Forum Report

_________________________________________________________________________________________

International Forum of Parliamentary

Visitors’ Centres:
Towards a comprehensive visitors’ strategy
_________________________________________________________________________________________

6 - 8 June 2018, European Parliament, Brussels,

Belgium
Contents

Introduction....................................................................................1

1. Sessions, workshops and visits.....................................................2

1.1 The human element........................................................................3
1.2 Parliaments as (digital) experience areas........................................7
1.3 Building an integrated visitors’ strategy.........................................9
1.4 Visitors’ facilities and workshops..................................................12
1.5 Youth and pedagogic offer............................................................16
1.6 Election of steering committee.....................................................18

2. Participants’ feedback...............................................................21

3. Conclusion.................................................................................26

Appendices...................................................................................28
Appendix 1: Forum programme.........................................................28
Appendix 2: List of participants ..........................................................32
Introduction

The second International Forum for Parliamentary Visitors’ Centres was held at the European
Parliament, Brussels, from 6 to 8 June 2018, where more than 60 participants from 34
different countries, both EU and non-EU, came together to exchange knowledge and ideas
about their respective visitors’ centres. Hosted by the Directorate for Visitors within the
European Parliament, who worked in close collaboration with members from the Steering
Committee to organise the event, the aim of this Forum was to facilitate the exchange of ideas
and practices, establish new connections and consolidate a professional network among its
members, for present and future uses. The Forum took place in various locations within and
outside the European Parliament and consisted of presentations, workshops, lively
discussions, visits to parliamentary visitors’ centres and networking activities. This report aims
to provide a summary of the topics discussed and compile the main outcomes of this Forum.

1
1. Sessions,
workshops
and visits
The forum consisted of five sessions, each
consisting of a different thematic agenda. The
following pages provide a summary of the
outcomes of these sessions, workshops and
visits to parliamentary visitors’ centres.

2
Session I:
The human element
PANELLISTS
David Clark
Head of Education and Engagement, House
of Commons, United Kingdom
Takashi Hirai
International Affairs Department, The
House of Representatives, Japan
Daniela Senk
Head of Unit, Strasbourg Conference and
Visitor Services, Directorate-General for
Communication, European Parliament
Lotte Tittor
Strasbourg Conference and Visitor Services,
Directorate-General for Communication,
European Parliament
Henry Wasung
Visits and Seminars Unit, Directorate-
General for Communication, European
Parliament
MODERATOR
Ringailė Razauskienė
Visits and Seminars Unit, Directorate-
General for Communication, European
Parliament
The first session of the forum served as an
introduction to participants to the multiple
different parliamentary visitors’ services
on offer, both within the European
institutions and in the different countries
represented at the Forum. Speakers
explained how they welcomed visitors to
their respective parliaments and
highlighted the successes of their visitors’
centres and the challenges they face. Key
focal points in this session included how to
promote active citizenship to visitors, how
to reach out to young people and how to
ensure that visitor centres are accessible,
welcoming and engaging.
To open the first session of the forum,
Marie Ramot and Albrecht John, both
from the Visits and Seminars Unit
(VISSEM), Directorate-General for
Communication, European Parliament,
explained the functioning of the European
Parliament and other EU institutions to
participants. They highlighted the
importance of compromise in EU
institutions; from compromise between
3
different political groups to compromise
between the European Parliament, the
Commission and the Council of the
European Union.
This presentation was followed by a visit to
the hemicycle, where Ms Ramot and Mr
John explained in more detail how plenary
sessions and committee meetings function
in practice. Participants asked questions,
including on how the seating is organised,
how high the level of attendance to
plenary sessions is and on the transparency
of the voting system.
Following this, David Clark gave a
presentation on the House of Commons
Education Centre in the United Kingdom,
offering participants an insight into the
running of a visitors centre dedicated to
education and youth engagement. He
presented the Education Centre’s New
Participation Strategy, which is based
around ‘becoming a thriving parliamentary
democracy’, and which aims to educate
young visitors on the relevance of
Parliament and create active, engaged
citizens. He explained that the goal of this
strategy is to ‘reach out to a range of
communities’ and ‘empower citizens to
have a voice and make a difference’. He
followed this with an explanation of the
background of the visitors’ centre,
including the challenges it faced.
The centre now offers a core educational
programme composed of six different
curriculum focused workshops and a tour,
followed by the opportunity for children to
meet their MP. The centre also offers a
transport subsidy to attract schools from
outside of London, and runs Autism Quiet
Days. Challenges for the centre include
retaining and improving the participation
rate, which fell to a low of 12% of target
after the London terror attacks, and
increasing MP involvement from both
Houses. In the future, the centre plans to
develop student evaluation alongside the
pre-existing teacher evaluation, to
integrate education on Brexit and increase
engagement after visits.
Takashi Hirai gave participants an insight
into the guided tours on offer around the
House of Representatives in Japan. He
highlighted the growing interest in politics
