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New Member Orientation? There’s an App for That

Miller speaks to new members at an orientation meeting. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Miller speaks to new members at an orientation meeting. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

For the first time ever, incoming lawmakers are encouraged to use an app to guide them through new member orientation.  

At the first orientation meeting Thursday morning, House Administration Chairwoman Candice S. Miller, R-Mich., encouraged the new members to take out their smartphones and tablets and download the “Box” application, which is an app for sharing documents.  

“All the information about the sessions, the presenters, various things, their ability to take notes and all that can all be done on that iPad,” Miller told CQ Roll Call later in the day.  

Miller explained that sharing orientation information and documents via the app was an effort to modernize the biannual welcome week.  

“I also remember carrying around 25 pounds of binders and paperwork,” said Miller said of her own orientation, describing the decision to incorporate the app.  

“So we’re trying to use some technology, make it better, improve it,” Miller said. “We’ve just been trying to think of everything that we can. You don’t want to waste their time here, obviously they’re very busy. We just try to make them as impactful as we can when they are sworn in.”  

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