Events Terms and Conditions

BCT Events Terms and Conditions (Updated Feb 2023)

Who we are and how to contact us

We are the Bat Conservation Trust (‘BCT’, ‘We’ or ‘Us’), a registered charity in England and Wales (1012361) and in Scotland (SC040116). Company Limited by Guarantee, Registered in England No: 2712823.

You can contact us by email at training@bats.org.uk or conference@bats.org.uk or by telephoning 020 7820 7169.

Culture of Respect

BCT has a culture of respect for one another and takes seriously the safety and wellbeing of staff, speakers, workshop leaders, event attendees and venue staff. We want everyone at our events to enjoy themselves and expect everyone to act towards others in a professional and respectful manner. We will not tolerate harassment or inappropriate behaviour of any kind and will treat any reported incidents seriously.

Attending an event

It is your responsibility to comply with all instructions given at the event and to comply with all applicable laws, including health and safety laws, fire regulations and any codes of conduct for wi-fi access.

If attendance at the event makes you privy to any information which is marked, or might reasonably be understood to be, confidential, you shall not use such information for any purpose other than participation in the event.

BCT reserves the right to refuse entry to an event if, in its reasonable opinion, your admission might:

  • Be a risk to the safety of the audience and/or yourself;
  • Affect the enjoyment of the event by other attendees;
  • Disrupt the running of the event.

In addition to refusing entry, we may also ask you to leave during the event if we deem your behaviour to be unacceptable.

Unacceptable behaviour includes, but is not limited to, harassing speakers, attendees or staff; making defamatory or libellous remarks in-person or virtually via online platforms such as Zoom or Teams; acting aggressively and/or appearing to be acting inappropriately whilst under the influence of drink or drugs; causing damage to the venue or the online event infrastructure; sustained disruption of the event; inappropriate photography or recording, or inappropriate physical contact. Should you be refused admission or asked to leave you will not be entitled to a refund (where a ticketing fee applies).

Course/Event Content

We will use reasonable endeavours to describe event content in the descriptions on our website accurately, but these are intended only to give an approximate idea of the event.

We reserve the right to make changes to the published programme of an event (but not the overall content), for example to timings and/or speakers if one of the advertised speakers is unable to attend. In such cases, you will not be entitled to a refund if you cancel your place.

Online and hybrid events

Most of our online events take place on Zoom. A link to join or view the event will be sent to you via email. To mitigate online safety and safeguarding risks, , we will password protect our meetings and use the Zoom waiting room to admit attendees. Attendees should not share the Zoom link without prior permission from BCT.

BCT will provide a moderator to monitor online events. There are procedures in place to deal appropriately with any issues and BCT has the ability to remove any attendee if their behaviour is deemed inappropriate.

Zoom registration is not used, therefore no personal data is passed on to them by BCT. For further information on how Zoom handle cookies, please visit https://zoom.us/gdpr

Before booking a place, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have the required equipment, software and sufficient network access to take part in the online event. We recommend joining using a computer rather than a tablet or phone, if possible, for the fullest participation experience.

Online or hybrid events may be recorded. Where this is the case, participants are made aware at the start to enable them to turn off their cameras and remain muted if they do not wish to be captured in the recording. Where BCT plans to share the recordings with participants after the event or more widely, permission will be sought from the relevant speakers in the recording.

Neither the whole nor any part of an online event may be copied, recorded, reproduced, distributed or transmitted to a third party by any means whatsoever without first obtaining BCT’s consent in writing and ensuring the intended use of the recording and potential audience are declared to participants at the start of the meeting to enable them to turn off their cameras and remain muted if they wish. Extracts from an online event, and any materials used in an event, may only be used or quoted with BCT’s prior permission (which is at our sole discretion) and provided the relevant individuals/organisations are fully credited. Where delegates are encouraged to use an event hashtag to share from the event, photographs of individual slides may be shared on social media; unless the speaker has indicated, either verbally or visibly, a slide should not be shared due to unpublished data or for some other reason.