from people both in Japan and
internationally and the need for visitors’
services to respond to this. He proceeded
to give participants an overview of the
guided tours that the House of
Representatives provides for visitors.
These guided tours are successful as
evidenced by positive Expedia reviews, and
have been running since before the Second
World War. The House of Representatives
receives many visitors; there were
approximately 600,000 visitors in 2017, of
which 386,000 were students. The House
also provides specialised visits for foreign
VIPs. Tours are run in Japanese, English or
sign language on request, and there are
brochures available in multiple languages.
4
Following this, Daniela Senk and Lotte
Tittor presented the conferences and
visitor services on offer at the Strasbourg
site of the European Parliament outside of
plenary sessions. They outlined the goals of
the Strasbourg Visitors Services Unit,
which are to further open the site to
visitors, improve the visitor experience and
to continue to increase visitor numbers as
well as to co-organise conferences with
civil society to further increase the
conference activities at the site of the EP in
Strasbourg, to open up the House to civil
society and thus serve the President’s will
to bring Europe closer to the citizens, the
motto under which he placed his mandate.
The offer in Strasbourg includes tailored
briefings for visitors, youth seminars and
extensive work with the rectorat of
Strasbourg in view of motivating first time
voters, as well as guided tours including
the Hemicycle, the recently opened
Parlamentarium Simone Veil and the role-
play game. Finally, they highlighted the
symbolic importance of Strasbourg as a city
that embodies the messages of unity and
peace that are at the heart of the European
Union, and expressed the need for the
European Parliament in Strasbourg to be
an essential destination and a must-see for
the 14 million tourists who visit the city
every year.
The final presentation of the session was
given by Henry Wasung, who shed some
light on the strategy and activities of the
Visits and Seminars Unit (VISSEM) at the
European Parliament in Brussels, notably
two-way communication and a tailored
approach. The aim of VISSEM is to ‘build
human contact with the people of Europe,
deepen their knowledge and
understanding of the EU and foster their
engagement in European politics’. He
explained that the unit predominantly
focuses on group visits, individual visits and
seminars.
The visit typically includes a tailored
presentation in the language of the group,
an exchange of views with an MEP (when
available) and the visit of the hemicycle
from the visitors’ gallery. VISSEM also
organises Youth seminars and receives
Opinion Multiplier Groups, and helps
organise special events, including the
European Youth Event, the Open Day and
the Citizens’ Parliament.
Notwithstanding the format of the visitor
activity - and examples of Youth Seminars,
Opinion Multiplier Groups and events such
as Multilingualism Day were highlighted -
Mr Wasung focussed on the preparatory
and follow-up work necessary to tailor the
visitor offer. In addition, he underlined the
requirement for groups to demonstrate
their own dissemination efforts, for
example through newspaper articles or
YouTube videos, one of which was shown.
The presentations were followed by a
question and answer session, and
participants were curious to know more
about the strategies and functioning of the
visitors’ services presented. Key questions
included ‘how to you incorporate history
into your exhibition?’, ‘what methods of
evaluation are in place?’, ‘how do you
ensure that your visit is accessible?’ and
‘what kind of workshop is the most
engaging to young students and why?’
5
Mr Clark explained that the centre focuses
on key moments in parliamentary history
such as the Gunpowder plot and the
granting of universal suffrage, and aims to
strike a balance between a focus on history
and on citizenship. In terms of accessibility,
the House of Commons runs Quiet Days for
autistic children and runs tactile tours and
sign language tours. Staff receive training
sessions to continually make the House of
Commons more accessible and inclusive
for all citizens. He also answered that the
‘Laws and Debating’ section of the centre,
where students have a debate and pass a
law based on a chosen topic, is the most
popular.
Mr Hirai said that while there is no formal
evaluation procedure in place, the House
takes note of online ratings, which are
largely positive. In terms of accessibility,
the House of Representatives organises
tours for visually and hearing impaired
visitors.
In terms of accessibility in the European
Parliament in Strasbourg, Ms Senk and Ms
Tittor explained that the Parliament
including the hemicycle is accessible for
people with disabilities, and that in the
Parlamentarium Simone Veil there is an
induction system in the 360° cinema for
hearing impaired people. They also
pointed out that the topics that are the
most engaging for young visitors are often
those the highest on the agenda for the EU,
for example climate change.
Mr Wasung reminded participants that the
European Parliament visitors’ services has
a strong historical component, focusing for
example on the raison d’être and
formation of the EU. He explained that for
evaluation, there are feedback forms that
are adapted to the type of visit, be this an
individual or group visit. Finally, he said
that accessibility is an area in which
VISSEM is constantly striving to improve,
and that there is for example a conference
facilitated by VISSEM that is organised for
and by disabled people.
Session I highlighted the importance of
engaging visitors, building a lasting
contact with them and constantly
reflecting on the strengths and
weaknesses of the services offered. There
was a strong focus on the importance of
accessibility from each speaker, along
with an emphasis on making the offer
available in multiple languages. The
forum reflected the importance of
engaging with young people in particular,
and offering programmes tailored to
them, from educational workshops to
youth conferences. Finally, a takeaway
from this session was that while
parliamentary visitors’ services can vary in
their particular offer, they share common
goals and missions, the most essential of
these being to promote parliamentary
democracy and foster active citizenship.
6
Session II:
Parliaments as (digital) experience areas

