Privacy, photo rights and PIPEDA

Guest data, photography consent, performer image rights, and what you can post. Includes the signage and consent language that works.

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Privacy, photo rights and pipeda.

Guest data, photography consent, performer image rights, and what you can post.

Includes the signage and consent language that works.

What pipeda asks of a planner.

Every RSVP form is a privacy decision.

Names, emails, dietary needs, accessibility requirements, who is sitting with whom: that is personal information, and in Canada the private sector collects it under pipeda, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Guest data in practice.

Decide what you need before building the form. A name and email get someone in the door.

Say why, on the form itself, in one sentence: "We collect this to manage your attendance and meals for the Harbour Gala, and to send you event updates. We will not share it with anyone else."

Photography and video: notice and opt-out.

Photographs of guests are personal information too.

The working standard for events is notice plus a genuine opt-out: tell people clearly that photography and video are happening and what the images will be used for, and give them a way to say no that you will actually honour.

Performer image rights.

Performers are the other side of the lens.

A mentalist's act, a magician's signature routine and a band's set are their livelihood, and their faces are their brand.

What you can post.

You, the planner, can post what your client agreement allows.

Put a clause in it: you may use images and a general description of the event in your portfolio and social media, naming the client or not as they prefer, and never disclosing budgets, guest names or anything the client marks confidential.

That is the lesson. The worksheet and the quiz are just below this video.

What you will be able to do

• Handle guest data under PIPEDA
• Obtain photo and performer rights
• Write consent signage

What PIPEDA asks of a planner

Every RSVP form is a privacy decision. Names, emails, dietary needs, accessibility requirements, who is sitting with whom: that is personal information, and in Canada the private sector collects it under PIPEDA, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Ontario has no private-sector privacy law of its own, so PIPEDA is the rule for a planning business and for most clients. The obligations are plain enough to put on an index card: collect only what you need, say why you are collecting it, get consent, protect it, and delete it when you are done. This is not legal advice; for a client in a regulated sector, or any guest list that includes health information, ask a lawyer.

Guest data in practice

1. Decide what you need before building the form. A name and email get someone in the door. A dietary field is needed for catering. Date of birth is almost never needed and should not be asked.
2. Say why, on the form itself, in one sentence: “We collect this to manage your attendance and meals for the Harbour Gala, and to send you event updates. We will not share it with anyone else.”
3. Make marketing a separate, unticked box. Attending an event is consent to be contacted about that event, not to join a newsletter.
4. Protect it. Spreadsheets of guests live in one shared, access-controlled folder, not in six email threads. Dietary and accessibility notes are sensitive; share them with the caterer and venue in a stripped-down list, by table, not by forwarding the whole file.
5. Delete it. Set a date after the event, after thank-yous and the survey, when you remove the file. Tell the client you are doing it.

Sponsors will ask for the guest list. The answer, unless guests consented to it on the form, is no. Offer aggregate data instead: 200 guests, 60% from the hospital’s donor base, 40% corporate tables. That is what the sponsorship lesson in the next module prices, and it needs no personal information at all.

Photography and video: notice and opt-out

Photographs of guests are personal information too. The working standard for events is notice plus a genuine opt-out: tell people clearly that photography and video are happening and what the images will be used for, and give them a way to say no that you will actually honour. Two places do the work. The registration or ticket page carries the wording, and signage at every entrance repeats it on the night.

Keep the opt-out signal consistent: a coloured lanyard or sticker, briefed to every photographer and the social media team. An opt-out that nobody at the camera knows about is not an opt-out.

Performer image rights

Performers are the other side of the lens. A mentalist’s act, a magician’s signature routine and a band’s set are their livelihood, and their faces are their brand. Default assumptions cause trouble in both directions: the client assumes they own every photo taken at their event; the performer assumes the client will not post a two-minute clip of the act online. Settle it in the performance agreement with three questions. May the client photograph and film the act? May the client post it, and where? May the performer use photos and video from the event in their own marketing, and does that include guests’ faces or the client’s logo?

A fair default for a private event: the client may use still photos of the performer in their event recap; short video clips need the performer’s okay, and the performer may use event images with guest faces obscured or with the client’s written permission. Photographers have their own copyright in the images they take; your agreement with the photographer should grant the client a licence to use them for the stated purposes and say whether the photographer may use them in a portfolio. The /tools/performer-tech-rider-template/ and the /tools/vendor-contact-sheet/ both have a place to record what was agreed.

What you can post

You, the planner, can post what your client agreement allows. Put a clause in it: you may use images and a general description of the event in your portfolio and social media, naming the client or not as they prefer, and never disclosing budgets, guest names or anything the client marks confidential. A charity gala is usually happy to be named; a private 50th birthday is usually not. Ask once, write it down, and stick to it.

Worked example: the Harbour Gala

The foundation’s ticket page collects name, email, company (optional), dietary needs and accessibility needs, with the one-sentence purpose statement and an unticked box for the foundation’s newsletter. The photography notice is on the page and on a sign at the ballroom doors. Check-in offers a grey lanyard for anyone who prefers not to be photographed; three guests take one. The photographer and the foundation’s social media volunteer are briefed on the grey lanyard at 5:30 p.m.

The mentalist’s agreement allows stills, allows one 30-second clip of the set for the foundation’s recap once he has approved it, and lets him post his own stills with the foundation’s logo visible. The strolling magicians agree to the same. The dietary list goes to the hotel’s banquet manager as a table-by-table sheet with no emails attached. Sponsors asking for the guest list receive the aggregate profile instead. The master guest file is deleted 60 days after the event, once the thank-you letters and the /tools/post-event-survey-template/ results are in.

Common mistakes

• Collecting first and deciding later. Design the form around the purpose.
• Forwarding the full guest spreadsheet to vendors. Send the stripped list each vendor needs.
• Signage with no opt-out mechanism. Notice without a way to decline is not consent.
• Posting a performer’s full act. Thirty seconds, approved, is the courtesy that keeps performers working with you.
• Keeping guest data “in case”. Set the deletion date on the day you build the form.

Worksheet

Download the worksheet, complete it for your own event (or the running gala example), and keep it in your course binder. It takes about 10 minutes.

Download the worksheet (PDF)