8. Admittance to Conferences

8.1 Attendees over the age of 18 years are generally allowed to attend a Conference and related events. We, in our sole discretion, and without any liability or obligation to refund, reserve the right to refuse admittance to or to eject from the Conference and/or related events anyone that we determine:

• is behaving in a manner that could disrupt, hinder or cause a nuisance to the Conference and/or related events, or the enjoyment of any other person or partner at the Conference;
• represents a security or health & safety risk to the Conference or to any person or partner; and/or
• fails to comply with, or is likely to fail to comply with, these Terms.

8.2 You may view our anti-harassment policy here.

8.3 You agree to comply with all applicable laws in connection with your attendance or participation at a Conference and related events.

9. Conference, related events and initiatives 

9.1 When you purchase a ticket, you are entitled to attend the specific Conference your ticket relates to, during the days and year marked on your ticket. We, in our sole discretion, and without any liability, reserve the right to reschedule, postpone or cancel the Conference, as per rules outlined in the section below. 

9.2 Our Conferences aim at bringing together a diverse and global audience of technology entrepreneurs, investors, startups, established companies, media organisations and thought leaders through a number of initiatives and events. 

9.3 During the Conference, apart from the talks, presentations, discussions, and round tables lead by our carefully selected speakers, high-level attendees and partners, you may get access to related events and initiatives such as, but not limited to: 

• Partners’ offers: our global partners display their own offers and initiatives on builds during the Conference. You are able to connect with them in person during the event and/or through our App. 
• Startups’ offers: our startups display their own offers and initiatives on stands and boards during the Conference. You are able to interact with them in person during the event and/or through our App.
• Job Boards: our global partners display career opportunities and open positions at their respective organisations. You can apply to these open positions at any time during the Conference. 
• Attendee Perks: attendee perks provide our partners with the opportunity to create exclusive offers of their products or services for our attendees. 
• Mentor Hours: Mentor Hours are a series of pre-scheduled, hour-long group meetings between our high-level speakers and/or attendees. It’s carefully designed to foster both individual and collective growth. 
• Masterclasses: masterclasses are a chance for our global partners to engage with our attendees in an interactive environment. They allow our partners to curate content, including digital presentations that may be shared, in a private and dedicated space. 
• Night Summit: Night Summit is a series of social events and receptions for our Conference’s attendees in different entertainment and cultural venues. 
• Drinks’ party and/or dinners: drinks’ party and/or dinners provide our global partners with the opportunity to engage with a smaller number of attendees in a social environment.
• PITCH: PITCH is our startup competition that showcases the world’s most promising early-stage startups in a live, onstage pitching battle.
• f.ounders: f.ounders is an invite-only gathering of the world’s leading technology company founders. 
• Startup showcase: the startup showcase is a series of quickfire presentations with startups highlighting their solutions to the biggest issues in their fields.
• Investor meetings: investor to startup meetings are a series of pre-scheduled, 15-minute meetings between tech’s most influential investors and the most promising startups in our startup programme.
• Corporate Innovation Summit (CIS): CIS is a one-day, invite-only event right before a Conference, that connects high-level attendees and organisations shaping the global tech industry. It includes roundtables, masterclasses and networking events.
• Venture: Venture is an invite-only gathering of the most influential angels, VCs and LPs. This one-day event is centred around curated roundtable discussions, and offers valuable opportunities to engage with the people driving change in the venture industry. 
• Gathering: Gathering is a private, invite-only event taking place before a Conference, bringing together 200 of our selected early-stage startups. The selected startups spend time in small groups, exchanging ideas, networking, and learning from thought leaders on stage, in masterclasses and in roundtables.

9.4 We, in our sole discretion, and without any liability, reserve the right to suppress any of the above-mentioned related events and/or initiatives, or create new related events and/or initiatives from one year and/or Conference to the other. 

9.5 The possibility to subscribe for the above-mentioned related events and initiatives will vary depending on the (a) type of ticket you hold (i.e., general attendee; startups; investors; partners; etc.); and (b) event or initiative capacity and/or availability. We do not guarantee that all of our attendees will be able to subscribe and/or will be invited to the referred related events and initiatives.

9.6 If you subscribe or accept the invitation to attend a related event and/or benefit from an initiative, your personal information will be processed and shared with the relevant stakeholder(s) (i.e., partner(s), startup(s), investor(s), etc.) for the purposes of enabling your attendance and/or providing you with the respective benefit. Your data may also be shared for purposes such as, but not limited to: capacity control and security; sharing of related presentations and materials; tailoring of content; catering and health; development of perks and gifts; and target audience profile analysis. 