PANELLISTS The second session of the forum examined

Juris Vigulis
Head of Public Relations Department,
Latvian Parliament, Latvia
Eddy Habben Jansen
Executive Director of ProDemos, House
for Democracy and the Rule of Law, The
Netherlands
Michael Manz
Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-
General for Communication, European
Parliament
MODERATOR
Alexander Kleinig
Head of Concept and Design Unit,
Directorate-General for Communication,
European Parliament
how technology can be used to improve
the visitor’s experience. The presentations
by Juris Vigulis, Eddy Habben Jansen and
Michael Manz explored how digital and
communication technologies can be used
to encourage political engagement and
promote active citizenship. The panellists
shared examples of best practice from
their respective visitors’ centres to show
that digital technologies are an integral
tool to engage with visitors.
Juris Vigulis informed participants on an
effective communication strategy for
visitors’ centres and provided examples of
best practice from the Latvian Parliament.

7
As the way people communicating is
changing, visitors’ centres must adapt their
strategy to effectively engage with citizens.
Mr Viglus argued that making messages,
short, visual, attractive and relevant is vital
for an effective communication strategy
and that the use of visual/digital
communication (e.g. animations/gifs,
videos, infographics and photos) is
essential to move towards
comprehensive visitors’ strategy. The main
challenges the visitor centre in Latvia
experiences is the difficulty of developing
visual content and tackling low trust in
politics and the Parliament.
Eddy Habben Jansen introduced
ProDemos, the visitors’ centre of the
House for Democracy and the Rule of Law,
to participants. Through the use of virtual
reality experiences, visitors have the
opportunity to ‘walk through history’ and
immerse themselves in the past. The
‘Parliament Simulation’ game enables
young people to experience the
democratic process of legislative
procedures of the Dutch Parliament. In the
‘Democracy Experience’, young people are
divided into three different interest groups
and must jointly develop a strategy to
respond to a crisis situation and other
political problems. Overall, this
presentation highlighted how visitors’
centres can effectively use technology to
stimulate engagement with democratic
and legislative processes, deepen
understanding of political procedures and
improve human interaction.
Michael Manz introduced the Europa
Experience project to participants. The
Europa Experience is a cooperation of the
European Parliament and the European
Commission and gives citizens the
opportunity to find out more about
European politics. The project aims to (1)
foster citizen’s engagement and promote
active citizenship, (2) promote Europe
towards citizens and (3) modernise the EU
offices in the Member States. The use of
a technology is an integral part of the
project, which foresees a series of digital
media stations, including a Commissioners
and Members of European Parliament
“Wall”, an Institutional Triangle, a 360°
Cinema, portraying the functions of the
parliament, and much more. Pilot projects
are currently running in Berlin and
Ljubljana, and are in the process of being
rolled out in other Member States of the
European Union.
The presentations highlighted that digital
technologies are beginning to play a vital
role in the work of parliamentary visitors’
centres. The use of digital technologies
enables visitors’ centres to provide more
current and interactive information, while
at the same time encouraging discussion
between visitors. Visitors’ centres must
adapt to the changing ways of
communication and use technology to
provide an appealing, engaging and
interactive experience for visitors.
8
Session III:
Building an integrated visitors’ strategy
PANELLISTS
Patrick Bontinck
CEO of Visit Brussels, Belgium
Nastja Klemencic Schmidt
Head of Visitors Services Coordination Unit,
Directorate-General for Communication,
European Parliament
Ana Marusia Lima
Director of the Popular Participation
Coordination, Chamber of Deputies, Brazil
Mariana Miranda Tavares
Director of Institutional Visitation and
Community Relationship Coordination,
Senate, Brazil
MODERATOR
Tatjana Tesic
Visitors Services Coordination Unit,
Directorate-General for Communication,
European Parliament
The third session of the forum examined
the different ways Parliaments are building
an integrated visitors’ strategy. The
presentations by Partrick Bontinck, Nastja
Klemencic Schmidt, Ana Marusia Lima and
Mariana Miranda Tavares showed that
marketing and promotion, establishing
partnerships with third parties and
investing in a visitor loyalty programme are
essential for a successful visitors’ strategy.
Patrick Bontinck highlighted that a
partnership between parliamentary
visitors services and professional tourism
networks locally and internationally is
crucial, in particular if their objective is
increase visitor numbers, embed their
offer within the city as a visitor venue and
to target tourists. He also provided
recommendations to improve partnerships
between touristic agencies and facilities
such as parliamentary visitor venues to
subsequently improve the offer available
for the public. A common target group and
9
a well-defined communication plan and
messaging strategy per communication
platform is crucial for success. He provided
some concrete details on the long-standing
partnership between Visit Brussels and
European Parliament and outlined the
major successes that it has brought to both
partners. Moreover, he suggested that
promoting the EU is a common task of
everyone involved in marketing Brussels,
also in order to tackle still persisting
stereotypes and negative attitudes of the
EU amongst citizens.
Nastja Klemencic Schmidt highlighted that
a strong 360 degrees visitors strategy
needs to focus also on the ‘before’ and
‘after’ the visit elements, fundamental to
enhance the visitors’ experience in the
times of digital communication, online
engagement, expectations of instant
feedback, post-visit dialogue and
commitment to stay in touch.
Before going into more detail, she briefly
described the visitors strategy of the
Parliament and its main objectives: to
increase the numbers of visitors, to
position the EP and the EU better on the
Brussels tourist map, to raise awareness of
the multiplicity of the offer of the EP and
the specificities of each facility and finally
to boost the image of the Parliament as an
open and welcoming institution. A lot of
internal and external management
practices and communication tools had to
be either put in place or revised in order to
fulfil these objectives and this is still an
ongoing process.
In the second part, Ms Klemencic Schmidt
provided some examples of projects that
helped the European Parliament reinforce
the pre-visit and post-visit visitor
experience, also highlighting remaining
challenges. Before the visit the EP focuses
a lot on marketing (promotion, events,
targeted outreach, stakeholder networks
and high-quality communication products -
as an example a couple of promotion
videos were shown). After the visit the
focus is on feedback collection and data
intelligence, including segmentation of
visitor profiles that determine how the EP
stays in touch with the various target
groups, citizens and stakeholders and
multipliers.
Ana Marusia Lima and Mariana Miranda
Tavares presented the comprehensive
offer available for citizens at the Senate
and the Chamber of Deputies in Brazil.
Their offer involves: specialised visits on
specific topics; internships; workshops;
monthly TV shows; pedagogic information
sessions for teachers; simulation
parliament for middle-school, high-school
and undergraduate students; LabHack; E-
Citizenship; and E-Democracy. They
highlighted that the interaction and
personal contact with citizens - especially
young citizens - is fundamental, as it is the
young who will have the power to change
Brazil’s future. Moreover, they also shared
their experience on having a partnership
with ViiBra. The presentation showed that
inter-institutional partnerships are
possible and also vital for a comprehensive
visitors’ strategy.
This panel session was followed by a visit
to the Flemish Parliament. Julie Clément,
Director of Communication, Information
and External Relations gave a brief
overview on the role and functioning of the
Flemish Parliament and informed
participants about the purpose, content
and realisation of the new visitors’ centre
10
in the Flemish Parliament (expected
opening in 2018). Located in a former
postal cheques office, the new visitors’
centre of the Flemish Parliament targets
young people and families and aims to (1)
begin a dialogue with citizens, (2) increase
knowledge of the Flemish Parliament and
the workings of democracy and (3) position
itself as an open, hospitable and
transparent House. The communication
strategy is based on three premises: (1) to
broaden outreach to more people, (2) to
deepen knowledge about the Flemish
Parliament and (3) to connect people with
the Flemish Parliament and Flanders.
The information session was followed by a
guided-tour through the Flemish
Parliament and a lunch, where participants
had the opportunity to network with the
staff of the Department of Communication
& Public Relations of the Flemish
Parliament.
This session revealed that marketing and
promotion is a key component of a
successful visitors’ strategy. Interacting
with visitors ‘before’ and ‘after’ their visit
is crucial to raise awareness of and foster
long-term engagement with
parliamentary processes. Furthermore,
the session highlighted that partnerships
between parliamentary visitors’ centres
and professional touristic networks are an
essential component of a successful
visitors’ strategy. This partnership is vital
for parliaments to become a part of the
touristic offer, extend their outreach to
different levels of society and increase
awareness of their visitors’ centres.
Interestingly, this session revealed that
parliamentary visitors’ centres, despite
different social, cultural, economic and
political contexts, face similar challenges.
These include negative perceptions of the
EU, lack of political literacy, security
issues, language barriers and lack of
political literacy, lack of trust in media,
politics and the Parliament.
11
Session IV:
Visitors’ facilities and workshops

PANELLISTS This session gave the participants the

Juan Ignacio Sole Andres
Head of Risk Assessment Unit,
Directorate-General for Security and
Safety, European Parliament
Tatjana Tesic
Visitors Services Coordination Unit,
Directorate-General for Communication,
European Parliament
Christelle Courtade
Resources Directorate, Directorate-
General for Communication, European
Parliament
MODERATOR
Beth Plemmons
CEO, Capitol Visitor Center, U.S. Congress,
U.S.A
Søren Væver
Head of Communication, Danish Parliament,
Denmark
opportunity to attend a workshop on one
of the important issues of ‘Security Policy’
or ‘Data Collection and stay-in-touch’. The
participants could choose the subject that
most concerned them and got the chance
to share their ideas, questions, problems
and solutions.
Workshop 1: Security Policy: How to cope
with security threats
The first of the afternoon’s two
workshops was dedicated to ‘Security
Policy: How to cope with security threats’,
and was attended by approximately half
of the total participants. Moderating the
discussion was Beth Plemmons, from the
U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, who also
delivered a presentation alongside her
counterpart from the European
Parliament, Ignacio Sole, Head of the Risk
Assessment Unit within DGSAFE. Both

