GDPR went into effect on May 25th, but what exactly is it -- and more importantly, why should event marketers care?
This new EU regulation provides consumers with more control over their personal data, which affects how we as events planners can access and share attendees' information.
Since we need to take responsibility for these new changes, we're going over the 4 major areas event planners should consider when applying GDPR to their marketing strategies -- everything from protecting your database to improving your communication methods.
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I'm an event planner, I'm an event marketer, I'm the CEO of a tech business, and as such, I am thinking a lot about GDPR -- I'm sure you are too. So today we're going to go over what GDPR is, and how it affects us as event marketers.
Let's start at the top: What is GDPR?
GDPR stands for the General Data Protection Regulation. Some of its main concepts include: website privacy, securely storing data, making data easily visible for users, and erasing a user's data if requested.
And just so you know, if you're watching this video and it's past May 25th, 2018, it's time to move fast.
Here's the thing: GDPR is not necessarily a new thing for event marketers. When we plan events, we know who's engaged in our programs -- the people who RSVP, they're the people who show up, right? And we know who isn't engaged or who's asking to be unsubscribed.
We also ask for a lot of information from our attendees -- we know things about where you're sleeping, and whether you like chicken or fish more. And we know how important it is to keep that information private.
So in that way, GDPR is nothing new for us. We're always going to do our best job to keep your private information and only communicate with you and invite you if you want to be invited.
But in a lot of ways, GDPR is a different landscape for us -- especially as we think about layering on technology. So let's talk about some of the ways GDPR is changing the world of event planning.
I've broken it down into four areas event planners should consider:
The first one is partnerships and sponsorships. Most importantly, the days of, "Hey, I'll share a list with you," are over.
You can't share lists around, for example with event partners, unless people have clearly opted in. And you need to be really careful about what information you're transferring over to any of your existing partners.
That doesn't just go for external partners, though. So number two is internal sharing. Because how many times have we said, "Hey, send me that RSVP list, I'm going to add them to the newsletter." Under GDPR, that's a no-go.
And we should really be thinking about this because it's actually a bad practice. If someone gets added to something that they don't want to be added to and they unsubscribe, they've just unsubscribed from your event list and your demand gen marketing list. So you've got to protect your groups, and make sure you're not opting anyone in to anything without their consent. A few recommendations:
The third area I'm thinking about is lead capture. This is when you're capturing leads at a booth, you're scanning someone's badge, you're collecting their business card, and you're adding them to your nurture lists.
It can be confusing to know what the right move is here. Is it the trade show's responsibility to communicate to the attendees that they're going to be added to the list of the booths? Is it the booths' job to make sure they're being clear that they're collecting your information, or is it both?
Everyone will have to figure out how they want to handle that, but my recommendation is just to be very clear with your attendees on who's getting the information and who's not.
Next, onsite registration. Similar to lead capture, it's important to be very clear on what information you're capturing during the registration process at any event. Ask yourself these questions: Are you adding them to this list? What list? And how can they unsubscribe or see their information?
At the end of the day, this is a new reality and as event marketers we're all learning. We're going to find new ways to make this more clear and easier for our attendees to engage with. And we're going to figure out how to live in this new world of GDPR.
But what I'd recommend as event marketers is that we come to this with good faith, and really lead the way.
So that's GDPR in a nutshell as seen through the eyes of an event marketer. And if you want more information on GDPR and event marketing, we've written a beautiful and comprehensive ebook on GDPR and event marketing, and we've hosted a GDPR webinar that you can watch on-demand.
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