Please review our Privacy Policy to learn more about how your personal information is used and your legal rights.

10. Changes or cancellation of a conference

10.1 We try to make sure that the Conference programmes, speakers, topics, venues and dates are correct at the time of publishing. We reserve the right to make substitutions, alterations, postponements, or cancellations to the content, format, themes, name, performers, hosts, moderators, venue, timing or dates of a Conference. We reserve the right to do so at any time and will not be liable to you for any cost incurred by you as a result (including, without limitation, travel, accommodation and other expenses).

10.2 We will endeavour to notify you as soon as reasonably practicable of any substitutions, postponements, or changes by posting the updated information on the Conference website homepage. Significant changes will be notified by email.

10.3 IF THE CONFERENCE IS POSTPONED, WE WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH A SUBSTITUTE TICKET TO THE CONFERENCE ON THE RESCHEDULED DATE. NO REFUNDS WILL BE PROVIDED IF THE CONFERENCE IS POSTPONED.

10.4 In the unlikely event of cancellation of a Conference, our total aggregate liability to you is limited to the refund of paid fees that remain after credit card and payment processing fees have been incurred and deducted, and we will not be liable to you for any expenditure, damage or loss incurred by you as a result of the cancellation.

11. Photography, audio and video recording

11.1 Any use of photographic, audio, video or other recording equipment at a Conference is strictly prohibited unless it is approved by us in writing in advance.

11.2 By attending the Conference you acknowledge and agree that the Conference (or any part of it) may be photographed or recorded by us or our partners. You agree to permit us, or any third party licensed by us, to use, distribute, broadcast, or otherwise globally disseminate your likeness, name, job title, company name, voice and words in perpetuity in television, radio, film, newspapers, magazines and other media now available and hereafter developed, both before, during and any time after the Conference, and in any form, without any further approval from you or any payment to you. This grant includes, but is not limited to, the right to edit the media, the right to use the media (alone or together with other information), and the right to allow others to use or distribute the media.

12. Your attendance at a conference

12.1 You are responsible for advising us at the time of making your booking regarding any special access requirements you require at the Conference.

12.2 You are responsible for arranging your own appropriate insurance cover in connection with your attendance or exhibition at a Conference. We and our related companies will not be liable for any injury or damage to any person or to any real or personal property however caused (except for death or personal injury as a result of our negligence or for any other type of liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law).

12.3 During the Conference, you shall conduct yourself in an orderly manner and shall not act in any manner which causes offence, annoyance or inconvenience to other Attendees. Attendees shall not canvass, promote, advertise or solicit for business in a manner which, in our sole discretion, is deemed unacceptable. We reserve the right to remove from the Venue any attendee who we consider in our reasonable opinion contravenes applicable laws or regulations or our policies and procedures or those of the Venue, is likely to cause offence or annoyance or is otherwise inappropriate or does not comply with these terms.

12.4 The Conference is environmentally conscious and promotes a paperless event, where possible. As an attendee, you undertake not to distribute promotional materials or similar items save where a Litter Charge has been agreed with our express prior written consent. Minimum Litter Charge €5,000. Any attendee wishing to distribute promotional material or similar items should email [email protected] to arrange invoicing and payment in advance of the event. All funds relating to the Litter Charge will be donated to a local Community / Environmental Fund of our choosing.

13. Refund and cancellation

13.1 Your ticket remains our property and is a personal revocable licence, which may be withdrawn, and admission to a Conference may be refused at any time upon a refund of the printed registration price.

13.2 If you are eligible under applicable law to avail of a right to cancel your purchase of a ticket within 14 days without giving any reason and to receive a reimbursement of payments, you need to notify us in writing of your decision to cancel your Conference’s ticket within 14 days of the day the contract for distance selling was concluded. The refund will be made in the same form as the original payment was received (for example, a credit card payment will be refunded to the same credit card account number).

13.3 All purchases of Conference tickets are non-refundable in their entirety after the end of this 14-day ‘cooling off’ period. You acknowledge that all refunds are subject to a deduction of a €10 or $10 transaction fee or as otherwise advised (depending on the currency of your original transaction). Our free and subsidised ticket promotions sometimes include a processing fee. This processing fee is non-refundable in its entirety.

14. No reselling

14.1 The tickets you purchase are for your personal use or that of your business only and may not be resold under any circumstances, including but not limited to use as part of any promotion or competition. This includes subsidised tickets such as one-day tickets, Women in Tech Tickets, Young Entrepreneur, Loyalty, Open Source, Developer, Youth Ticket and/or Scholarship tickets.