12
presenters provided valuable insight into
the policies, practices and challenges
facing each institution, and these
presentations were followed by a fruitful
discussion, coming from numerous
members of the audience, during the
subsequent Q&A session.
Beth Plemmons offered an in-depth
presentation of security policy at the
Capitol Visitor Center, Washington D.C.,
which included comprehensive
photographic footage of the security
measures in place. Of interest, the
presenter described the tight-knit
collaboration involved with the local police
department, who employ over 1700
uniformed officers in the immediate
environs to secure the visitor centre.
Similarly, we learnt that CVC staff also
support congressional events, such as the
presidential inauguration and the state of
union address, as well as other major
official functions. Beth also highlighted
that members of staff at the visitor centre
go through an intensive training
programme in order to ensure the best
possible security practice. In order to
monitor visitors’ activities and movements
within the building, Beth also explained
that visitors on guided tours are given
timed passes, which security personnel can
use to assess any unusual activity. In order
to prepare for a variety of scenarios, there
are also regular staff training exercises at
the CVC, which mean that the building can
be cleared in minutes, in case of
emergency.
Ignacio Sole gave a detailed description of
the activities of DGSAFE, specifying that
the role of the directorate-general is to
“protect and enable”, and should be
regarded as part of EP management rather
than as a prohibitive or police body within
the institution. In particular, Ignacio
pointed out current security threats facing
not only Belgium as a whole, but also the
parliament specifically according to
different categories of risk. We learnt that
the task of providing security to the EP is an
ongoing operation, requiring constant
assessment of the status quo, threats and
new technologies. Rather than asking ‘if’
an attack might take place, security
departments should make preparations for
‘when’; as suggested by the head of unit,
there are only two types of institutions,
from the security point of view - those
which have already been attacked, and
those that will be attacked. To employ
military terminology, the present threat-
level facing the DGSAFE can be
summarized by the ‘VUCA’ acronym:
Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and
Ambiguous.
In the following Q&A session, several
participants tabled questions for both
Ignacio and Beth. Of the many asked, some
of the more fruitful points for discussion
focused on: lockdown procedures at the
Capitol Visitor Center, the issue of who
secures the European Parliament in the
case of an emergency and questions of
protecting visitors’ personal data from a
security perspective. We learnt that once
certain levels of authorisation had been
granted, DGSAFE at the European
Parliament would call on the police to
neutralise an attack. It was also pointed
out that while there are some grey areas
13
relating to the retention of visitors’ data,
this information is strictly protected and
only referred to in very rare circumstances.
Workshop 2: Data collection and stay-in-
touch
Søren Væver stressed the importance of
data collection and staying in touch with
visitors, while also pointing out that data
collection has become a big challenge
since the new General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR). All organisations
involved with data collection, including
the Parliamentary visitors’ centres are
facing many new challenges. This
workshop was designed to share
problems, questions, experiences and
solutions to these new challenges.
Tatjana Tesic presented the process of
data collection and keeping in touch with
visitors of the European Parliament’s
facilities. For an inclusive visitors’
experience, it is important to go beyond
the visit itself, and keep an interaction
with the visitors after their visit. Beyond
the difficulties of collecting data as such
on-site, the production of relevant
content remains a key aspect.
Segmentation is another crucial step in
the process, in order to optimise the
outreach and deliver qualitative content
to the relevant audience. The European
Parliament has two different databases;
one focuses on citizens (B2C) and the
other on business (B2B). The process of
data collection is more less similar. The
European Parliament either gathers data
before the visit via a registration form, or
during their visit via ‘Keep in Touch-cards’,
photo animations activities or surveys.
The main challenge the European
Parliament is facing is related to the
human resources aspect that entails the
entire process of collecting data, cleaning,
and importing them into a secured
environment. Legal challenges should also
not be underestimated.
Christelle Courtade gave a short overview
of the legal challenges related to personal
data collection, in particular since the
introduction of the General Data
Protection Regulation that came into
force on 25 May. This regulation protects
natural persons with regard to the
processing and free movement of their
personal data. The GDPR has 7 main
principles: 1) Fair, lawful and transparent
processing; 2) Purpose limitations; 3) Data
minimisation; 4) Accuracy; 5) Storage
limitation; 6) Integrity and confidentiality;
7) Accountability of the data controller.
The fact that affirmative consent is
obligatory and that people now have the
right to know what information of them is
stored and can ask to rectify or erase this
information is a challenge that many
organisations are struggling with. Even
though the European Parliament is
formally not bound by the GDPR, the
institution still strives to implement the
GDPR principles in order to be fully
transparent towards EU citizens on the
processing of their personal data She
explained how -as a result of that- the EP
visitors services have had to organise
themselves internally.
14
In the discussion that followed, many
problems, solutions and questions were
shared relating to different issues and
challenges. There were big differences
between the participants in the use of
data and the process of coping with the
GDPR. Whereas some countries were
already completely in line with the
obligations of the new regulation, others
were still struggling and had many
questions. For example, several
participants were not sure how long they
could store their visitors’ data. Christelle
Courtade explained that there is no fixed
amount of time that is allowed for storing
data, but that this depends on the
purpose of your data collecting. The key
to the new GDPR is to justify and explain
why you need to store data for a specific
amount of time. If the reason is just and
you have affirmative consent, you are in
compliance with the GDPR. Another issue
that was widely shared was the painful
process of losing parts of your database
because of a lack of affirmative consent.
For example, Amy Pitts from the visitor
centre of the United Kingdom shared that
only 20% to 30% of the people that not
yet had given affirmative consent chose
an opt-in after they reached out to these
contacts.
15
Session V:
Youth and pedagogic offer

PANELLISTS The fifth session focused on the pedagogic

Ewa Goodman
Head of Education and Outreach
Department at the House of European
History, Belgium
Tome Gushev
Advisor on Legislative and Political
Education, Assembly of the Republic of
Macedonia, FYROM
Andrew Harper
Deputy Director Museum of Australian
Democracy, Australia
Dragana Papic
Coordinator, Democracy Workshops
"Barbara Prammer”, Parliament of
Montenegro, Montenegro
MODERATOR
Laurence Bragard
House of European History, Directorate-
General for Communication, European
Parliament
offer for young people at visitors’ centres
around the world. Participants were taken
on a guided-tour of the House of European
History by Laurence Bragard, Guido
Gerrichhauzen and Alberto Fuertes
Ferragut to see the pedagogic offer
available at the permanent exhibition of
the House of European History.
Ewa Goodman gave an overview on the
offer available for primary school students,
secondary school students and university
students. Moreover, she explained which
themes are predominantly explored in this
museum, including: migration, identity,
human rights, conflicts and
communication. The museum offers three
different forms of learning activities:
guided tours and workshops, independent
activity worksheets and a special offer
were objects are approached out of