Liability

Views expressed by any attendee, speaker, exhibitor, or sponsor at the event are their own and may not represent BCT’s position. We will use reasonable endeavours to ensure all information provided is correct at the time of an event, but we are not liable for any consequences arising from errors or omission.

Attendees are required to comply with any separate rules and regulations governing an event venue and/or accommodation. Any property attendees bring to an event venue/accommodation is brought at their own risk. Attendees should consider insuring any such property if required.

Booking Cancellation

If it is necessary for you to cancel your booking, for whatever reason, please inform the event organiser as soon as possible. Cancellation will be subject to the following charges:

  • All cancellations will be subject to an administration charge of £5 for one-day conferences/training courses or £20 for multi-day events.
  • For cancellations made up to four weeks before an in-person event or one week before an online event, a refund will be issued, minus the administration charge.
  • No refund will be made for bookings cancelled closer to the event or for non-attendance on the day, except in exceptional circumstances and only at the discretion of the Bat Conservation Trust. If you are able to provide a replacement to attend the event please see ‘Attendee Substitution’ below .

Please note that reserved and partially paid bookings are considered as confirmed places. If you need to cancel your place, please ensure you let the event team know at least four weeks (or one week for an online event) prior to the start of the event, any cancellations made after this time will still incur full payment.

Attendee Substitution

If you are unable to attend and wish to substitute a colleague or friend, this amendment can be made free of charge up until 1 week before the event and at the discretion of BCT. Please inform BCT as soon as possible. There may be a £5 administration charge for changes made at the last minute.

Cancellations of events

In very rare exceptions it may be necessary to cancel an event. In these circumstances, participants will be informed as soon as possible, and all participants will be offered a full refund or the chance to transfer their booking to another date for free.

Health precautions for in-person events

While we hope the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, the last few years has made everyone more aware of the dangers of infectious disease, particularly for those more vulnerable in our families and communities. Everyone has different levels of susceptibility to disease and while we do not know every delegate or participants personal circumstances, we want everyone to feel comfortable at BCT events.

With that in mind we would ask you to:

  • Not attend in person if you currently have or think you may have an infectious disease, particularly respiratory infections such as COVID-19 see: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/people-with-symptoms-of-a-respiratory-infection-including-covid-19.
  • You are welcome to wear a face covering indoors if you want to and we will have hand sanitiser available.
  • We are conscious that everyone will have different levels of comfort around personal space. Please be considerate of other people’s preferences and allow them space to socially distance if they want to.

Promotions, advertising and product endorsement

BCT does not endorse any of the software programs included within our training courses or conference workshops but values the important contribution they can make to bat conservation. No responsibility can be accepted for any loss or damage to data or unsatisfactory results arising from the use of any software during or after a BCT course or conference workshop.

The use of proprietary and commercial trade names in BCT training or conferences does not imply endorsement of the product, software or technique by event sponsors, funding bodies or BCT.

Advertisements or promotional materials from third parties may be presented at an event, attached to attendee communications, or included on the BCT website. Delegates’ participation in any third-party promotion is subject to the terms and conditions associated with that promotion, and BCT will not be held responsible for any liable, loss, or damage of any kind incurred as a result.

Intellectual Property and Copyright

All copyright and other rights (including all intellectual property rights) in materials provided to you during an event or for the purposes of any of our events (including, but not limited to, course notes, slides, brochures, articles or case studies) are the property of BCT or of our speakers, trainers, or workshop leaders. You are entitled to use such materials only for your own personal use.

Unless explicitly stated to the contrary, no part of any training or event resources may be reproduced, distributed, or in any way incorporated into or stored on any website, electronic retrieval system, publication or in any other form without the prior written permission of the intellectual property owner, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Compliments and Complaints

Any compliments or complaints regarding training or conferences should be referred to the Training and Conferences Manager in the first instance, email: nwebster@bats.org.uk or phone 020 7820 7169.

For any other complaints, please click here for the BCT complaints policy

Appeals policy : Click here to download a copy

Training Data and Retention Policy for Training Courses and Conferences

Click here to download a copy of the training and data retention policy.

BCT Privacy policy can be found here

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