14.2 Reselling or otherwise transferring your ticket, not in accordance with the Terms, will void the ticket and the ticket holder will not gain entry into the Conference. Where there has been any resale or attempted resale of any tickets (or any other breach of this term), we reserve the right to cancel the relevant tickets with immediate effect.

14.3 We reserve the right to cancel any ticket purchase made by any person or body whom we reasonably believe to be associated with any ticket reselling or ticket broker.

15. Wristbands and lanyards

15.1 For security and identification reasons, we require all attendees to:

• display on their wrist the official Conference wristband;
• display around their neck the official Conference lanyard containing their badge (except for youth attendees); and
• carry photo identification and display it at all times on request.

15.2 You will find details of the cost of replacing lost or damaged wristbands for a Conference on our website. The cost of replacing lost or damaged wristbands is correct at the time of publication and is subject to change.

16. Online surveys

In order to enhance our services and add value to your experience, we may ask you to participate in an optional online survey regarding our Conference(s) and/or related events and initiatives. If you choose to participate, your personal data will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

17. Visa requirements

17.1 It is your sole responsibility to take care of visa requirements, a valid passport and other necessary documentation for entrance into the country the Conference is taking place. If you require an entry visa to attend, volunteer or exhibit at the Conference, you must allow sufficient time for the visa application procedure.

17.2 In the event you are not granted a visa or fail to obtain valid travel documents or are not permitted to travel, we are under no obligation to refund your ticket unless you are eligible under applicable law.

18.Intellectual property rights

18.1 All intellectual property rights in and to the Conference, the Conference content, and all materials distributed at or in connection with the Conference are owned by us, our related companies, and/or the Conference sponsors or speakers attending the Conference. You must not reproduce or allow anyone to reproduce trademarks or materials distributed by or on behalf of us at a Conference for any reason, without our prior written permission.

18.2 Nothing in these Terms shall vest in you any legal or beneficial right in or to any intellectual property rights owned or used under licence by us or our related companies, or grant to you any right or licence to any other intellectual property rights of us or our related companies. All such intellectual property rights shall remain the exclusive property of us and our related companies.

18.3 It is strictly forbidden for any company, organisation, or person to attempt to host or organise any event in conjunction with, contiguous to or purporting to be related to a Conference or its affiliates without our express prior permission and cooperation of us. We reserve their right to take such action (legal or otherwise), including a claim for damages as we, in our sole discretion, deem appropriate in the circumstances.

19. Your Contribution and Messages

19.1 We may permit you to send messages and other communications (“Messages”) to us or other users via the App and/or Website (“Digital Platforms”). You are solely responsible for your Messages and the consequences of sending them, and expressly release us and agree to hold us harmless, from all and any liability arising from your Messages. You grant us (and we accept) a global right to use, store, and reproduce your Messages for the limited purpose of facilitating sending them to your chosen recipients (and we may also use third-party service providers to facilitate the sending of your Messages). You represent and warrant that your Messages will not infringe any third-party right of others. You acknowledge and agree that the provisions of our Content Guidelines and Anti-Harassment policy shall also apply to Messages that you send.

19.2 We may permit your sharing and publishing of your content to the Conference (such as a workshop or other public contributions to the Conference) subject to these Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy (“Your Contribution”) and you grant us a global, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual right to use Your Contribution in relation to the Conference. You understand that you are responsible for Your Contribution and it may be publicly available. You agree to waive any moral rights in Your Contribution. We have discretion whether to publish Your Contribution and we reserve the right without further notice to you, to monitor, censor, edit, remove, and/or delete any and all of Your Contribution at any time which we believe to violate these Terms of Use, our Content Guidelines and our Anti- Harassment policy. We reserve the right to access, read, preserve and disclose any of Your Contribution or any other information that we obtain in connection with the Conference as we reasonably believe is necessary to (i) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process, subpoena or governmental request; (ii) enforce this Agreement, including investigation of potential violations of it; (iii) detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues; (iv) respond to your user support requests; or (v) protect the rights, property or safety of us, our users or the public.

19.3 You are not permitted to engage in or attempt to engage in any activity in breach of the Terms of Use, this includes:

• Impersonating or misrepresenting an individual or entity in a manner that is considered misleading or deceptive;
• Partaking in activities that are considered fraudulent, unlawful or false, such as scams;
• Using our Digital Platforms in any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation;
• Sending mass solicitation material without intent or purpose, such as spam;
• Knowingly transmitting any data, or sending or uploading any material, that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware;
• Knowingly sending, receiving, uploading, downloading, using or re-using any material that does not comply with our content standards;
• Violating the privacy of individuals, or distributing confidential or personal information relating to individuals;
• Violating or infringing any intellectual property or proprietary rights of individuals or entities, including but not limited to copyrights.