16
showcase/ display cases. The online
resources are provided in 4 languages and
will be soon available in all 24 official EU-
languages.
Tome Gushev gave an overview of the
offer available for students in Macedonia.
Mr Gushev highlighted that the visitors’
centre in Macedonia is crucial for young
people, as they will be the new leaders of
the future. As young people in Macedonia
are still used to an authoritarian culture, a
visitors’ centre is fundamental in order to
change the mentality of young people and
promote democracy further. The team of
Legislative and Political education consists
of four people who occupy themselves
with: trainings and workshops, education
and specific communication with the
public and event organisation.
Andrew Harper gave an overview of the
educational offer that is available at the
museum of Australian Democracy and the
Australian Parliament. The offer includes
digital experiences, outdoor experiences in
the courtyard, events and contests. Mr.
Harper detailed one contest that the
Parliament has organised. This contest,
where students designed a flyer on
democracy, is a wonderful example as to
how parliaments can foster youth
engagement with parliamentary processes
in a collaborative, participatory and
engaging way. Mr Harper showed
participants the promotional video, which
interestingly used a child’s voice as the
voice-over. Some constraints concerning
the visitors’ centre in Australia were
addressed, including that the Parliament is
heritage listed, meaning that the ability to
make constructional changes is limited,
and that the size of the country inhibits
inhabitants from visiting the Parliament.
Dragana Papic explained that the
educational programme available for
young people in Montenegro is the result
of a close collaboration and partnership
with the Austrian Parliament. She gave an
overview of the offer available for young
people, including workshops on specific
topics (e.g. Democracy and Parliament,
European Union and Human Rights),
simulation games, in-house events and
ceremonies. The key takeaway from this
presentation is that a close collaboration
between visitors’ centres can generate
mutual benefits and most importantly
improve the visitors’ experience.
This session provided examples of best
practice to create an engaging
educational offer for young people. The
examples of best practice show that there
are several creative ways to reach out to
young people, create a varied educational
offer and enthuse them about political
processes. Moreover, this session
highlighted that close collaboration
between visitors’ centres can further
enhance the quality of educational
programmes. The educational
programmes that were shared and
discussed at this Forum can be used by the
different visitors’ centres around the
world to improve the quality of these
programmes and enhance international
learning.
17
Election of steering
committee
For the election of the Steering
Committee, Liat Shimoni-Konitzki, Nik
Apostolides and Alexander Kleinig were
joined by Miguel Sousa Lara and Petr
Valenta on the panel to discuss: the
election of future members of the
committee; the organisation of the 3rd
International Forum for Parliamentary
Visitors’ Centres, to take place in 2019;
and, the setting-up of a communal
database for the pooling of resources and
participants’ contact details.
In particular, Liat Simoni-Konitzki thanked
everyone for their participation, and
expressed gratitude for all the work put in.
As she will be moving on to a new job, Liat
revealed that her position as chairwoman
of the steering committee will be vacant in
the coming months, and that her position
will therefore require a successor.
Continuing the tradition of a committee
chairwoman, Beth Plemmons, from the
Capitol Visitor Center, U.S. Congress,
volunteered to take on the role.
Indeed, having played an instrumental role
in the foundation of the Forum, Alexander
Kleinig announced his future departure as
a member of the committee, to be
replaced, potentially, by his colleague at
the European Parliament, Patrizia Prode,
Head of Unit for the Parlamentarium.
Expressions of interest to join the Steering
Committee also came from several other
participants, including from Brazil and
Hungary; however, it was decided that the
30th June, 2018 should be set as a formal
deadline for volunteers to come forward,
along with an area of specialisation.
The discussion then moved on to the
question of establishing a communal
resource for the purposes of pooling
personal details, ideas and practices for
participants. Nik Apostolides, Deputy
Director of the Capitol Visitors’ Center,
mentioned the existence of a private
18
Facebook group, which members can use
to communicate with one another, and
made an invitation for those participants
who were not already members to join the
page. At the same time, some concerns
were also aired as to the accessibility of
Facebook for certain officials, and so Nik
made a call for participants to suggest
alternative platforms, referencing Yammer
as one possibility. It was, nonetheless,
agreed that Google Docs remained a safe
and accessible option for all participants to
share documents and information.
As to the matter of organising the 3rd
International Forum for Parliamentary
Visitors’ Centres, to take place in the first
half of 2019, both Liat Simoni-Konitzki and
Nik Apostolides called on participants to
submit via email any offers to host the
event, also no later than the 30th June,
2018. The first Forum having taken place at
the Knesset Visitor Centre, Israel, and the
second Forum at the European Parliament,
Brussels, it was mentioned that the
Steering Committee already had some idea
as to where the next event could take
place, though nothing had been decided to
date. Participants were thus invited to
table any offers to host, soliciting
numerous attendants to air their
enthusiasm.
More widely speaking, Alexander Kleining
made a number of important points
concerning the vision behind the Forum, its
goals and initiatives for the future. Some
stress was also placed on the need to
produce a tangible result from this year’s
event, either in the form of a professional
toolkit, to which members can add their
own resources, contacts and knowledge
for the benefit of other members, or for EU
member state visitors’ centres to consider
incorporating an EU element into their
respective visitor experiences. Either way,
Alexander Kleinig proceeded to
underscore the strong democratic impulse
behind the Forum, insofar as each
institution could play a role in mobilizing
the democratic spirit, especially in those
areas where democracy is declining:
specifically, but not exclusively, among
youth.
In sum, it was clarified that the Forum
should be regarded as a professional
network, rather than a formal political or
legal organisation, the objective of which is
to facilitate the exchange of knowledge,
rather than represent individual
parliamentary interests. As such, the
Forum can be seen as a grassroots
network, requiring as much of an
investment in terms of time as its members
are willing to make; in this regard, the
future development of the Forum is a carte
blanche, to be made and imagined by the
contributions of its constituent parts. On
the issue of the diversification of tasks
within the network, it was also suggested
that contacts meet and exchange ideas
under a specific theme or category, e.g. a
group for Nordic Parliamentary Visitors’
Centres, or, likewise, a group dedicated to
managing the social media page.
Participants learnt of existing, shared
collaboration projects, such as that
between Austria and Montenegro.
To conclude the session, the following
offers were made to extend and embolden
19
the future development of the Forum: Poland, Finland, Sweden and the United
Benoît Morin, from the Parliament of States.
Canada, volunteered to be part of a
brainstorming team, to help direct the Finally, the afternoon’s discussions ended
potential paths along which Forum might with an invitation to visit the Belgian
advance; meanwhile, David Clark, from the Federal Parliament on the following day.
UK House of Commons, volunteered to
lend a hand in creating a pool of statistical
data relating to each participant visitors’
centre. Indeed, several other offers to
assist in the development of the Forum
were also made by delegates from Austria,

20
2. Participants’
feedback
We interviewed eight participants of the forum and asked
them about their experience at the European
Parliament’s visitors’ centre in Brussels.

21
 Mr Rainer Hindsberg, Deputy Head of Information at
Eduskunta, Finland

What did you like most about visiting the European

Parliament’s visitor facilities?

“I have been particularly impressed by the House of

European History. In an amazing way, I think it brings it all
together. I missed some things, but I realise that it must
have been a real challenge to put this exhibit together. I
thought it was amazing.

As for the Parlamentarium, there were several concrete examples and ideas that I am
stealing to take home and that I am going to use.”

What insights did you gain from visiting the different visitor facilities at the European
Parliament that you could take back to Finland?

“At the Parlamentarium, I liked the way they showed the faces of all the MEPs. I think that
this is important because we don’t do that well enough. I want to try to think of a way to
make sure that visitors of the Finish Parliament see the MPs.”

Mrs Liat Shimoni-Konitzki, Director of the Knesset Visitors’

Centre at Knesset, Israel

What did you like most about visiting the Hemicycle?

“Coming from Israel, a small country, to the European Union

is something very exciting and it’s very impressive. When you
visit the hemicycle, you begin to understand the meaning of
having a representative from so many countries around
Europe, sitting together and creating the right atmosphere and
environment for all European countries together. I think it’s very
impressive.”

Did you gain any insights from visiting the different visitor facilities at the European
Parliament that you could take back to Israel?

“Definitely! In the last few years I have gone from parliament to parliament and I have learned
that there is something to learn from each parliament. The most impressive thing that I have
learned here is about the effort that you put into technological systems. In Israel, we don’t
have any technological systems in our tour and I found that you created an experience that is
all about technology. You have created an experience here that is all about technology. It
opened my mind on how I can use some of the technology in Israel.”

22
 Ms Gordana Vrabec, Public Relations and Visitor Centre Officer
at the National Assembly, Slovenia

What was your favourite part of visiting the Parlamentarium?

“My favourite part of visiting the Parlamentarium was

definitely learning about European history. The exhibition is the
perfect opportunity for young people to become aware of what
Europe has achieved; I hope that we will be able to preserve it. I
believe that this is a very strong message, and they have to
understand our history and of course they have to fight for the rights we
managed to bring to Europe in the 20th century.”

