Strategic Plan Appendix II.2b

CHICAGOBOTANIC GARDEN

VISITOR EXPERIENCE AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

2010 OPERATING PLAN

Vision Statement

The Garden will deliver a profound and inspiring onsite experience to visitors of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. This Garden experience will create a sense of pleasure, relevance, and belonging that will bring visitors back to the Garden or to its website time and again. This will build the Garden’s effectiveness at generating loyalty, driving attendance, increasing earned and raised income, and motivating the public to protect the nature.

GOAL II.7The Garden will provide a visitor experience that excels in customer service, hospitality, amenities, and overall value. Staff and front-line operating partners (at the Café, Shop) will consistently represent the Garden’s high standards and goals.

Objective 1:Patron’s Edge Integration

  • Work with all Visitor Operations departments to transition from VISTA, the current reservations and ticketing system, to PatronsEdge, which allows for one software system to be used Gardenwide. If maximized, this will allow for better customer service, increased revenue, and more marketing opportunities.
  • Develop and implement a plan for a reservations center which integrates, bothphysically and functionally, the operations of several departments that take reservations or sell services (i.e., the School of the Botanic Garden, Center for Teaching and Learning, Group Visits, etc.). This reservations center will allow for better customer service, additionalopportunities to increaseincome, and for staffing efficiencies.
  • The software integration will allow for the Information and Membership Desks to provide the same services and customer experience, regardless of which desk they approach. Train the staff at both desks to sell the same services and products (membership, tram tickets, etc.).
  • Plan for the future possibilities which would further allow for better data mining of individualmember activity:

-Interface the Shop and Café customer databases with PatronsEdge.

-Bar-code/RFID reader for membership cards/stickers at the front gatehouses.

Objective 2:Expand Tour options to further connect with visitors and proactively exceed the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act by:

  • Developing scripts that focus on the use of smell, touch, and sound for visitors who have limited or low vision.
  • Creating programs that provide more options and greater availability to Horticultural Therapy groups utilizing the Bright Encounters Tour and walking tours.
  • Providing written scripts for both Grand Tram and Bright Encounters Tram to visitors who are deaf or hard of hearing. Include signage at the ticket booth to indicate script availability.

Objective 3:Make the Garden Café experience seamless to the overall Garden experience with the highest of standards for customer service and courteousnesstowards all visitors.

  • Ensure that the quality and presentation of the food matches the expectations visitors and staff have of the Garden itself – second to none.
  • Ensure that the Café consistently looks organized, clean and presents itself as a place visitors want to spend time and relax.
  • Increase revenue from food sales commissions by 50% over 2009’s budget based upon the revised commission structure devised under the exclusive food service operator arrangement.

Objective 4:Make the Garden Shop experience seamless to the overall Garden experience with the highest of standards for customer service and courteousness towards all visitors.

  • Ensure that the quality and presentation of the merchandise matches the expectations visitors and staff have of the Garden itself – second to none.
  • Drive sales on-site in the Shop and on-line by increasing promotion of the Garden Shop as a local, unique boutique in all Garden communications.
  • Create more exclusive experiences at the Garden Shop (i.e., trunk shows) to drive sales.
  • Strive to increase the minimum guarantee return from Event Network by 3% through the above sales techniques and promotions.

GOAL II.8The Garden will be a four-season destination by creating year-round programs that give visitors the opportunity to experience and understand nature and the natural world, indoors and out.

Objective 1:Analyze the fully loaded P&Ls (includes advertising, print materials, overtime, etc.)of each major visitor event to ensure that they each meet the four criteria of visitor events at the Garden:

-Advance the mission of the Garden.

-Increase attendance and build new audiences.

-Increase earned income.

-Raise awareness of the Garden through public communication.

Objective 2:Use the results of that analysis to determine the calendar of visitor events for 2011 and beyond, and to tweak planned events for 2010 where possible.

Objective 3:Implement the currently planned calendar of visitor events for 2010 including, but not limited to: American Flower Show Series; Chicago Botanic Garden Wine Festival; Evenings at the Garden; Farmers’ Market; Kite Festival; Harvest Market; HallowFest; Spooky Pooch Parade; Fine Art of Fiber; and Wonderland Express.

Objective 4:Successfully bring back the Antiques & Garden Fair after a year’s postponement. Incorporate the new aspect of local florists as part of the Fair, promote the featured speaker, and ensure that overall the Fair alone (without the Preview Party proceeds) brings a positive financial return to the Garden.

Objective 5:Analyze the results of the 2009/2010 ice-skating on the Esplanade program with a goal to continue this visitor program during 2010/2011.

Objective 6:Analyze the results of the 2009/2010 snowshoeing program with a goal to continue this visitor program during the 2010/2011 winter season.

