This year’s Data Privacy Day was another sign of the impressive growth the privacy field has seen. IAPP members hosted 59 events, bringing together a total of 1,485 privacy professionals, to celebrate the day. With events filling out across the world and celebrations spanning 24 countries, the feedback is in: Data Privacy Day was a success.
Some cities, including Zagreb, Warsaw, Nairobi, Turku and Cluj-Napoca, hosted their first-ever Privacy After Hours events, but no matter where it happened, the day helped to bring together privacy professionals for an opportunity to meet new people in the field and reflect on the growth of the community at large.
Host: Áslaug Björgvinsdóttir, CIPP/E
Location: Reykjavik, Iceland
Arna Ágústsdóttir, CIPP/E, lawyer at Origo, wrote, “I went to the first official Privacy After Hours in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was great to see how many attended the event, and apparently the privacy profession is rapidly growing in Iceland. I hope there will be more Privacy After Hours events because this was an excellent way to network with other privacy colleagues in Iceland.” Steinlaug Högnadóttir, Associate at LOGOS legal services, added, “The Privacy After Hours was an excellent setting to get to know other privacy professionals in Iceland. I will definitely attend the next event.”
Host: Nilanjana Chakraborty
Location: Bangalore, India
Nilanjana Chakraborty, deputy manager at Deloitte & Touche, wrote that even amid a state-wide protest held that day to address a water shortage dispute, privacy professionals were able to pull off Data Privacy Day celebrations. Chakraborty wrote, “The event was extremely informative and fun. All the participants were very enthusiastic about privacy and privacy protection. We had discussed at length about the upcoming privacy law in India and what kind of challenges can be expected in implementation of the same.”
Host: Lisa Donnelly, CIPP/US, and Stephanie Price, CIPP/US, CIPM, FIP
Location: Philadelphia, PA, U.S.
Philadelphia's hosts called the night a huge success, with nearly 40 people in attendance. Co-host Lisa Donnelly, vice president and U.S. marketing privacy manager at TD Bank Group, wrote,"Hosting Privacy After Hours was a great way to get involved and meet more people in the privacy field. The IAPP was very supportive and made it easy to host the event. I met some inspiring professionals in our field, and hope to attend more events soon." Many in attendance wrote that the night provided an opportunity for fellow privacy pros to connect. Eric Spangler, from Aramark, wrote, "Being new to IAPP and the privacy world in general, the Privacy After Hours event was a perfect opportunity to meet and connect with other privacy professionals in and around my city."
Hosts: July Galindo Quintero and Mauricio Jaramillo
Location: Bogota, Colombia
The feedback provided from Bogota's 2018 event said, "The Bogota Privacy After Hours 2018 was a very successful event. All the attendees appreciated this networking space, in which we all had the opportunity to get to know each other and review relevant matters from different perspectives. The attendees enjoyed breakfast, and the time of day made it easier to count with the active participation of privacy pros. This year, we noticed that privacy matters and conversations are handled with more responsibility and sophistication. For future events, we would be more than glad to connect other IAPP members, like we did this year with Rosa María Franco, in order to share, compare and discuss relevant data protection matters throughout Latin America."
Host: Phillip Mahan, CIPP/US, CIPM, CIPT, FIP
Location: Atlanta, GA, U.S.
Host Phillip Mahan, global privacy office director at Ionic Security, said more than 50 people joined in Atlanta to chat about everything from the upcoming EU GDPR and international transfers to HR and health care data. Mahan wrote, "The attendees ranged from brand new IAPP members to those of us who remember when the CIPP test was given using ‘scantron’ sheets." One attendee wrote, “This was my first IAPP event and I could not have felt more welcomed. The location and attendees made a great impression, and I’m looking forward to learning from those impressive professionals.” Another member wrote, “This was a great meeting. I was able to meet many new people and see how the community has grown.”
Host: Elias Okwara, CIPP/E, CIPP/US
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Elias Okwara, nonresident fellow at the Global Governance Institute, wrote that this year's Data Privacy Day marked the first Privacy After Hours event in Nairobi. Okwara explained the event helped shine a light on how important data privacy is and left one in attendance to say, "We have to make the Nairobi IAPP a beacon for Africa!"