What insights did you gain from visiting the different visitor facilities at the European
Parliament that you could take back to Slovenia?

“I particularly enjoyed the role play game at the Parlamentarium because it is very
important to stimulate young people to debate and to educate them about democracy.”

What surprised you the most about your visit at the European Parliament?

“I was surprised to find out that you can contact the Members of Parliament.”

Mr Andrew Harper, Deputy Director at the Museum of

Australian Democracy at the Old Parliament House,
Australia

What did you like most about visiting the European

Parliament’s visitor facilities?

“I liked the true stories that were being told. I didn’t feel
like there was anything hidden or glossed over. As
somebody not from Europe, I felt like it was a very authentic
experience and extremely well put together. In fact, I have been here three times in my visit
to Brussels, so I am a regular visitor!”

What insights did you gain from visiting the different visitor facilities at the European
Parliament that you could take back to Australia?

“I liked the layout of the museum. I thought it was a very engaging space to look around. I
was happy to come back 3 times in the space of 2 weeks, not only because of the content,
but because it was a very accessible format.”

23
Ms Ana Marusia Lima, Director of the Popular
Participation Coordination at the Chamber of
Deputies, Brazil

What did you like most about visiting the European

Parliament’s visitor facilities?

“I liked everything. It has been a wonderful time to

be here with you. I think the places are wonderful and
we learned a lot. I was surprised, and couldn’t imagine
how rich this experience could be.

I could never have imagined how all of the other parliaments face the same challenges as
us, because we are a country in South America with a very different reality. But a lot of
things are so similar, and I think this is helpful for us. We don’t feel alone anymore. Other
countries, even the richer ones, they have the same challenges. I think democracy is facing a
lot of threats and I hope we can continue doing our job in spreading this idea - let’s work
together, let’s do things in order to enrich the experience of citizens, lets educate and
engage them. [The forum] was a surprise, but a good, a very good one.”

Mr Nick Karapapas, Head of Directorate for Public Relations

at the Hellenic Parliament, Greece

What did you like most about visiting the European

Parliament’s visitor facilities?

“The effort [of the House of European History] to promote the

idea that we are united through diversity. This is an experience
for all Europeans.

I realised that all the people working at the Parlamentarium are

constantly updating the exhibition. It’s a live museum, it is not a fixed museum, and it is
constantly evolving.”

24
 Mr David Clark, Head of Education and Engagement at the
House of Commons, United Kingdom

What did you like most about visiting the European

Parliament’s visitor facilities?

“So I’m a little bit of a geek and I love going to visit chambers.
So going in to see the hemicycle, seeing different chambers
and how they are laid out, how they are set up excites me.”

What insights did you gain from visiting the different visitors’
facilities at the European Parliament that you would like to take back to the United
Kingdom?

“There is a lot more public information available here. When you walk in [the
Parlamentarium], you can click on a screen and find out about the meeting agendas. We’re
actually looking at the moment into how we put across that kind of business that is
happening [in the House of Commons]. It’s brilliant when you come into an amazing
building, but this doesn’t tell you what democratic action is currently taking place. So we’re
looking at that, and it was interesting to see how the European Parliament does that.”

Mr Tome Gushev, Advisor on Legislative and Political

Education at the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia,
the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

What did you like most about visiting the European

Parliament’s visitor facilities?

“Everything. I come from the Balkan States, from the Republic

of Macedonia, this was a great experience for us! For the Republic
of Macedonia this [level of technological equipment] is science
fiction!”

“I had an idea that I could organise a competition in Macedonia and we can organise for the
best few students to have a trip to Brussels to see the Parlamentarium and the House of
European History.”

25
3. Conclusion

26
Conclusion
The European Parliament hosted the Second International Forum of Parliamentary Visitors’
Centres, on 6 - 8 June, 2018. The event gathered an impressive attendance from the national
parliaments from the EU and outside the EU of 61 participants from 34 countries. The forum
consisted of three days of stimulating discussions, presentations, workshops and visits to
parliamentary visitors’ centres.

Ciril Stokelj, Director for Visitors at the European Parliament, concluded the forum, thanking
all the participants for their contribution and engagement. He highlighted that the forum gave
participants the opportunity to learn from others, exchange ideas and develop new
knowledge. By expressing his wish for continuing a sustainable forum and for this to be in the
form of a formal network, he wished the participants success in their respective visitors’
centres.

Report by Stella Erker, Bea Lovestone, Maarten Koolen, Francis Dilley, Pieterjan Van Langenhove

27
Appendix 1: Forum programme

Wednesday, 6 June 2018

9.00 - 9.30 Registration of participants, including welcome coffee, Visitors’ Entrance,

Paul-Henri Spaak (PHS) Building, European Parliament, rue Wiertz 60,
Brussels

9.30 - 10.00 Welcome address by Ciril Stokelj, Director for Visitors, Directorate-General
for Communication, European Parliament

Introductory remarks by Liat Shimoni-Konitzki, Director of the Knesset

Visitors Centre, Israel, Chairperson of the Forum Steering Committee

10.00 - 13.00 Session I: The Human Element

Meeting room: Paul-Henri Spaak Building, PHS 0C41

Moderator: Ringailė Razauskienė, Visits and Seminars Unit, Directorate-
General for Communication, European Parliament

10.00 - 10.30 “EP at a glance”, by Marie Ramot and Albrecht John, Visits and Seminars
Unit, Directorate-General for Communication, European Parliament

10.30 - 11.00 Visit to the Hemicycle and Family Photo

11.00 - 11.30 Coffee break

11.30 - 12.30 “The Education Centre - 4 years on and planning for the future”, by David
Clark, Head of Education and Engagement, House of Commons, United
Kingdom

“Our guided tour and enhance outreach strategy for all visitors, by
Takashi Hirai, International Affairs Department, The House of
Representatives, Japan

“The Strasbourg site of the European Parliament: opening up to the

citizens of Europe”, by Daniela Senk, Head of Unit, and Lotte Tittor,
Strasbourg Conference and Visitor Services, Directorate-General for
Communication, European Parliament

“Engaging with visitors” by Henry Wasung, Visits and Seminars

Unit, Directorate-General for Communication, European
Parliament

13:00 - 14:30 Lunch at the Members’ Restaurant

14.30 - 16.30 Meeting point: Parlamentarium, Rue Wiertz 60, Place du Luxembourg
- Quartier européen, Brussels

Welcome address by Patrizia Prode, Head of Parlamentarium Unit,

Directorate-General for Communication, European Parliament, followed by
a tour of the Parlamentarium, including the role-play game, by Michael
Manz, Hendrik Prummel, Christopher Robinson and Francis Dilley

28
 17.00 - 18.00 Session II: Parliaments as (digital) experience areas

Best practices in using media, games, and exhibits in getting the

message across. The session will focus on experiences that use
technology as partof the visitor experience.