19.4 You may not use your username, display name, or profile bio to engage in any practice prohibited by these Terms and Conditions.

20. Warranties

20.1 To the extent permitted by the applicable law, we disclaim all warranties or conditions, either express or implied, or any part of them in respect of any aspect of a Conference or any related materials. You acknowledge and agree that in accepting these Terms you have not relied on any representation or warranty that is not expressly included in these Terms and you agree that you shall have no remedy in respect of any misrepresentation which has not become a part of these Terms.

20.2 Except as set out in these Terms, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the Organiser excludes all conditions, terms, representations and warranties relating to the Conference and any ticket or Package, whether imposed by statute or by the operation of law or otherwise, that are not expressly stated herein.

21. Limitation of Liability

21.1 You acknowledge and agree that views expressed by speakers at or in connection with the Conference are their own and the Web Summit Group (including the Organiser) do not accept any responsibility or liability for any advice given or views expressed during or in connection with the Conference.

21.2 Materials shared or distributed at or in connection with the Conference are intended for information purposes only and should not be relied upon by you or others. We and our related companies do not provide any guarantees, conditions or warranties that the materials are complete or accurate and do not accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by you or any person on any aspect of the Conference and/or any information provided at the Conference.

21.3 To the fullest extent allowed by applicable law:

(a) Web Summit Group (including our affiliates, parent undertakings, subsidiaries, and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, legal representatives and sub-contractors, and our related companies) shall not be liable to you whether, in contract, tort (including for negligence), misrepresentation, restitution or otherwise for any loss of profits; loss of sales or business; loss of agreements or contracts; loss of anticipated savings; loss of income; loss of opportunity; loss of or damage to goodwill; loss of use or corruption of software, data or information; and/or similar losses or pure economic loss, or for any indirect or consequential loss, costs, damages, charges or expenses however arising under or in connection with the performance or contemplated performance of the Terms, even if we had been advised of the possibility of same in advance; and

(b) subject to paragraph (c) (below), our total aggregate liability in contract, tort (including negligence), misrepresentation, restitution or otherwise, arising under or in connection with the performance or contemplated performance of the Terms is limited to the total amount paid by you to us for your ticket to participate and access the Conference, after the payment of any processing fees or bank charges applicable.

(c) Nothing in these Terms purports to exclude or limit liability for any fraudulent statement or act or in respect of any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

21.4 The Organiser does not make any warranty as to the Conference in general and in particular in relation to (i) the presence or absence or location of any other sponsor/exhibitor or potential sponsor/exhibitor; or (ii) the benefit or outcome (commercial or otherwise) that you may achieve as a result of attending or sponsoring the Conference. In particular, note that:

• (a) personal arrangements and expenditures, including travel, accommodation, hospitality and other costs and expenses incurred by you relating to the Conference which have been arranged by you are at your own risk, and we shall not be responsible or liable to you for any wasted or unrecoverable costs or expenditure in relation to such personal arrangements, even if caused as a result of the cancellation, rescheduling or alteration of a Conference; 
• (b) we shall not be responsible or liable to you for any loss of enjoyment or amenity, including where a Conference has been cancelled, rescheduled or altered; and
• (c) we shall not be responsible or liable to you (and you will not be entitled to any refund) if admission to a venue or event is refused or revoked at any time as a result of your breach of these terms and conditions or the Venue’s rules and regulations.

21.5 We are not responsible for the actions or failures of any venue, performer or other Conference sponsors. Under no circumstances shall we be liable for death or personal injury suffered by you or your guests arising out of attendance at a Conference, unless caused by our negligence. Neither shall we be liable for any loss or damage sustained to your property or belongings, or those of any member of your party, attending a Conference.

22. Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold the Web Summit Group, our related companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, joint ventures, third-party service providers, and our respective employees, contractors, agents, officers, and directors harmless from all claims, liability, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise out of or are related to any breach of the Terms by you or any other liabilities incurred by theWeb Summit Group arising out of your attendance or participation or access to the Conference.

23. Force majeure

23.1 It is possible that the Conference may not be available at any given time due to (a) power or server outages or issues (b) update or maintenance periods (c) as a result of war, acts of God, flood, drought, earthquake or other natural disasters; (d) epidemic or pandemic; (e) terrorist attack, civil war, civil commotion or riots, war, the threat of or preparation for war, armed conflict, imposition of sanctions, embargo, or breaking off of diplomatic relations; (f) nuclear, chemical or biological contamination or sonic boom; (g) any law or any action taken by a government or public authority; (h) collapse of buildings, fire, explosion or accident; (i) any labour or trade dispute, strikes, industrial action or lockouts; (j) non-performance by suppliers or subcontractors; (k) interruption or failure of utility service and/or (l) electronic or communications failure. We will take reasonable efforts to provide you with notice of interruption to the Conference. Where the Conference is unavailable for reasons beyond our control, we shall have no liability to you.

