Effective Date: 1/15/2026

Optometric Education Consultant (“OEC,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal information you share with us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you register for, attend, or engage with our conferences, events, websites, and communications.

1. Information We Collect

We collect personal information through the following platforms and interactions:

Gravity Forms (Conference Interest, Online Exams)

Online website form submissions for Conference/Sponsor Interest, Asynchronous Exams, TQ Exams are collected through Gravity Forms and may collect:

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • National Provider Identifier (NPI)
  • OE & State License Numbers
  • Company Name & Information
  • Billing information
  • Exam & Registration Details
  • Payment Information: All payment information is collected securely through direct Stripe payment integration.

 

Cvent (Event Registration)

All attendee data for live conference and webinar event registrations are collected and stored within Cvent, our event management system. Through Cvent, we may collect:

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • National Provider Identifier (NPI)
  • OE & State License Numbers
  • Professional and registration details
  • Communication and consent preferences
  • Payment Information: All payment information is collected securely through direct Stripe payment integration.

 

Website Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture may be visible to the public in the context of your comment.

 

Uploaded Website Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

 

Website Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

 

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

 

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

  • To register you for conferences and virtual events
  • To communicate important event-related information (e.g., schedules, updates, reminders)
  • To facilitate during-event communications, including text messaging
  • To provide customer support and respond to inquiries
  • To send marketing communications about upcoming OEC events, conferences, and educational opportunities (subject to your consent)
  • To share limited attendee information with event sponsors (subject to your consent)
  • To improve our events, services, and marketing efforts

 

3. Payments

We accept payments through Stripe. When processing payments, some of your data will be passed to Stripe, including information required to process or support the payment, such as the purchase total and billing information.

Please see the Stripe Privacy Policy for more details.

4. Text Messaging and Email Communications

 

Gravity Forms Email Communications

Conference Interest / Sponsor Interest / Contact Us: These forms are used solely to communicate with you about the specific event or inquiry you expressed interest in and do not automatically enroll you in broader marketing communications.

Asynchronous & TQ Exams: These forms are used solely to communicate with you regarding the online exams taken and do not automatically enroll you in broader marketing communications.

 

During-Event Text & Email Messaging (Cvent)

By completing your OEC event registration through Cvent, you are agreeing to receive text and email communications regarding you specific event registration, schedule, and updates.

  • Text Communication: To unsubscribe from all event text communication, respond to any text message with STOP. Message frequency may vary. Standard message and data rates may apply.
  • Email Communication: To change your email preferences for registration communication and event specific emails, click the preferences link at the bottom of any email delivered by Cvent.

 

Marketing Communications for Future Events

With explicit consent provided through Cvent registration (OEC Communication Opt-In), OEC may send marketing emails and/or text messages regarding future conferences, webinars, and educational offerings. Initial consent will enroll you in future email and text communication. Note: Your marketing communication preferences remain in effect unless you choose to update or unsubscribe following the steps below. Consent to receive marketing communications is not required to attend an event.

  • Text Communication: To unsubscribe from a specific event text communication, respond to the text number with STOP. Message frequency may vary. Standard message and data rates may apply.
  • Email Communication: To change your email preferences for OEC promotional emails, click the preferences link at the bottom of any email delivered by Mailchimp.

 

5. Sharing Information with Sponsors

By completing your OEC event registration through Cvent, you are agreeing to OEC providing all sponsors a list of registered attendees including: First Name, Last Name, City, and State.

With explicit consent provided through Cvent registration (Industry Partner Communication Opt-In), OEC will share First Name, Last Name, City, State, Email Address, and National Provider Identifier (NPI) with event sponsors for marketing and educational outreach purposes. Phone numbers are not shared with sponsors unless explicitly disclosed at the time of opt in. OEC does not control how sponsors use information once shared. Sponsor use of your data is subject to their own privacy policies.

You may decline any level of sponsor data sharing without impacting your ability to attend OEC events by emailing events@optometricedu.com.

 

6. Legal Bases for Processing (Consent)

We process personal information based on one or more of the following legal bases:

  • Your consent (for marketing communications, text messaging, and sponsor data sharing)
  • Performance of a contract (event registration and attendance)
  • Legitimate business interests (event operations, improvements, and analytics)
  • Compliance with legal obligations

Where consent is required, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

 

7. Data Security

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

 

8. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, comply with legal requirements, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

 

9. Your Privacy Rights

You may have the right to:

  • Request correction or updates to your information
  • Request deletion of your personal information
  • Opt out of marketing communications
  • Withdraw consent for text messaging or sponsor data sharing
  • If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

To exercise these rights, please contact us at events@optometricedu.com.

 

10. Third-Party Services

We rely on trusted third-party service providers to operate our events and communications, including but not limited to:

These providers process personal information only as necessary to perform services on our behalf and in accordance with applicable data protection requirements.

 

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on our website with an updated effective date.

 

12. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact:

Optometric Education Consultant
Email: events@optometricedu.com