Privacy notice

Summary

This notice explains what personal data Forum Europe collects about you, why, and what you can do about it.

It covers our websites, event bookings, Forum Connect and our members' areas. Our websites are forum-europe.com and the event websites we run. This notice does not cover our staff or people who apply for jobs with us.

The main points are:

• we collect what you give us when you book an event, use Forum Connect or join a members' area
• we use it to run our events, help you meet people at them and keep our services safe
• your Forum Connect profile is shown to other delegates at the event by default, and you can hide it at any time
• you only appear on the delegate list if you agree when you book
• a sponsor who scans your badge sees what is printed on your badge, and only gets your email address and job title if you agree
• we use artificial intelligence (AI) to help our team and to make sessions easier to follow – our team checks AI highlights before we publish them, and AI summaries you ask for in Forum Connect are labelled as AI
• we never sell your data, and we only use advertising and preferences cookies if you say yes
• you can ask to see, correct or delete your data at any time

Your choices

You can:

• stop marketing emails – every email lets you stop emails about that event, or all our marketing emails
• delete your data – in Forum Connect, go to Profile on iPhone or Account on Android, then Delete my data, or email us
• change your cookie settings – use the link at the bottom of every page of our websites
• contact our data protection team at dpo@forum-europe.com

Who we are and how to contact us

Forum Europe Ltd runs Forum Europe and Forum Global events, our websites and the Forum Connect app. We decide how your data is used. This makes us its "controller" under data protection law.

Forum Europe Ltd
5 Sovereign Quay
Havannah Street
Cardiff
CF10 5SF
Company number 05339004

We sometimes run an event for a client. The client then decides how your booking details are used, and we act on its instructions for that part. We stay responsible for our own systems, payments and marketing. Booking and attending an event explains this. The event's booking page tells you when this happens.

Our data protection team

Our data protection team looks after how we use personal data. Contact them about this notice or your data.

Email: dpo@forum-europe.com
Telephone: +44 (0)29 2078 3020
Post: Data protection team, at the address above

For help with Forum Connect, such as a problem with the app or a report, email support@forum-connect.com.

Our office in the European Union

If you are in the European Union (EU), you can also write to us at our EU office:

Forum Europe
Rue d'Arlon 25
1050 Brussels
Belgium

Our Brussels office is a branch of Forum Europe Ltd, so EU data protection law applies to us directly, as well as United Kingdom (UK) law.

What we do with your data

For each situation, we say:

• what we collect
• why we use it
• the lawful basis we rely on
• how long we keep it
• who sees it

Lawful bases

The law only lets us use your data if we have a reason it accepts. These reasons are called "lawful bases". We mainly use 4 of them.

In an emergency, we may also use your data to protect someone's life.

In every situation, we also use your data to prevent fraud and abuse, and to deal with legal claims, insurance and professional advice. We rely on legitimate interests: keeping our services safe and protecting our business. We keep accounts and tax records because the law says we must.

When we rely on legitimate interests, you can object. Tell us and we will stop, unless we have a strong reason that outweighs yours.

How long we keep your data

We only keep your data for as long as we need it. Each situation below says how long.

Some data is kept "as long as we keep the event's record". We keep a record of each event for as long as it is useful as a public record of the programme, and review it every 5 years.

When we delete your data, copies can stay in our backups until they are overwritten, which takes up to 90 days. We only use backups to restore our systems if something goes wrong. We do not search them or use them for anything else. We may keep data longer if the law requires it, or if we need it for a legal claim.

Our full list is on its own page. How long we keep your data

Sensitive information

Some booking questions ask about dietary or access needs. Your answers can show something about your health or religion. We ask only when the event needs to know.

We use your dietary or access needs only with your explicit consent. This means you clearly say yes. We use them only to look after you at that event, and we delete them as soon as the event has taken place.

Data we get from others

We also get data about you from:

• a colleague who books a place for you
• a client or partner we run an event with
• public sources, such as official websites, when we plan which public officials to invite
• LinkedIn, when you fill in one of our forms there
• RocketReach and Apollo, 2 services that collect people's work contact details from public sources

We use RocketReach and Apollo when we look for the right person to invite or contact.

We tell you where we got your details the first time we contact you.

If you give us someone else's details, such as when you book for a colleague, tell them about this notice.

If you do not give us your data

You do not have to give us your data. But we need your name and email to take a booking, and some events need more, such as your organisation. We mark the questions you can skip.

Tell us if your details change. You can update many of them yourself in Manage my booking or your Forum Connect profile, or email us.

Booking and attending an event

If you book for colleagues, we email each of them about their place.

Paying

Stripe, a payment company, takes card payments for us. It checks payments for fraud, and may decline a payment it thinks is risky. We never see your full card number.

For some events we run for clients, we send invoices using Xero, our accounting software.

