The apps give visitors information about the artwork and provide maps of the museum to help them make their way through the building (see story).

Lowe?s also recently added a map feature to its app to help consumers navigate the in-store experience (see story).

?I think it is safe to say that the vast majority of people coming to the building have a mobile device with them, and it offers us a great way to put a lot of information about the building right in someone?s hand,? Ms. Rapley said. ?With the enhancements and functionality that XCO gave us, it also gives those mobile users great opportunity to customize and put together their own tour of the building.?

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York

Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer. Reach her at rebecca@mobilemarketer.com.

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Has training left the building?

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In-person training is no longer the only way to go, but it hasn’t died out. Why do people who use e-mail, text and the web for daily business still gather in one room when it’s time to learn? Should clicks replace bricks?

It’s no longer automatic for people to book a flight in order to go “meet” with a client. In some wired circles, even the good, old-fashioned conference call is becoming passé. If most organizations have gone almost completely virtual, what does that mean for live training? Does the face-to-face approach still offer real value even if it’s no longer physically necessary? 

Here’s the debate:

The way you work should be the way you learn.
Everyone today lives on conference calls, web presentations and shared desktop screens. Why should training be any different from the way we get things done?Make the connection.
Virtual training methods convey information, but they don’t replace human interaction and immersion in a culture. Learning requires all these elements.Sorry about those frequent flier miles, but.
When people gather in person for training, they spend more time away from their jobs. They incur travel expenses. Then there’s the cost of using or owning a facility. The cost differential is just too great.Mix it up.
Live training is an opportunity for employees to engage with leaders – people above them in the hierarchy – in a setting that invites questioning and expression. Organizations need a dose of that now and then.Train at the speed of information.
Studies support the idea that virtual training can produce the same learning results with more speed and flexibility.Train with the entire brain.
When you’re training on site, every participant is doing only one thing. The same thing. Virtual environments leave the door open to distraction and may limit people’s ability to immerse in what’s going on.That’s what the technology is for.
The only reason traveling to live training was ever a standard practice is that there was no alternative. Now there is. Sticking with the old way makes as much sense as training via telegram.People prefer to train in person.
Learning works best on willing minds – and when it comes to virtual learning, employees are less willing. Research shows live training is more popular, even among the youngest professionals.Field trips are for school, not work.
Teaching employees new skills shouldn’t have to mean buying them plane tickets and hotel rooms. Sorry, everyone.Live training works better.
Personal interaction, the communication of nuance and the opportunity to network all add up to more effective training. Surveys support the assertion.

Bill Pelster, Managing Principal, Talent Development, Deloitte Services LP

Base training plans on the outcome, not the method.

There is still a need for in-person training. Sometimes that need is so prominent that it’s worthwhile for an organization to commit significant resources to a physical environment dedicated to learning. In fact, that’s what Deloitte has done with the development of Deloitte University.

Yet no one would consider building a training center, or flying people around the country, to convey basic information like how to fill out timesheets or expense reports. There’s an identifiable point in subject matter and complexity where the convenience of virtual training gives way to the nuance and focus of live training. The trick is finding that point.

It’s important to remember that training methods take many forms and neither “live” nor “virtual” has a singular definition. Few people get excited at the “live” idea of a closed room, a box of donuts and a PowerPoint presentation and even fewer are eager to sit through a 70-page webinar while their regular emails ping away in the corner of the screen. Wherever it happens, training must take people out of their day-to-day mindset and encourage them to participate with enthusiasm.

In my view, the best training starts with the desired business outcome in mind and works backward from there. A virtual platform tends to work better when participants are working within an understood context or building on existing knowledge – for example, when a group of tax professionals has to learn about a change in tax law. For developing new skills, such as when a group of IT managers must learn about a completely new technology or business process, learning most likely works better in person. Live training also tends to fit better when the subject matter is more qualitative, or when the outcome depends on personal networking.

Remember, that training is an investment in your talent. What you expect from these people 10 years from now should count more than which training method is more convenient over the course of a few days.

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International Building Code 2012

Featuring time-tested safety concepts and the very latest industry standards in material design, the 2012 INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE SOFT COVER version offers up-to-date, comprehensive insight into the regulations surrounding the design and installation of building systems. It provides valuable structural, fire-, and life- safety provisions that cover means of egress, interior finish requirements, roofs, seismic engineering, innovative construction technology, and occupancy classifications for all types of buildings except those which are detached one and two family homes and townhouses not more than 3 stories high. The content in this code book is developed in the context of the broad-based principles that facilitate the use of new materials and building designs, making this an essential reference guide for anyone seeking a strong working knowledge of building systems.

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The High Cost of Building Autos

  GM Q2 12 Toyota Q1 13* VW Q2 12 Ford Q2 12 Chrysler Q2 12 Apple Q2 12 Net revenue $37.6 billion $70.5 billion $58.3 billion $33.3 billion $16.8 billion $39.2 billion Net income $1.5 billion $3.7 billion $6.8 billion $1.0 billion $.4 billion $11.6 billion

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