CYA? All The Time.

It’s unfortunate, but one must watch their backside at all times. When planning an online event, this is just as critical, as when planning an in-person event. What types of protection do you need to have in place for such an occasion? That is a great question for your insurance company, risk management team, or a lawyer. I am not a lawyer, but If you still want advice from an event planner with years of experience, please read on.

When working with an online event, it can be challenging for your organization to adequately express to everyone attending, the level at which you operate with integrity, how it benefits the attendee, and the fact that you expect attendees to behave in kind. To be express your safety boundaries for communication and avoid mismatched expectations, adding disclaimers or terms and conditions to your ticket purchase can help clear things up. If nothing else, it shows that your organization is doing their due diligence to keep everyone safe. Here are a couple of items you might want to consider implementing:

• Code of Conduct – This clause explains what you expect of the attendee’s behavior for your event. If planning an in-person event, this would be where you request an attendee stay home if they feel sick, refrain from smoking on property, or abide by all rules of the facility where you are meeting. For an online event, you would inform the attendee of the expected behavior, accepted language, and allowed topics for online conversations and for use in breakout rooms. 
• No Recording or Reproducing – Your organization should include some type of proprietary information or copyright disclaimer so the content cannot be reproduced by someone else without your consent. You may not even notice, but this type of disclaimer is mentioned on all movies and televised sporting events.
• Chat and Direct Messaging Etiquette – This is more of an agreement of what is expected of the attendee when using the chat and 1:1 direct messaging features (if offered), on what platform they are being offered, and what to do if they feel uncomfortable with a particular conversation. Not only do you want to set boundaries but you want an attendee to be able to report a conversation they are uncomfortable with. Having a moderator monitoring chat feeds who has the ability to turn someone’s access off is incredibly helpful and a great security measure here.
• Admittance to the Online Event – Similar to the disclaimer of an in-person event or the backside of a physical ticket, this is where the host organization is reminding the online attendee that you as the host still has the right to “ask” someone to leave your online event if they are not behaving in a manner consistent with your mission, vision, or values, or they are engaging in an activity you have asked them not to, like recording online content.

There are several other disclaimer options your organization may want to consider. Your legal department or insurance company will have the best advice. Whatever you do, don’t do nothing!

Do you have a disclaimer or cause you can share? I’d love to hear from you, email me!

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