Your ticket and badge

We email your ticket and, if you choose, add it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. Your badge shows your name, job title and organisation. Its code lets us check you in.

If you add your ticket to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, the pass shows your name, organisation, the event's name, place and dates, and the code we use to check you in. Google receives these details to create a Google Wallet pass.

Device check when you book

When you book, we make a code from your device's settings. We keep only a scrambled version of it (a salted hash), never the code itself. We use it to spot fraudulent or duplicate bookings, and to stop people we have banned from booking again. We rely on legitimate interests – our interest is preventing fraud. We delete it 12 months after the event you booked for ends. Our cookie policy explains this and our other device checks. Cookie policy

Events we run for clients

We run some events for other organisations, such as businesses, trade associations and public bodies. The booking page tells you when an event is run for a client, and links to the client's own privacy notice.

At these events, who is responsible for your data depends on what is being done with it.

The client is responsible when it decides how your details are used. We act on its instructions. This covers:

• who can book, and what the booking form asks
• who gets the list of bookings, and what the client does with it
• the delegate list, if the event has one – your name only appears if you agree

We are responsible for the systems and services we provide, and for anything we do for our own reasons. This covers:

• taking your payment, if you pay us – see Paying
• running and securing our booking system and Forum Connect, including dealing with reports
• keeping our accounts and dealing with legal claims
• our own marketing, which we only send if you agree

Contact the client about how it uses your details. Contact us about payments, Forum Connect or our systems. If you are not sure, contact us and we will point you to the right place.

Filming and photos

We may film, stream and photograph public sessions. We may publish them on our websites and social media. Signs at the event tell you where this happens.

Tell a member of staff before or during the session if you do not want to appear. To have a published photo or video of you removed, email dpo@forum-europe.com. We will remove it from our websites and social media where we can.

We keep published photos and video as long as we keep the event's record.

Live captions

Some sessions have live captions and a transcript you can read in Forum Connect. Deepgram makes them automatically as people speak. They are not checked, so they can contain mistakes. A line names the speaker only when they are a speaker in the programme. At some events, AI can translate the transcript. We keep captions, transcripts and translations of public sessions as long as we keep the event's record.

Chatham House sessions

Some sessions follow the Chatham House Rule: you may use what you hear, but must not say who said it or where they work. No recording is kept. If we write a summary, speech is turned into text only to write it, then deleted.

Any summary names no one. The room is told when this is happening.

Sponsors

A sponsor who scans your badge sees what is printed on your badge. It only gets your email address and job title if you agree.

Forum Connect

Forum Connect is our app and website for delegates. Not every event uses it – the event's website tells you if it does.

You sign in with the email you booked with. We email you a link or a code.

Your profile

At most events, your profile is shown to other delegates at the event by default. It shows your name, organisation and job title, and anything else you add, such as a photo or your interests. You can hide your profile or stop meeting requests at any time.

Your profile also shows whether you are attending in person or online. People attending online cannot ask to meet, or be asked. In the app, this setting is called Show me on the attendee list. It is separate from the delegate list you can agree to when you book. If you hide your profile, you cannot see other delegates' profiles either. Other delegates' apps keep a copy of the list so it works offline, and your profile is removed from it when you hide it.

Badge-only events

Some events use badge-only networking. At these events:

• no one can browse or search the list of delegates, and we do not suggest people to meet
• before you connect, other delegates only see your name and organisation, where you appear in the app
• when someone scans your badge, or you scan theirs, you are connected straight away, and we tell you who scanned you
• once you are connected, you both see each other's profile, and can message and ask to meet each other
• if you hide your profile, scanning your badge does not connect you
• you can remove a connection or block someone at any time

Anyone who sees your badge can read what is printed on it.

Questions and polls

The room cannot see who asked a question, unless you choose to show your name. We keep a private record of who asked. Only a small number of our staff can see it, and only to deal with abuse or a legal request.

Poll answers are counted together. We only show results for a group when it has at least 5 people.

Messages

Someone you are not connected with can send you one message with a request to connect. You can accept or ignore it. You can also message a sponsor's team from its page in Forum Connect. Everyone working on that sponsor's stand can see the conversation. You can block or report anyone. AI does not check your messages.

We do not routinely read your messages. Our team only looks at them when someone reports one, to deal with a security problem, or when the law requires it. If someone reports a message, we see that message and the 5 before it.

Do not put sensitive information in a question or message, such as details about your health, religion or political views.

Notifications

Notifications show names, times and places, such as a table or meeting point. They never show the words of a message or a question. You choose which ones you get in Notifications. On iPhone, you can also turn on a Live Activity on the Lock Screen for event days. When you sign out, we stop sending notifications to that phone.

Sponsors

Sponsors scan badges in Forum Connect. A sponsor who scans your badge sees what is printed on it. It only gets your email address and job title if you agree. Forum Connect asks you first, and you can say no.

