Introduction
Comms vNext is a community event run by the Microsoft Community. All organizers and helpers volunteer their time and effort to organizing our events without remuneration or object reward.
We raise the vast majority (90%) of funds necessary to organize such events through sponsorship from businesses that have an interest in the technology we are promoting. The remaining funds come from ticket sales.
Without the investment and support of our sponsors, we would not be able to put on these events for the benefit and enjoyment of you and other community members.
In order to pay back the investment and support of our sponsors, we agree to provide them certain data on our attendees. This Privacy Policy outlines the types of data we collect, how that is shared and the authorized use of that data.
Data Collection
To access certain parts of our digital and physical materials, you will be asked to register your details with us. Upon registering, you shall be granted to the materials promised as a product of your registration.
Data Types
In order to facilitate registration for an event we will require that you submit information some that is personally identifiable to you as well as non-identifiable information to help with event analytics.
Information that is personally yours may be some, or all of the following types:
- Name
- Email Address
- Job Role
- Company
- Address
- Phone Number
- Emergency Contact
- Dietary Restrictions
- Social Media Profiles
We do not store Credit Card data. You may choose to have your Credit Card data stored with Stripe our Credit Card processing service.
We may require this information in order to process your registration or not. This will be detailed in the specific registration form parameters.
Non identifiable information may also be requested, some may be optional and some may be required as part of the terms of registration. We collect this information to understand the current market position and trend to help us and our sponsors plan the event around your expectations. Types of non-identifiable information are:
- Size of Your Company
- Interests
- Event Objectives
- RSVPs to sessions
- Usage of Website Tracking Links
How We Use Your Data
Your personal information is used to create a user account on our systems and to process any associated payments. This allows us to customize your experience and grant you the required access to our platforms.
We use your contact data to communicate with you on the progress of events that you are registered for, or we think that interest you in the future. We may communicate with you by Phone, E-mail or Post.
We use your non-identifiable information for market analysis and reporting on usages across our systems. The use of tracking links and RSVP data is anonymized and aggregated so that we can report on how many times a link has been clicked by all our users or how many people RSVP’d to a session or event.
How We Store Your Data
Your data is stored securely on our systems. This includes website databases secured from public access with complex passwords and in our Microsoft 365 tenant which is secured by design and has conditional access protections.
Sharing of Your Data
As mentioned, our sponsors are our main source of funding. In return, you agree to share some of your data with them so that they are able to send you a follow up communication post event. By signing up to any event that has sponsors, this will always be the case.
If you object to this, please do not register for our events.
Data will only be shared with the sponsors of the specific event you have registered for and will be done once post event. Sponsors will not have access or the ability to request a duplicate copy of event data.
The data we share with our sponsors is:
- Name
- E-mail Address
- Company Name
- Job Role
- Non-Personal Market Data
Note: your company name and job role are optional fields in your registration. If you do not wish us to share that information, please leave these fields blank.
We do not share your postal address or any other information that can identify you.
We may share aggregated and anonymised data with other businesses to assist us in gaining additional sponsorship for future events. This may include, but not limited to:
- Total number of registrations per event
- Total number of RSVPs to Sessions
- Total number of clicks on specific links
- Total number of page and website visits
- Total number of visitors per country
Controlling Your Data
You have the right to request a complete copy of all the data we store about you. You can do this by emailing support@commsvnext.com with the subject title: GDPR Information Request. Please allow us 7 days to process your request.
You may also require us to delete some or all the data we store that is personal to you. Please let us know by emailing support@commsvnext.com with the subject title: DELETE MY INFO. You will receive confirmation of deletion within 7 days. Depending on the data erasure request, you may lose some or all access to our systems including items you may have paid for.
Retention of Your Data
We retain your data to maintain your access to some of our systems to make your future interaction with us easier. For instance, access to our websites for future event registrations.
Post event, you may lose access to some systems as a result of the event closing. If this is the case, the data held on those systems is deleted.