Objective 7:Coordinate and support the Garden’s participation in the Chicago Flower & Garden Show at Navy Pier. Develop and coordinate related programming, including a handbook for horticulture competition, hands-on container gardening workshops, daily seminars, plant information and membership services, and a book sales area.

Objective 8:Develop plans for and implement a new themed weekend in August featuring heirloom tomatoes (replacing All About Peppers) which educates and excites visitors about these varieties.

Objective 9:Work with Communications to drive interest and thus visitor traffic to the PlantScienceCenter with the 2010 peak visitor seasons.

Objective 10:For all visitor events on or off-site (i.e., the Chicago Flower & Garden Show), work with Communications to develop the appropriate advertising and marketing strategies and messaging for each target audience, with the goal of driving attendance to events that financially benefit the Garden.

GOAL II.9A visit will inspire general audiences to create a relationship and affinity with the Garden, driving them to visit more often, become members, engage further, and support its mission to educate people about plants and the natural world.

Objective 1:Welcome 775,000 visitors, 60% members and 40% nonmembers, to the Garden in 2010.

Objective 2:Signage

  • Continue to plan and implement a range of ephemeral (hand written) signs for use throughout the Garden including the PlantConservationScienceCenter.
  • Develop succession plan for the staffing of the ephemeral sign program.

Objective 3:Brochures and Guides

  • Keep collection of Garden Guides updated for on-line access as we continue to move away from handing out printed materials.

Objective 4:Interpretive Volunteers

  • Review and refine existing volunteer-led Discovery Program (informal interactions with garden visitors) in JapaneseGarden and EnglishWalledGarden.
  • Continue to encourage English Walled Garden volunteers to incorporate the DwarfConiferGarden and the Gardens of the Great Basin in their scope.
  • Work with Volunteer Services to plan strategically for volunteer recruitment to augment existing core and to replace volunteers who move away or can no longer serve.
  • Continue to evaluate interpretive volunteer presence in the PlantConservationScienceCenter on an on-going basis.

Objective 5:Tram Tours

  • Enhance continuing education for tour guides by:

-Expanding current “Talking Points” for each garden area.

-Solidifying the walking tour training program for the current pool of guides, including both volunteers and staff already scheduled.

-Providing labeled photographs to staff identifying the trees and plants to be highlighted throughout the touring season.

-Working with Garden scientists to enhance messages of conservation and details about the new PlantScienceCenter in tour scripts.

-Enhancing resources and information for walking tour guide volunteers - specifically on garden sculptures and conservation messages.

Objective 6:Permanent and Temporary Exhibitions

  • Host the Losing Paradise? Endangered Plants Here and Around the Worldtemporary exhibition from January –April. Highlight to visitors the link between art and science, in particular with regards to the School of the Botanic Garden’s Botanic Art Certificate program. Create the link for visitors and students between Garden programming and this exhibition on site and on-line.
  • Host Close, a Journey In Scotlandphotographic exhibition in Joutras Gallery from April – September, highlighting the landscape design of noteworthy landscape designers from the UK. Link this exhibition with classes in the School of the Botanic Garden for visitors and students on-site and on-line.

Objective 7:Private & Corporate Events and Group Visits

  • Work closely with the Culinary Landscape’son-site staff, staff from other sites,and marketing team to devise a sales and marketing strategy which will expand the offerings for facility rentals and catering at the Garden, increase repeat business from single clients, increase the Garden’s penetration of the corporate market, and diversify the social market clients (i.e. increase number of Bar/Bat Mitzvahs).
  • Develop a strategy for increasing sales and streamline the on-site processing of Group Visit clients.
  • Strive to increase facility rental and catering commission revenue over 2009 by 2%, by increasing sales and bookings through creative methods (i.e., encouraging more events with appetizers vs. sit down dinners, bundling of events, etc.)

GOAL II.10The Garden will make notable advancements toward making its visitor operations a model for being as waste- and emissions-free as possible and will serve as a leading educational resource by conducting programs that visitors can participate in, learn from, and model at home to live more environmentally conscious lives.

Objective 1:Work towards creating a Garden Café that either 1) can provide service with permanent ware or 2) utilizes the services of a third party to haul away Garden waste (front and back of the house food scrapes, compostable disposable ware, etc.) and turns it into compost.

Objective 2:Oversee the relationship between Sodexo and Community Gardening to ensure that they work together to provide as much product as possible from those sites to the Cafe for use in food products that are sold to visitors.

Objective 3:Continue to educate the public about our plans/operations with reference to the above two bullets (i.e., signage in the Café noting what we are doing). In particular, work with Communications on messaging that the Garden is a driving force in local food sources and in closing the loop from “ground to table” – creating and purchasing sustainably grown food from local sources, serving local, seasonal products to our visitors, ensuring that the waste created in the Café is composted, and then re-using that compost at the Garden or Garden off-site programs (i.e., Green Youth Farm).