On your phone

Forum Connect keeps an encrypted copy of your event on your phone, including the programme, people, your meetings and your messages, so it works without a connection. The evening before your event, it downloads the latest version over Wi-Fi. On iPhone, you can find sessions, speakers, sponsors and your meetings in your phone's search. All of this stays on your phone, and is removed when you sign out.

Crash reports and checks at sign-in

If the app crashes or freezes, it sends a report about the app and your phone's model. It uses a random code made for the app on your phone, not your name or account. On iPhone, reports come to our own systems, and we keep them for 90 days. On Android, Google's Firebase Crashlytics collects them for us. When you sign in, the app checks with Apple, or on Android may check with Google, that it is our real app.

Proceedings

Proceedings are the slides, papers and other files for an event. When you open one, we record which file you opened and when, with a scrambled code for your device. We do not keep your IP address, country or browser with it. We keep this record for 12 months. Each copy has a hidden code that links it to that record, so we can trace a copy shared without permission. Your name is not printed on the pages. Organisers see how many people opened each file, not who.

Speakers

We ask you to check these details before we publish them. You can ask us to remove your photo or biography from future use at any time.

Sponsors and exhibitors

This section covers delegates whose badges a sponsor scans, and people who work for a sponsor or exhibitor.

A sponsor can download the details of people who agreed to share them, with its own notes about them.

Once you say yes, the sponsor can use your details under its own privacy notice. If you change your mind, we remove your details from our systems. You need to ask the sponsor to delete its own copy.

Public officials

We run events about public policy. To plan who to invite, we keep a record of public officials and policy-makers. These include members of parliament, government officials and staff of public bodies.

We use information about your public role, mostly from public sources and from services that collect work contact details. The law lets us use views you have clearly made public yourself. These include official websites, public registers, the news, RocketReach and Apollo. We may use AI to find and summarise it.

We tell you where we got your details the first time we contact you. You can ask us to stop at any time, and we will.

Members' areas

When you sign in, we save a code linked to your device. We keep only a scrambled version of it. We delete it 12 months after you last use that device, or straight away when you remove the device or we delete your account. Our cookie policy explains it.

Clients and suppliers

If we record a call with you, see Our own calls.

Our websites and newsletters

Cookies

We use some cookies because our websites need them to work, such as to keep you signed in.

We only use analytics, advertising and preferences cookies if you agree to them. You can change your choice at any time using the cookie settings link at the bottom of every page.

Our cookie policy lists every cookie we use, what it does and when it expires. Cookie policy

Our own calls

If we want to record a call with you, we ask you first. If you say no, we do not record it.

We use Notion AI to turn the recording into a transcript and notes for our team. Feedback to the wider team only shows themes and totals, not what one person said.

Marketing and how to stop it

Our customer records

We keep one record for each person we deal with, in our own systems and in HubSpot, our customer records system. It brings together your bookings, the events you attended, the emails we sent you and our dealings with you. If you say yes to advertising cookies, it also shows which pages you visit on our websites.

We use it to understand which events and topics interest you, so we only tell you about events that are relevant to you. This does not affect your legal rights.

Marketing emails

When you book, we only send you marketing emails if you tick the box for them. At our own events the box says "Keep me informed about {event} and future events by {organiser}", and at events we run for clients it says "I'm happy for Forum Europe / Forum Global to contact me about their events."

Our events include events we organise for other organisations.

If a colleague booked your place, we only send you marketing if you say yes. After an event we run for a client, we only email you about our events if you agreed when you booked.

We rely on consent for these emails.

Business contacts

We may get your work details from RocketReach or Apollo. We may then email you at your work address about events relevant to your role. This is separate from the tick boxes for people who book. We tell you where we got your details the first time we contact you. We only import a contact when we are about to email them, so our first email, which tells you where we got your details, always comes within 1 month, and we delete any contact we have not emailed within 1 month of importing them.

We rely on legitimate interests – our interest is telling people about events relevant to their work. Every email lets you stop.

If you fill in one of our forms on LinkedIn, we email you because you asked us to. We rely on consent for these emails.

We keep your details while we work with you, then for 3 years after we stop.

We send these emails using HubSpot. Until our move to HubSpot is finished, some are still sent using Dotdigital.

Our marketing emails record which links you click. We use this to improve our emails. This stops when you unsubscribe.

How to stop

Every marketing email lets you stop emails about that event, or all our marketing emails. You can also email dpo@forum-europe.com. We keep a note of each opt-out, so we do not email you again about that event, or at all.

You will still get emails you need, such as booking confirmations and sign-in links. In Forum Connect, emails about networking before an event have their own link to stop them.

Adverts

If you agree to advertising cookies, Google may show you adverts for our events on other websites. Google uses this data under its own privacy policy. If you say no, Google does not get advertising data from our websites.

