I'm on the email distribution lists for so many web conferencing vendors that I have trouble keeping track of them all. But today I got an email from Venstream that succeeded in catching my eye. The subject line was "Webinar Data privacy, Who is using your registration data?"
Inside the body of the email I saw this:
Now how can you turn down a come-on like that? I had to click through to their page. I found that they were riffing on one aspect of something I ranted about back in 2012… Complex and over-reaching use agreements for web conferencing software. Venstream specifically pointed to a standard clause used by too many vendors, giving them the right to collect and market to any users who register for or attend your web meetings.
Venstream's marketing proposition was simple. Run your meetings on our product and we won't harass your attendees. At the bottom of the web page was a big link in bold text, inviting me to view the Venstream Terms and Conditions. I did. It is refreshingly short, simply-written, and reasonable. Clause #9 says in plain English:
All data collected through our platform in the course of running webcasts or webinars for clients will belong exclusively to the client. This includes all registration data, poll data, audience questions and exit surveys. Venstream NEVER uses client data for our marketing efforts and we NEVER sell our client data.
That's some refreshing customer-centric agreement language. I applaud them. Unfortunately I haven't used Venstream yet on a webinar, so I can't comment on the product itself. But this makes me want to check it out!