Objective 4:Ensure the employee trolley/shuttle program serves the transportation needs of as many staff as possible, encouraging those who can, to take public transportation to/from work by maintaining a weekday staff and volunteer shuttle service to and from the Glencoe and Lake Cook Metra Stations.

Objective 5:Maintaintrolley service to and from the Glencoe Metra Station on Sundays, April through October to encourage the use of public transportation to/from the Garden for visitors.

Objective 6:Provide shuttle service to/from the PlantScienceCenter using an alternative electric vehicle (if funding sources allow) or a Grand Tram and utilizing scheduled staff as much as possible to staff that route; supplement during heavy visitor periods with seasonals.

Objective 7:Continue and expand the use of compostable tasting supplies, where possible, for the Garden Chef Series and to seek out chefs who use seasonal and local/organic produce. Work with Communications to ensure that this is communicated to program attendees and on the web-site.

GOAL II.11The Garden will create new programs, garden areas, amenities, and services (on-site, online, or at satellite locations), employing the best new technology, to increase revenue, improve visitor experience, and expand the opportunities for environmental education.

Objective 1:Work with the Woman’s Board to bring A Bloomin’ Sale into the fold of a larger Spring Bloomin’ Festival, with demonstrations, music and a marketplace. The goals of the event are to 1) drive traffic and sales to the A Bloomin’ Sale, 2) educate visitors about local vendor of various products, and 3) to create a second wave (after AGF) of promoting spring at the Garden.

Objective 2:Work with the Woman’s Board to create a Fall Festival (like a Spring Bloomin’ Festival) which could combine Harvest Festival and the Bulb Bazaar with the same desired outcomes as a Spring Bloomin’ Festival.

Objective 3:Produce new themed farm dinners during the summer months in various Garden locations, which will further educate visitors about local food sources and sustainable and seasonal food offerings.

Objective 4:Investigate hosting a concert the evening before the Chicago Botanic Garden Wine Festival to drive earned income while making use of an already existing venue/set-up.

Objective 5:Create a “Conservation Day” at the Garden for June 5 (World Environment Day) in conjunction with Glencoe’s Common Good project (a consortium which includes the schools, park district, library, etc.) as a way to 1) engage the Glencoe community, 2) increase awareness of the Garden as a conservation entity, and 3) educate participants about ways they can be “greener” at home.

Objective 6:Continue McDonald Woods’ program-related research to keep abreast of environmental programming around the country. Attend local offerings for benchmarking.

Objective 7:For all visitor events on or off-site (i.e., the Chicago Flower & Garden Show), work with Communications to develop the appropriate advertising and marketing strategies and messaging for each target audience, with the goal of driving attendance to events with positive financial outcomes.

Objective 8:Work with Communications to enhance resources available to visitors online.

  • Improve the senior and ADA visitor experience by creating pre-visit suggestions via the website and onsite materials targeting those applicable audiences.
  • Continue to improve the current Visitor Map to include distances, surface types, and timed routes available for download on website.
  • For the CBG website, continue to improve current tour pages to create enticement for future visits, including web views designed to enhance the experience for all visitors.

Objective 9:Incorporate the Miles Lowry and Peggy Macnamara exhibitions as a new part of the ChicagoBotanic Garden’s traveling exhibition program and promote this program to other institutions throughout the country.

Objective 10:Develop business plans, evaluate each and implement those that are feasiblefrom the following list of possible earned revenue opportunities:

  • Chicagoland Grows – work with the Garden’s plant breeding program staff and Communications to expand the consumer’s knowledge of and increase earned income for this program.

-Work with Communications, implement a survey of local garden, and let Garden members and e-blast subscribers know where Chicagoland Grows products can be found locally and educate them about how this program benefits the Garden.

  • Work with Event Network and other outside vendors to develop a line of branded products with Garden photography (i.e., personalized calendars and note cards, mugs, etc.). Start by rolling out greeting cards and calendars by March 2010 with an aim towards Mother’s Day gifts.
  • A Garden branded flower stand at Chicago’s major airports.
  • Development of a partnership with funeral homes and the Private & Corporate Events department for memorial services, etc. (this could link to the Garden’s Tribute program).
  • Expansion of current successful Garden horticultural therapy services to senior living facilities.
  • Expansion of Corporate Campus gardens/food growing sites, utilizing the Windy City Harvest model.
  • Expansion of the Garden’s successful wellness programs to include other audiences (i.e., yoga for young moms or kids, mat Pilates).
  • Retool Green Youth Farm to develop a more sustainable financial model, whereby sales to various populations and retail entities make up a larger portion of the program’s sales, and thus reduce the need for other operating dollar support.
  • Market “In Search of Paradise” photo panels to institutional (office building, hospital) interior decorators world-wide.

GOAL I.2 The Garden will consistently maintain built infrastructure to high standards, ensuring that we leave a strong physical plant as part of our legacy.