We do not let anyone else market to you, unless you said yes to that sponsor. When we run an event for a client, the client may contact you under its own privacy notice.

Who we share your data with, and sending it outside the UK and EU

We never sell your data.

Companies that work for us

Some companies help us run our services, for example to store data, send emails, take payments and run AI. They may use your data only to do the job we give them, under a contract with us.

Our list of the companies that process data for us says who they are, what they do and where. It links to each company's own privacy policy. Companies that process data for us

People at an event

At an event:

• other delegates, speakers and sponsors see your Forum Connect profile, as explained in Forum Connect
• your name, job title, organisation and country only appear on the delegate list other people see if you agree when you book
• if we run the event for a client, the client gets the list of bookings
• a sponsor who scans your badge sees what is printed on your badge, and only gets your email address and job title if you agree
• once you agree, the sponsor uses them under its own privacy notice
• the venue gets your name, job title and organisation for its security checks
• printers get your name, job title, organisation and country to print badges and delegate lists

Each event may also work with partners, such as co-organisers, interpreters, caterers, hotels and travel companies. We only give them what they need to do their part of the event. The event's booking page names the main partners and the venue.

When the law requires it

We may share your data with the police, regulators or courts if the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety. We may also share it with our insurers and professional advisers, such as lawyers and accountants, when we need their help. If we sell or merge our business, the new owner may take on your data under this notice.

Other websites

Our websites link to other websites, such as our partners'. They have their own privacy notices, and we are not responsible for how they use your data.

Sending your data outside the UK and EU

We are based in the UK and store your data in Ireland. The EU currently recognises UK law as protecting data to the same standard, so data can move between the UK and EU safely.

Some of the companies that work for us process it in other countries, mostly the United States. When an event takes place outside the UK and EU, its venue and local suppliers get the data they need in that country.

When your data leaves the UK or EU, we protect it in one of these ways:

• the UK or EU has decided that the country protects data well enough, or the company has joined a scheme they approve, such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework
• the company has signed a contract with us using terms the UK and EU approve

You can ask us for a copy of these protections. Our list of companies that process data for us shows which protection applies to each one.

Your rights and how to use them

You have the right to:

• get a copy of the data we hold about you
• correct data that is wrong or incomplete
• ask us to delete your data
• ask us to stop using your data while we check a concern you raised
• get the data you gave us in a format you can take elsewhere
• object to how we use your data when we rely on our legitimate interests, and to marketing at any time
• change your mind about anything you agreed to
• not have decisions with a legal or similarly significant effect on you made only by a computer – we do not do this

How to use your rights

In Forum Connect, you can change what you share, or delete your data, in Profile on iPhone or Account on Android.

When you ask in Forum Connect, your request goes to our data protection team. Nothing is deleted straight away. They check your request, then delete your data. You are signed out on that phone.

For anything else, email dpo@forum-europe.com or write to us at the address in Who we are and how to contact us.

We may ask you to prove who you are first. It is normally free.

We usually reply within 1 month. If your request is complex, it can take up to 2 more months, and we will tell you within a month of making your request.

If you ask us to delete your data, we also delete it from our customer records. We keep only what the law requires us to keep, such as invoices, and a note of each marketing opt-out.

If you shared your details with a sponsor, you need to ask them separately.

How to complain

Contact our data protection team first at dpo@forum-europe.com.

If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office:

Information Commissioner's Office
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: ico.org.uk

If you live or work in the EU, you can also complain to the data protection authority in your country. You can also complain to the Belgian Data Protection Authority, where our EU office is (dataprotectionauthority.be).

AI, keeping your data safe, children and changes to this notice

How we use AI

We use AI to help our team and to make sessions easier to follow. In our own systems, we mainly use Claude AI models, made by Anthropic, an AI company.

Our team also uses Claude and ChatGPT, made by OpenAI, on company accounts. Under these business terms, the providers do not use our data to train their models. When our staff need it, Claude can look up event information from our systems through a secure connection.

Our team checks AI highlights of sessions before we publish them. In Forum Connect, you can ask for an AI summary of a session, such as Catch me up. These summaries are made when you ask, are not checked by a person, and are labelled as AI.

AI does not make decisions that have a legal or similarly significant effect on you. Our page on how we use AI explains each use. How we use AI

Keeping your data safe

We protect your data by:

• encrypting it when we store it and when we send it
• letting only the staff who need it see it
• making our staff sign in with a second check, such as a code on their phone
• checking our systems for security weaknesses regularly

If something goes wrong and it puts you at risk, we will tell you and the regulator, where the law requires.

Children

Our events and services are for adults at work. We do not knowingly collect data about anyone under 18. If you think we have, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this notice

We update this notice when our services change. The date at the top shows when we last changed it.

If we make a significant change, we will tell you by email or in the app where we can. You can ask us for an earlier version.