Privacy Policy
Marco Polo Summit · Version 0.1, draft for legal review · 13 October 2026
This policy explains what personal data we collect and what we do with it. It covers visiting marcopolosummit.com, applying for a seat, buying a ticket and attending Marco Polo Summit. It is written to meet the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Dutch implementation act (UAVG).
1. Who we are
Marco Polo Summit, Amsterdam, is the data controller (company registration details follow). Questions about your data go to marcel@marcopolosummit.com. Marcel van der Heijden answers them.
2. What we collect and why
| When | What we collect | Why | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| You visit the website | IP address, browser type, pages visited, referring site. Only through privacy-friendly analytics that do not track you across sites. | To see which pages work and keep the site secure | Legitimate interest (art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) |
| You apply for a seat | First name, last name, title, company, company website, work email, LinkedIn profile, the category you apply in, and anything you write to us | To decide whether to offer you a seat, and to reply | Steps before a contract (art. 6(1)(b)) and legitimate interest in curating the room |
| You confirm your seat | Invoice details (company name, VAT number, billing address), payment status. Card or bank details go straight to our payment provider; we never see them. | To issue your ticket and invoice | Contract (art. 6(1)(b)) and the legal duty to keep invoices (art. 6(1)(c)) |
| You tell us about dietary needs or accessibility | What you tell us | To arrange meals, hotels and dinner seating that work for you | Your explicit consent (art. 9(2)(a)), because this can reveal health or religious data. You can leave it blank. |
| You attend the summit | Your name, company and seat number on your badge and in the attendee list; your meeting choices for the meet-up rounds; photos and video taken during the event | To run the event, match meetings, and report on it afterwards | Contract (art. 6(1)(b)) for the badge and meetings; legitimate interest (art. 6(1)(f)) for photography, with an opt-out, see section 6 |
| You subscribe to our updates | Email address, name | To send you news about the summit, at most a few times a year | Consent (art. 6(1)(a)). You can unsubscribe in every email. |
We do not collect data about you from data brokers. We may look at your public LinkedIn profile and company website during selection.
3. Who sees your data
We never sell your data. We take no money from sponsors, so there is no sponsor list to share you with.
We use a small number of service providers who process data for us under a processing agreement:
- a ticketing and event platform (for tickets, badges and the meet-up rounds)
- a payment provider (for card and bank payments)
- an email provider (for invitations and updates)
- our accountant (for invoices)
With your knowledge we also share:
- your name, company and role with the other attendees, in the attendee list and the event app. This is part of what you buy: a room of 100 people who know who is in it.
- your name with the hotels we partner with, only if you book a room through our link
- your name and dietary needs with the restaurant that hosts your table on Thursday evening
We disclose data to authorities only when the law requires it.
4. Where your data is stored
We prefer providers that store data in the European Economic Area. Where a provider stores data outside the EEA, we rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision. Ask us at marcel@marcopolosummit.com for the current list.
5. How long we keep it
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Applications we did not select | 12 months after the summit, so we can invite you next year. Email us if you want it gone sooner. |
| Attendee data | 3 years after your last summit, to invite you to the next editions |
| Invoices and payment records | 7 years, as Dutch tax law requires |
| Dietary and accessibility notes | Deleted within 30 days after the summit |
| Newsletter subscription | Until you unsubscribe |
| Event photos and video | As long as we use them for Marco Polo Summit |
6. Photos and video
We photograph and film the summit. We use the images for our website, next year's invitations and our own social channels. We do not pass them to third parties for their marketing.
If you prefer to stay out of the pictures, tell us at registration. You get a marked badge, and we brief the photographer. If a photo of you appears anyway, email us and we remove it.
Sessions are not recorded. What is said in the room stays in the room.
7. Your rights
You can ask us to:
- show you the data we hold about you
- correct it
- delete it
- limit what we do with it
- give it to you in a file you can take elsewhere
- stop processing based on legitimate interest, including photography
Email marcel@marcopolosummit.com. We answer within one month. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl).
8. Cookies
The website uses only the cookies it needs to work and a privacy-friendly analytics tool that stores no personal data and needs no banner. If we add anything else, we ask first.
9. Changes
We update this policy when our processing changes. The version and date at the top tell you which one you are reading. For changes that matter to you, we email attendees and applicants.