Privacy policy  

This Privacy Notice sets out how the Belfast XR Festival uses and protects any  information that you give us in the course of your interactions with our business, or  when you use our website.  

The Belfast XR Festival is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected.  Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified,  then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this Notice.  This Privacy Notice tells you what to expect when we collect and use your personal  information.  

It applies to information we collect about:  

• Visitors to our website;  

• Surveys and market research that we carry out;  

• Individuals who use our products or services;  

• Individuals who subscribe to our newsletter or request information from us and  • Job applicants and our current and former employees.  

What Information Do We Typically Collect?  

We may collect the following information:  

• Name and Job Title;  

• Contact information, including an email address;  

• Demographic information, such as a postcode, preferences and interests  • Other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers.  

What Do We Do With This Information?  

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a  better service and in particular for the following reasons:  

• Internal record keeping;  

• We may use the information to improve our products and services;  • We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers,  or other information that we think you may find interesting, using the email  address you have provided; 

• From time-to-time we may also use your information to contact you for market  research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, or by post. We may  use the information you provide to make changes to our business processes or  website.  

Visitors to Our Websites  

When someone visits www.belfastxrfestival.com we use a third party service,  Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor  behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to  the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does  not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of  those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable  information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it  clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do  with it.  

Security  

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent  unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical,  electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we  collect online.  

Cookies  

A cookie is a small file that asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard  drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or  lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to  respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to  your needs, likes, and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about  your preferences.  

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being visited on our website.  This helps us analyse data about webpage traffic and improve our website in order  to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis  purposes and then the data is removed from the system.  

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website by enabling us to  monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way 

gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the  data you choose to share with us.  

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically  accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies  if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.  

Links to Other Websites  

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you  have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any  control over any other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the  protection and privacy of any information that you provide while visiting such sites,  and such sites are not governed by this Privacy Notice. You should exercise caution  and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.  

Controlling Your Personal Information  

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the  following ways:  

• Whenever you complete a form on this website, if you do not wish to be  contacted for direct marketing purposes, ensure you do not tick the appropriate  box that enables us to contact you;  

• If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct  marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to us, or  emailing us at hello@belfastxrfestival.com;  

• We will not sell, distribute, or lease your personal information to third parties  unless we have your permission, or are required to do so by law. We may use  your personal information to send you promotional information about third  parties who we think you may find interesting, if you tell us that you wish this to  happen.  

E-newsletter  

We use a third party provider, MailChimp, to deliver our monthly e-newsletters. We  gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard  technologies to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter.  

Website 

We use a third party service. We use standard methods to collect anonymous  information about users’ activity on the site, for example the number of users  viewing pages on the site, to monitor and report on the effectiveness of the site  and help us improve it. Visitors that wish to leave a comment on our blog are  required to enter a name and email address.  

Social Media  

We have social media profiles on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.  If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will be  stored on those sites but will not be shared with any other organisations.  

Email Communication  

We use anti-virus software to monitor any emails sent to us, including file  attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a  responsibility to ensure that any email you send is within the bounds of the law.  

Complaints  

If we receive a complaint, we create a file to contain the details. This normally  includes the identity of the complainant, and any other individuals involved in the  complaint. We will only use the personal information we collect to process the  complaint and to check on the level of service we provide.  

We usually disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about.  This is inevitable where, for example, the performance or behaviour of an  individual is in question. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him  or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible  to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.  

We will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our  retention policy. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be  restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.  

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us we will only use the information  supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and to check on the level of service we  provide.  

Customers and Consumers 

We offer various products and services. We have to hold the details of individuals  who have requested products and services to enable us to supply them. However,  we only use these details to provide the service the person has requested, and for  

other closely related purposes. For example, we might use information about  people who have requested a service to carry out a survey to find out if they are  happy with the level of service they received. When people do subscribe to our  services, they can cancel their subscription at any time and are given an easy way  of doing this.  

Use of Data Processors  

Data Processors are third parties who provide elements of our recruitment service  for us. We have contracts in place with our Data Processors. This means that they  cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them  to do it. They will not share your personal information with any organisation apart  from us. They will hold it securely and retain it for the period we instruct.  

Your Rights  

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have rights as an individual  which you can exercise in relation to the information we hold about you. For more  information see https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/is-my-information-being-handled correctly.  

Complaints or Queries  

We try to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal  information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very  seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our  collection or use of information is unfair, misleading, or inappropriate. We would  also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.  

This Privacy Notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide  exhaustive detail of all aspects of our collection and use of personal information.  However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation  needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below.  

Access to Personal Information 

Individuals can find out if we hold any of their personal information by making a  ‘subject access request’ under the General Data Protection Regulation. If we do  hold information about you we will:  

• Give you a description of it;  

• Tell you why we are holding it;  

• Tell you who it could be disclosed to and  

• Let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.  

To make a request to us for any personal information we may hold, you need to  put the request in writing, and send it to the address below. If you agree, we will  try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the  specific information you need over the telephone. If we do hold information about  you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes by, once again, contacting us at  hello@belfastxrfestival.com.  

Disclosure of Personal Information  

In many circumstances, we will not disclose personal data without consent.  However when we investigate a complaint, for example, we will need to share  personal information with the individual concerned, and potentially with our  Management Team.  

Other Websites, Suppliers, and Third Parties  

This Privacy Notice does not cover the Privacy Notices of the third parties we use.  We encourage you to read their Privacy Notices in addition to our own.  

Changes to this Privacy Notice  

We keep our Privacy Notice under regular review. This Privacy Notice was last  updated on 13 October 2024.  

How to Contact Us  

If you want to request information about our Privacy Notice, you can email us at  hello@belfastxrfestival.com.