Northstar

45 NOV-DEC 2018 MEETINGS & CONVENTIONS MCMAG-ASIA.COM Kristen Carvalho, director of events and content marketing at Aventri, answers questions for trade-show exhibitors. How will data capture change? It won't be as easy as leaving a trade show and sending a list to marketing to add to a database so that the sales team can start calling. You'll have to put new processes in place for following up with attendees after the show — and get their consent for every way you want to communicate with them. Is there a best practice for collecting data from booth visitors? I recommend having a form for visitors to fill out electronically that explains what you will do with their information; and then follow up by sending them an automated email, reminding them they filled out a form at that specific event. This will be your first opt-in. Then, after the event, it will be easier to follow up with people. Scanners or badges are great, too. Just remember, no matter what, you need to double opt-in people. Do the regulations change depending on how you collect data? Not really. No matter how you collect people's information — from badges, business cards, etc. — you need to be clear on how you will use it. Explain if it will be for sales purposes, marketing emails, etc. A year after the event, someone might ask when they opted in to receive your information. You may be in trouble if all you have is their scanned information with a day and time, but nothing explicitly saying "yes" to receiving information. For more answers from Carvalho, see mcmag.com/gdprexhib. – M.J.S. GDPR for Exhibitors anthropology and information science. What's most important for planners, Cool says, is to think carefully about which attendee data they actually need — a concept that could be in conict with the rush to capitalise on, and possibly monetise, Big Data. "Too often, the attitude is to collect as much data as possible and then gure out what is useful later on," she says. "Organisations that collect data about meeting attendees might look to the GDPR's principle of 'data minimisation' as a start — and then sit down as a group and talk about the ethical values of the organisation, and what they are trying to accomplish through this data collection." The move to protect personal data might be fueled by a fear of nes, but the misuse of personal data also can damage a company's reputation. Clients and the public are paying greater attention to corporate ethics — and steering their business to rms that do the right thing. "At the end of the day, we all come out of this as better companies," says Marty MacKay, DMCP, president of global alliance for Hosts Global. Mac- Kay has undertaken a massive training program to make sure all Hosts DMCs are in compliance around the world — and she's working closely with clients as well, helping them understand their roles as data controllers and extend the needed protections to agreements with other suppliers. "Trusted partners should have no issue with transparency," MacKay says. "When the truth and transparency is there with your suppliers, one party can say, 'We're going to tighten this up,' and you can support them. It's a journey — not a sprint. There are a lot of people out there trying to do the right thing and improve the industry as a result." "The ethical discussion should really be a meeting with all members of the organisation to avoid creating the sense that data protection is only a legal or technical problem," adds Cool. "It is an ethical problem that everyone in the organisation really should be thinking about." PHOTO CREDIT: TANAONTE/GETTY IMAGES PHOTO CREDIT: ANTTOHOHO /GETTY IMAGES

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