Moderator: Alexander Kleinig, Head of Concept and Design Unit, Directorate-

General for Communication, European Parliament

“Increasing digital communication in the recent year” by Juris Vigulis, Head

of Public Relations Department, Latvian Parliament, Latvia

“Introducing two programmes from the Dutch Parliament” by Eddy Habben

Jansen, Executive Director of ProDemos, House for Democracy and the Rule
of Law, The Netherlands

“Europa Experience” by Michael Manz, Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-

General for Communication, European Parliament

Thursday, 7 June 2018

08.45 - 09.00 Meeting point: Visitors’ Entrance, Paul-Henri Spaak (PHS) Building,
European Parliament, rue Wiertz 60, Brussels

9.00 - 11.00 Session III: Building an integrated visitors’ strategy

More and more Parliaments are considering themselves as part of a

local/national touristic offer. This session would look at elements such
as marketing, promotion, visitor loyalty programs

Meeting room: Paul-Henri Spaak Building, PHS 7C050

Moderator: Tatjana Tesic, Visitors Services Coordination Unit, Directorate-
General for Communication, European Parliament

“The EU in Brussels: tools and strategies to enhance its tourist potential” by

Patrick Bontinck, CEO of Visit Brussels

“Beyond the actual visit: why 'before' and 'after' the visit should matter”
by Nastja Klemencic Schmidt, Head of Visitors Services Coordination Unit,
Directorate-General for Communication, European Parliament

“Experiences in the Visitors Program of the Brazilian National Congress”, by

Ana Marusia Lima, Director of the Popular Participation Coordination,
Chamber of Deputies and Mariana Miranda Tavares, Director of Institutional
Visitation and Community Relationship Coordination, Senate, Brazil

11.30 - 14.00 Visit to the Flemish Parliament by minibus, rue de Louvain 86, Brussels

29
 The Flemish Parliament is a regional Parliament housed in a former
post office. It is an interesting example of how architecture and art
can be used to brand a Parliament.

Lunch offered by the Flemish Parliament

15.00 - 17.00 Session IV: Visitors’ facilities and Workshops (in parallel):

Workshop 1: Security policy: How to cope with security

threats: Meeting room: Paul-Henri Spaak Building, PHS

7C050
Moderator: Beth Plemmons, CEO, Capitol Visitor Center, U.S. Congress,
U.S.A

Presentation by Juan Ignacio Sole Andres, Head of Risk Assessment Unit,

Directorate-General for Security and Safety, European Parliament

Workshop 2: Data collection, audience segmentation and stay-in-touch:

Meeting room: Jόzsef Antall Building, JAN 6Q1

Moderator: Søren Væver, Head of Communication, Danish Parliament,
Denmark

Presentations by Tatjana Tesic, Visitors Services Coordination Unit, and

Christelle Courtade, Resources Directorate, Directorate-General for
Communication, European Parliament

17.00 - 17.45 Summary of the workshops by the moderators and debate on how to best
use the Forum to enhance an exchange of good practices, by Nik
Apostolides, Deputy CEO of Visitor Services, U.S. Capitol Visitor Center,
U.S.A., Liat Shimoni-Konitzki, Director of the Knesset Visitors Centre, Israel
and Alexander Kleinig, Head of Concept and Design Unit, Directorate-
General for Communication, European Parliament, Paul-Henri Spaak
Building, PHS 7C050

Friday, 8 June 2018

08.45 - 09.00 Meeting point: House of European History, European Parliament, rue
Belliard 135, Brussels

09.00 - 09.15 Welcome coffee in the Fables Room, House of European History, European
Parliament
09.15 - 10.30 Welcome address by Constanze Itzel, Head of Unit, followed by a tour of the
museum by Laurence Bragard, Guido Gerrichhauzen and Alberto Fuertes
Ferragut, House of European History, Directorate-General for
Communication, European Parliament

10.30 - 11.30 Session V: Youth and pedagogic offer

30
 Meeting room: Auditorium of the House of European History,
European Parliament
Moderator: Laurence Bragard, House of European History, Directorate-
General for Communication, European Parliament

“The pedagogic offer for youth developed by the House of European History
on themes such as Migration, Communication, Human Rights and available
in 24 official EU languages”, by Ewa Goodman, Head of Education and
Outreach Department at the House of European History.

“Educational activities of the Parliamentary Institute”, by Tome Gushev,

Advisor on Legislative and Political Education, Assembly of the Republic of
Macedonia, FYROM

“Youth and pedagogic offer”, by Andrew Harper, Deputy

Director Museum of Australian Democracy, Australia

“Presentation of the Montenegrin Education Centre”, by Dragana Papic,

Coordinator, Democracy Workshops "Barbara Prammer”, Parliament of
Montenegro, Montenegro

11.30 - 12.30 Election of the Steering Committee and adoption of a work programme for
2019: candidatures for the next conference, membership subcommittee,
enhancing exchange of info between the conference, by Liat Shimoni-
Konitzki, Director of the Knesset Visitors Centre, Nik Apostolides, Deputy
CEO of Visitor Services, U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, U.S.A., and Alexander
Kleinig, Head of Concept and Design Unit, Directorate-General for
Communication, European Parliament

12:30 - 12.45 Closing Remarks by Ciril Stokelj, Director for Visitors, Directorate-General for
Communication, European Parliament

13.00 - 14.00 Lunch at the restaurant of the House of European History

31
Appendix 2: List of participants

EU PARTICIPANTS AT THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF PARLIAMENTARY

VISITORS’ CENTRES

BELGIQUE/BELGIË / BELGIUM

Chambre des représentants/Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers

Ms Isabelle MORE, Communication Officer

Ms Mireille PÖTTGENS, Head of the Public and International Relations Department

Senaat/Sénat/Senat

Ms Brigitte HENAU, Deputy to the Director of the Protocol, Reception and Communication Department

Ms Marie-Aline STACANOV, First Advisor of the Protocol, Reception and Communication Department

БЪЛГАРИЯ / BULGARIA

Народно събрание / National Assembly

Ms Elena KAMENOVA, State Expert and Guide for the National Assembly

Mr Krasimir KRASIMIROV, State Expert and Guide for the National Assembly

ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA / CZECH REPUBLIC

Poslanecká sněmovna / Chamber of Deputies

Mr Petr VALENTA, Executive Head of the Visitor Centre

DANMARK / DENMARK

Folketinget

Ms Tania FORGILLO, Secretary to Deputy Secretary General / Head of the Service and Administration Secretariat

Mr Mongin FORREST, Senior Project Manager

Ms Annitta strup MADSEN, Visitor Consultant

32
Mr Søren VÆVER, Head of Communication

DEUTSCHLAND / GERMANY

Bundesrat

Mr Ralph HELFEN, Executive Officer

ΕΛΛΑΔΑ / GREECE

Βουλή των Ελλήνων / Hellenic Parliament

Mr Nick KARAPAPAS, Head of Directorate for Public Relations

EESTI / ESTONIA

Riigikogu

Mr Ott MÄNGEL, Guide Consultant

EIRE / IRELAND

Dáil Éireann / House of Representatives

Mr John FLAHERTY, Deputy Head of Security, Protocol and Facilities

Mr Thomas HICKEY, Events Manager

ESPAÑA / SPAIN

Congreso de los Diputados / Congress of Deputies

Ms Reyes GONZALEZ, Guide / Member of Protocol Department

Ms Natalia RODRIGUEZ AGUILAR, Guide / Member of Protocol Department

FRANCE

Assemblée Nationale

Mr Guy CHAUVIN, Deputy Director / Head of the Division for Institutional Communication

