How to make your webinars GDPR-compliant

What is the GDPR and what does it mean for your webinars?

You receive information about GDPR compliance from all sides—sometimes clarifying, but often confusing. We’re not here to tell you exactly what to do to comply with the regulations, but we will show you how we ensure that your webinars are GDPR-proof.

The introduction of GDPR is a positive development. It ensures that all businesses within the EU adhere to the same regulations and compels organizations to think critically about privacy and security. This helps minimize the risk of data breaches and strengthens the protection of personal data.

In this article, we explain how GDPR affects your webinars and WebinarGeek account. We also show you the adjustments we have made to help you stay GDPR-compliant.

How do we ensure that you are GDPR-compliant?

We have taken several measures to make sure your webinars and account comply with GDPR. Below, you’ll find what this entails and the benefits it offers your business.

Benefits of GDPR for your business

• Improved privacy and security: You are required to think critically about how you handle personal data.

• More transparency: Attendees know exactly what data you collect and how it is used.

• Higher quality leads: Since attendees can easily manage their profiles and consent, unnecessary emails are reduced.

• Better audience insights: You gain a clearer understanding of your viewers’ needs, allowing you to serve them better and exceed their expectations.

What does GDPR mean for your webinar registration process?

When signing up for a webinar, participants must agree to your privacy policy, which outlines how you handle the personal data you collect.

Additionally:

• Explicit consent for marketing emails: If you want to add participants to your mailing list, you must obtain separate consent via a consent field in the registration form.

• Default disabled 'Last Name' field: For newly created webinars, the 'Last Name' field is disabled by default.

What does GDPR mean for your WebinarGeek account?

To comply with GDPR, we have made several changes to your WebinarGeek account:

• Limited retention period: Inactive accounts and their associated data and recordings are automatically deleted after a certain period.

• Self-deletion of your account: You have the option to delete your account, including all data and recordings, at any time.

• Processor agreement available: You can view, accept, and download this agreement in your account.

• Two-step authentication: You can enhance your account security by enabling this feature.

• Retrieve stored personal data: You can search for all data linked to a specific email address and send it to the respective person if needed.

• Proof of consent: Data collected via consent fields is available in your webinar statistics, ensuring you always meet GDPR proof-of-compliance requirements.

What can you do as a webinar host?

• Only request the information you truly need. By default, only an email address and first name are required.

• Do not import contacts for a webinar without explicit consent.

What can you expect from us?

We have provided various tools and documentation to support you:

• Processor agreement: Available in the 'Security' section of your account.

• Consent fields in registration forms: Allow participants to explicitly agree to the use of their personal data, for example, for marketing emails.

• Insight into consent: All approvals are stored in your account and can be exported as a .CSV file.

With these measures, we ensure that you can easily comply with GDPR and host your webinars without concerns. Want to learn more? Please read our blog post "What is the GDPR?" or read more on the official GDPR website.