This Privacy Policy explains how your information is collected and used by the National Rural Health Resource Center (the “Center") for the Minnesota Rural Health Conference App (the “App”) and website, located at https://minnesotaruralhealthconference.org (the “Site”). This Policy explains our practices, defines our users' ("you" or "your") privacy options, and describes how your information is collected and used by the Center, the Minnesota Department of Health – Office of Rural Health and Primary Care (“MDH”), and the Minnesota Rural Health Association (“MHRA”). In this Policy, the Center, MDH, and MHRA are referred to as "we," "us," and "our," or “Hosts”. The date of this Privacy Policy is May 31, 2018.

You agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy by using the System.

This Privacy Policy governs the information gathered by the Hosts through your use of the App, the Site, and any information we may access through social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, we will refer to all of these access points as the "System". Additional information is available at the Site.

We reserve the right to modify this policy from time to time and will mark new versions with a corresponding effective date. We recommend you visit the Site to review any changes in our practices. Your continued use of the Site constitutes your agreement to our then-current Privacy Policy.

Our System may contain links to other websites or apps. These websites or apps may have privacy policies different than our Privacy Policy. The System may also contain certain social media icons or widgets. Although you can view the material we have linked to, you may have to create an individual account or register to use these third-party sites. Any interaction on third-party or social media websites is governed by the terms of use and privacy policy of the particular platform.

What Information is Collected?

The Hosts collect personal information from you on our System or through any other digital or personal communication with you in the System. Information collected by us is voluntarily provided by you and may include information such as your name, email address, phone number, physical address, employer or organizational affiliation, registration information for the Conference, photographs, credentials, meal selections for the Conference, or other information. The System may also collect general information about your technology interface or preferences (such as the type of browser used or the files requested). Additionally, we may collect information regarding the websites you visit and other information, as described in this Privacy Policy.

The information we may collect includes, but may not be limited to:

  • Your name, address, organization, job title, contact information, social media URLs (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and other organization or personal registration information that you provide;
  • Any PowerPoint presentation or other data you share as a presenter;
  • Information you post on any forum hosted by the Hosts;
  • Your transaction and payment history relating to registration for the Conference and the use of our products and services;
  • Information regarding your device, browser, and other technical specifications required to use our App and System;
  • Computer data or files, often called "cookies," which may be sent by your web browser and stored on an individual computer or device to allow our server to "recognize" you through the navigation of the Site, use of the App, and for us to credit your account for various online transactions through the Site;
  • Computer data files, often called "web beacons", or scripts that allow our server to evaluate the popularity of those links or the information contained in emails or on third-party sites;
  • Your IP address to measure our website traffic and to help provide a more personalized experience; and
  • App and Site usage data to help provide a more personalized experience and evaluate App and Site effectiveness.

How is User Information Used and Shared?

The System serves as the primary registration system and database for the Conference. We collect information about you in order to provide you with services and products and also collect information that is necessary for the System to work properly or as part of our services.

The App will not contain or retain any transactional data related to your registration for the Conference.

Conference registration data, including your name, email address, title, organization, address, conference role (attendee, speaker, etc.), as well as any other registration information you provide will be loaded into the System. Your name, address, title, organization, social media URLs (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) will be publicly posted on the Site, on name tags at the Conference, and to other Conference attendees through the App. Your contact information (name, email address, etc.) will be provided to Conference exhibitors. This information will also be used for the Conference mailing list. The Center will retain this information. MDH staff can directly access this information through the Site. MRHA will receive the Conference mailing list.

If you enable the messaging service on the App, your contact information may be used by other App users to contact you through the App.

Photos that you take and choose to share through the App will be available to all App users and may be used on the Site. By sharing a photograph on the App, you give the Hosts a non-exclusive, transferrable, perpetual license to use the shared photograph for promotional purposes.

If you are a speaker at the Conference, the App may display additional information, including the title of the presentation, professional credentials, contact phone number, a biography, website and/or social media URLs (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), a photograph, and a disclosure of financial interests. If you provide a presentation for use at the Conference, the presentation will be available on the App and the Site.

If you are an exhibitor at the Conference, your organization’s name, any information you submit about your organization and your booth location will be available to all App users.

You may use the App to mark events that you wish to attend and to take notes about events for your own reference. This information is not shared with other App users.

We also use personal information about our users for a variety of purposes related to our services, including but not limited to:

  • Presenting information provided by you for the purpose of providing that information to the public;
  • Allowing you to participate in forums and other communication methods provided by the Hosts through the App or the System;
  • Allowing you to receive information from us regarding the Hosts’ products or services;
  • Allowing you to participate in the Conference or programs that require registration;
  • Reporting program or other participation information to federal or state agency partners or project officers;
  • Tracking information about your use of the App or visits to our Site or use of the System to allow us to provide better service;
  • Using certain online preferences in the aggregate across all users to evaluate the System and develop additional products and services to offer;
  • Sending or initiating direct marketing programs, such as newsletters or information about new products or services we are offering;
  • Contacting you regarding an inquiry on the System that you have initiated;
  • Using content from social media platforms where you discuss our products or use a hashtag related to our products;
  • Providing information about your usage or preferences to our third-party partners, vendors and providers; and
  • Other purposes necessary to carry out our obligations under this Privacy Policy.

We may share information, in the aggregate, regarding your use of the App to evaluate our products or allow third parties we work with to better serve our users. We will not share personally identifiable information in these instances, other than described in this Privacy Policy.

We may provide user information to agency partners, third-party service providers, or vendors for purposes of, including without limitation, initiating direct marketing programs on our behalf, data tracking, maintenance or development of our System, development of online products and services or customer service or new product development, or other contracted promotional opportunities provided to our users. We may share this information with any subsidiaries, licensees, suppliers, distributors, affiliates, assigns, successors, or other related entities and their respective owners. We may also share your personal information in connection with law enforcement requests or in response to investigations, subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims or as otherwise required by law.

Children Under the Age of 13

Our App and the System are not designed for children, and we do not knowingly collect information from any person under the age of 13.

How is User Information Protected?

We maintain administrative, physical and technical safeguards for all user information collected in our System.

How Can Users Limit Information Collected?

By providing information to us or using our System, you are consenting to our use of your data as outlined in this Privacy Policy.

By participating in any online forum, comment area, or similar service hosted or provided by the Hosts, you are consenting to the public display of the information you post in the forum, comment area, or similar comment service. The Hosts are not responsible for protecting or taking any other action with respect to information you post in a forum, comment area, or similar service hosted or provided by the Hosts.

While we work hard to use and disclose our users' personal information only for the purposes identified above, you can choose not to provide personal information or limit the personal information obtained by us as follows:

  • You may have your contact information removed from our marketing lists to inform users of new or relevant products, services, and special offers by clicking on the unsubscribe link in any communication received from us or by emailing us at ruralhealthconference@ruralcenter.org;
  • You may limit the collection of "cookies" through your browser settings. However, this may disable our ability to provide you with the most relevant products or information regarding the System. The App may not allow limits on the use of cookies.

Your California Privacy Rights

California Civil Code § 1798.83 permits users that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please contact us via the Site.

Contacting Us

For additional information pertaining to our Privacy Policy, please contact:

National Rural Health Resource Center
(218) 727-9390 ext. 0
ruralhealthconference@ruralcenter.org