23.2 We are not liable if the Conference is, in whole or in part, cancelled, rescheduled or postponed, or for any failure or delay to perform our obligations under these Terms, if such event results from anything beyond our reasonable control (for example (a) power or server outages or issues (b) update or maintenance periods (c) as a result of a war, acts of God, flood, drought, earthquake or other natural disaster; (d) epidemic or pandemic; (e) terrorist attack, civil war, civil commotion or riots, war, threat of or preparation for war, armed conflict, imposition of sanctions, embargo, or breaking off of diplomatic relations; (f) nuclear, chemical or biological contamination or sonic boom; (g) any law or any action taken by a government or public authority; (h) collapse of buildings, fire, explosion or accident; (i) any labour or trade dispute, strikes, industrial action or lockouts; (j) non-performance by suppliers or subcontractors; and (k) interruption or failure of utility service , (l) electronic or communications failure y) or anything else that renders performance of the Conference, in whole or in part, impracticable, illegal or impossible).

23.3 We are not liable if a Conference is, in whole or in part, cancelled, rescheduled or postponed, or for any failure or delay to perform our obligations under these Terms, if such event results from anything beyond our reasonable control (for example, natural disasters, flood, fire, acts of terror, war, labour strike, extreme weather malicious damage, compliance with any law or governmental order, or mechanical, electronic or communications failure or degradation, or any other emergency) or anything else that renders performance of a Conference, in whole or in part, impracticable, illegal or impossible.

24. Governing law and jurisdiction

24.1 This interpretation, formation and operation of the Terms and all non-contractual obligations arising from or connected with them shall be governed by and construed in accordance with, and all disputes between the parties arising out of or in any way relating to the Terms or any disputes between the parties in any way connected with the subject matter of these Terms (whether contractual or non-contractual) shall be governed by, the laws of Ireland.

24.2 Each of the parties submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish Courts.

24.3 We do not offer Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), including through the European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution Service. If you have a complaint please contact us at [email protected].

24.4 Nothing contained in the Terms shall limit our right to bring enforcement proceedings in another jurisdiction or to seek interim, protective or provisional relief in the courts of another jurisdiction.

25. Other terms

25.1 These Terms (including our privacy policy) contain the entire agreement and understanding between us in respect of all matters which are referred to herein and supersede any prior, written or oral agreement between us relating to such matters. You confirm that in agreeing to accept these Terms you have not relied on any representation that is not expressly included herein and you agree that you shall have no remedy in respect of any misrepresentation which has not become a part of these Terms. However, nothing in these Terms purports to exclude liability for any fraudulent statement or act.

25.2 If a court with jurisdiction over these Terms finds that any part of these Terms is wholly or partly unenforceable, you agree that where possible, the court should modify the terms to make that part enforceable while still achieving its intent. If the court cannot do that, you agree that the court should not have regard for that unenforceable part but still enforce the rest of these Terms. The clauses of these Terms which by their nature should survive if the Agreement between you and the Organiser is terminated, shall survive such termination.

25.3 If we fail to insist that you perform any of your obligations under these Terms or we do not act or delay in acting to exercise a right or remedy provided by these Terms that does not mean we have waived our rights or remedies against you and will not mean that you do not have to comply with your obligations.

25.4 These Terms are personal to you. You agree not to assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to anyone else without receiving our prior written consent. We may assign or transfer these Terms without your consent by providing you with notice.

25.5 You recognise and agree that no agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment is created as a result of these Terms and you do not have any authority of any kind to bind us in any respect.

25.6 You agree that the only way you can provide us with a legal notice is at the address(s) set out in Part A above.

25.7 To the extent allowed by law, the English language version of the Terms is binding and any translations are for convenience only.

25.8 In these Terms:

• a reference to the Terms includes all its parts described, and includes any amendment to or replacement of them;
• headings are for reference purposes only and do not form part of the Terms;
• a reference to a statute, code or other law includes regulations and other instruments under it and consolidations, amendments, re-enactments or replacements of any of them;
• the singular includes the plural and vice versa; and “includes”, “including”, “for example”, “such as” and similar terms are not words of limitation.
• If you are a consumer, nothing in these Terms excludes any of your applicable consumer or other statutory legal rights that cannot be waived.