33
 ITALIA / ITALY

Senato della Repubblica

Ms Beatrice GIANANI, Permanent Representative of the Italian Senate to the EU

LATVIJA / LATVIA

Saeima

Mr Juris VĪGULIS, Head of Public Relations Department

LIETUVA / LITHUANIA

Seimas

Mr Donatas CECERGIS, Head of the European Information Office of the Information and Communication
Department

Ms Rūta PETARAITIENĖ, Head of Internal Audit Unit

MAGYARORSZÁG / HUNGARY

Országgyűlés / National Assembly

Mr Gàbor SZIGETI, Head of Visitor Services / Deputy Director of Cultural Directorate

MALTA

Kamra tadDeputati / House of Representatives

Ms Rodianne SPITERI, National Representative of Parliament

NEDERLAND / THE NETHERLANDS

Tweede Kamer / House of Representatives

Ms Barbara GOOSSEN, Communication Advisor

Mr Eddy HABBEN JANSEN, Director of ProDemos, House for Democracy and the Rule of Law

34
 ÖSTERREICH / AUSTRIA

Nationalrat

Mr Thomas HOLZINGER, Head of Division

POLSKA / POLAND

Sejm

Mr Lucja IWANIEC, Head of the Sejm Education and Promotion Unit

Mr Jan MORWINSKI, Director of the Bureau of Public Communications

PORTUGAL

Assembleia da República

Mr Miguel SOUSA LARA, Advisor of the Museology and Citizenship Division

SLOVENIJA / SLOVENIA

Državni zbor / National Assembly

Mr Borut PERSOLJA, PR Advisor / Editor-in-Chief of Online Content

Ms Gordana VRABEC, Public Relations and Visitor Centre Officer

SUOMI / FINLAND

Eduskunta

Mr Rainer HINDSBERG, Deputy Head of Information

SVERIGE / SWEDEN

Riksdagen

Ms Cecilia DOYLE, Information Officer

Ms Sofia KARLSSON, Acting Manager of the Department for Visits, Education and Events

35
 UNITED KINGDOM

House of Commons

Mr David CLARK, Head of Education and Engagement

Ms Amy PITTS, Director of Visitor Services and Retail

NON-EU PARTICIPANTS AT THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF

PARLIAMENTARY VISITORS’ CENTRES

AUSTRALIA

Museum of Australian Democracy

Mr Andrew HARPER, Deputy Director

BRAZIL

Chamber of Deputies

Ms Ana Marusia LIMA, Director of the Popular Participation Coordination

Senate

Ms Mariana MIRANDA TAVARES, Director of Institutional Visitation and Community Relationship Coordination.

CANADA

Parliament of Canada

Mr Benoit MORIN, Senior Director of Public Education Programmes

THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA (FYROM)

Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia

Mr Tome GUSHEV, Advisor on Legislative and Political Education

Ms Sonja STAMENKOVSKA, Advisor Historian

36
 ISRAEL

Knesset

Ms Nurit BELLO, Content Coordinator at the Knesset Visitors’ Centre

Ms Liat SHIMONI-KONITZKI, Director of the Knesset Visitors’ Centre

JAPAN

House of Representatives

Mr Takashi HIRAI, International Affairs Department

Ms Miki MORIYAMA, Committees Department

Ms Saori NISHIDA, Interpreter

Mr Takumi TASHIRO, House Police Department

MOLDOVA

Parliament of the Republic of Moldova

Ms Elena CAPATINA, Senior Communication Consultant

Mr Victor PRUTEANU, Senior Communication Consultant

MONTENEGRO

Parliament of Montenegro

Ms Dragana PAPIC, Coordinator of Democracy Workshops “Barbara Prammer” / Associate in Education Centre

NORWAY

Stortinget

Ms Mona Mortensen KRANE, Head of Visitor and Educational Services Section

Ms Mira Berglund NYLØVOLD, Senior Advisor, Visitor and Educational Services Section

37
 SWITZERLAND

The Swiss Parliament

Ms Catherine OCHSENBEIN, Head of Visitor Services

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

U.S. Capitol Visitor Center (U.S. Congress)

Mr Nik APOSTOLIDES, Deputy CEO, Capitol Visitor Center

Ms Fay OTT, Director of Planning, Operations and Evaluation Division, Capitol Visitor Center

Ms Tina PEARSON, Director of Visitor Services Division, Capitol Visitor Center

Ms Beth PLEMMONS, CEO, Capitol Visitor Center

Ms Susan SISK, Director of Retail Division, Capitol Visitor Center

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PARTICIPANTS AT THE INTERNATIONAL

FORUM OF PARLIAMENTARY VISITORS’ CENTRES

Mr Ciril STOKELJ, Director for Visitors, Directorate-General for Communication

Parlamentarium Unit (DGCOMM)

Ms Patrizia PRODE, Head of Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Cristina FERNANDEZ SOLA, Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Mr Michael MANZ, Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Foteini MILIONI, Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Mr Hendrik PRUMMEL, Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Mr Christopher ROBINSON, Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Petra WIBERG, Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Mr Francis DILLEY, Trainee, Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Bea LOVESTONE, Trainee, Parlamentarium Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

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 Visits and Seminars Unit (DGCOMM)

Ms Mariana COSAC, Head of Visits and Seminars Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Mr Albrecht JOHN, Visits and Seminars Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Nathalie MARCHIORO, Visits and Seminars Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Françoise PETIT, Visits and Seminars Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Marie RAMOT, Visits and Seminars Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Ringailè RAZAUSKIENĖ, Visits and Seminars Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Mr Henry WASUNG, Visits and Seminars Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Visitors Services Coordination Unit (DGCOMM)

Ms Nastja KLEMENCIC SCHMIDT, Head of Visitors Services Coordination Unit, Directorate-General for
Communication

Mr Olivier DARDENNE, Visitor Services Coordination Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Aretha FRANCIS, Visitor Services Coordination Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Cécile LECLERCQ, Visitor Services Coordination Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Tatjana TESIC, Visitors Services Coordination Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Stella ERKER, Trainee, Visitor Services Coordination Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Mr Marten KOOLEN, Trainee, Visitor Services Coordination Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

House of European History Unit (DGCOMM)

Ms Constanze ITZEL, Head of House of European History Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Laurence BRAGARD, House of European History Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Teodora BRATU, House of European History Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Mr Alberto FUERTES FERRAGUT, House of European History Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Mr Guido GERRICHHAUZEN, House of European History Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Ms Ewa GOODMAN, House of European History Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Mr Pieterjan VAN LANGENHOVE, Trainee, House of European History Unit, Directorate-General for
Communication

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 Strasbourg Conference and Visitor Services Unit (DGCOMM)

Ms Daniela SENK, Head of Strasbourg Conference and Visitor Services Unit, Directorate-General for
Communication

Ms Lotte TITTOR, Strasbourg Conference and Visitor Services Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Concept and Design Unit (DGCOMM)

Mr Alexander KLEINIG, Head of Concept and Design Unit, Directorate-General for Communication

Resources Directorate (DGCOMM)

Ms Christelle COURTADE, Resources Directorate, Directorate-General for Communication

Risk Assessment Unit (DGSAFE)

Mr Juan Ignacio SOLE ANDRES, Head of Risk Assessment Unit, Directorate-General for Security and Safety

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