Infographic: Are Your Events Complying to GDPR?

This week, we’re marking one year since the introduction of GDPR – the European data protection law that promised to shake up the way organisations globally collect, process and look after the personal information of people in the EU. But one year on – what impact has GDPR actually had on the events industry?

What changes have organisers made in the way they plan and manage events? What challenges are events still facing in meeting the requirements?  And more importantly, are they complying or are they at risk?

Research Study: GDPR and Events…One Year On

Eventsforce ran a survey with more than 110 event planners this month to get answers to these questions and help organisers understand where they stand with their own compliance efforts.  And the results have certainly been interesting!

The study revealed that 90% of event planners are still facing a number of challenges in meeting GDPR requirements, one year after it first came into effect.  And though 81% feel confident that they are complying to the new regulation, on-going issues include consent management, running GDPR checks with event suppliers and controlling how third parties are using attendee data.


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The results also show that despite on-going challenges, GDPR has also brought about a number of positive changes to the industry, especially with regards to event marketing, data management and data security. Events are also starting to promote their data protection credentials a lot more than before in an effort to show attendees that they can be trusted with their most valuable asset – their personal information.

Related article: GDPR, BREXIT and Events

Here’s a quick summary of some of the key findings:

  • 4 in 5 event planners are confident their events are complying to GDPR
  • 9 in 10 organisers say GDPR has changed the way they plan and manage events, with the biggest impact on data management, data security and event marketing
  • 44% of event planners are now sharing a lot less data with stakeholders and suppliers (ex. hotels and venues)
  • More than 1 in 3 organisers have improved the quality and creativity of their communication campaigns as a result of GDPR
  • Managing attendee consent is the TOP challenge organisers still face around GDPR
  • Assessing GDPR compliance of tech providers, event agencies and suppliers is still a problem for 30% of organisers.

For a more comprehensive look at the results of ‘Are Your Events Complying to GDPR?’ research study, please see infographic below:


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