Privacy Policy

EXPlore Innovations LLC | Effective Date: March 1, 2026 | Last Updated: July 14, 2026

EXPlore Innovations LLC ("EXPlore," "we," "us," or "our") operates EXPlore Pittsburgh Tech Week ("Tech Week"), a citywide unconferenced platform held annually in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information responsibly, transparently, and in compliance with applicable laws.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect personal information when you visit our website at techweekpittsburgh.com, register for or attend Tech Week events, submit events to our community calendar, or otherwise interact with EXPlore.

Please read this policy carefully. By using our website or services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal information:

A. Information You Provide Directly

• Name, email address, phone number, and professional title when you register for events or submit a contact form

• Organization name, role, and professional background when you submit an event for our community calendar or apply as a speaker or host

• Application materials including pitch decks, business descriptions, and bios submitted for the Startup Showcase and Pitch Competition

• Sponsorship and partnership inquiry information

• Communications you send to us via email, contact forms, or scheduling tools such as Calendly

B. Information Collected Automatically

• IP address, browser type, operating system, and device identifiers when you visit our website

• Pages visited, links clicked, time spent on pages, and referral sources via website analytics tools

• Cookie data as described in Section 6 of this policy

C. Information from Third-Party Platforms

• Event registration and attendance data collected through Luma (lu.ma/Pittsburghtechweek), subject to Luma's own privacy policy

• Scheduling information collected through Calendly, subject to Calendly's own privacy policy

• Social media interactions when you engage with our official accounts

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

• To register you for and communicate about EXPlore events and programming

• To review and process community calendar event submissions from hosts and organizers

• To review applications for the Startup Showcase and Pitch Competition

• To respond to your inquiries, requests, and sponsorship or partnership questions

• To send you information about Tech Week programming, updates, and community news (with your consent where required by law)

• To improve our website, events, and services through analytics and feedback

• To fulfill legal obligations and protect the rights of EXPlore, our partners, and our community

• To coordinate with our fiscal sponsor, STEM Coding Lab (501c3), for grant reporting and administrative purposes as required

3. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances:

A. Service Providers and Platforms

We work with trusted third-party platforms that process data on our behalf, including Luma (event registration and community calendar management), Calendly (scheduling and appointment coordination), Wix (website hosting and analytics), and Google Workspace (email and document management). These providers are contractually required to protect your data and may only use it to provide services to us.

B. Event Hosts and Community Partners

If you register for a community calendar event hosted by a third-party organization during Tech Week, your registration information may be shared with that host organization to facilitate your attendance. That organization's own privacy practices will govern their use of your data.

C. Sponsors and Partners

We may share aggregate, non-identifiable attendance and demographic information with sponsors and partners for reporting purposes. We do not share your individually identifiable information with sponsors without your explicit consent.

D. Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, court order, or governmental authority, or when we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the safety of any person or to protect our legal rights.

E. Fiscal Sponsor

EXPlore operates with STEM Coding Lab as its fiscal sponsor. Administrative and financial data may be shared with STEM Coding Lab as necessary for grant administration and organizational compliance. STEM Coding Lab does not have access to attendee registration data for marketing or solicitation purposes.

4. Youth and Children's Privacy

EXPlore Pittsburgh Tech Week hosts programming for students including Youth Day, which serves students from middle school through high school. We take children's privacy seriously.

• We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under the age of 13 without verifiable parental consent.

• Student registration for Youth Day and school-based programming is coordinated through participating school districts, schools, or parent and guardian consent processes managed by those institutions.

• If you believe we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13 without appropriate consent, please contact us immediately at kenya@techweekpittsburgh.com and we will delete that information promptly.

• For students ages 13 through 17 attending events, we apply heightened data minimization practices and do not use their information for marketing purposes.

5. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on where you reside, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information:

All Users

• Access – You may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you

• Correction – You may request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete information

• Deletion – You may request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain legal exceptions

• Opt-Out of Marketing – You may unsubscribe from our email communications at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email or by contacting us directly

California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)

California residents have additional rights including the right to know what personal information is collected and how it is used, the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information (we do not sell personal information), the right to non-discrimination for exercising privacy rights, and the right to limit use of sensitive personal information. To submit a California privacy request, contact us at kenya@techweekpittsburgh.com.

EU and UK Residents (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Union or United Kingdom, you have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation including the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and port your data, and the right to object to processing. Our legal basis for processing is typically your consent or our legitimate interests in operating Tech Week. To exercise your rights, contact us at kenya@techweekpittsburgh.com.

We will respond to all verifiable requests within 30 days.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to operate the site and understand how visitors use it. Cookies are small data files placed on your device. We use the following types of cookies:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies – Required for the website to function. These cannot be disabled.

• Analytics Cookies – Help us understand how visitors use our site so we can improve it (e.g., Wix Analytics). You may opt out of analytics tracking.

• Marketing Cookies – Used to deliver relevant content. We do not currently run paid advertising campaigns that use tracking cookies.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality. We honor browser-based Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals to the extent technically feasible.

7. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include:

• Secure email and document management through Google Workspace

• Access controls limiting who within our organization can access personal data

• Use of reputable third-party platforms with their own security certifications

However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. In the event of a data breach affecting your rights and freedoms, we will notify affected individuals as required by applicable law.

8. Data Retention

We retain personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Specifically:

• Event registration data is retained for up to three years following the event for program evaluation and reporting purposes

• Pitch competition application materials are retained for up to one year following the competition

• Sponsor and partner contact information is retained for the duration of the relationship and up to three years thereafter

• Communications and correspondence are retained for up to two years

You may request deletion of your data at any time subject to the exceptions described in Section 5.

9. Third-Party Links and Platforms

Our website and community calendar contain links to third-party websites and platforms, including Luma, Calendly, and the websites of our event hosts, sponsors, and community partners. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third-party sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party platforms you interact with through EXPlore.

Community calendar events are hosted by independent organizations. EXPlore is not responsible for the data practices of third-party event hosts who submit and manage their own events on the Tech Week calendar.

10. Photography, Video, and Media

EXPlore Pittsburgh Tech Week events are photographed and recorded for promotional and archival purposes. By attending an EXPlore-produced event, you acknowledge that your image or likeness may be captured and used in EXPlore promotional materials, social media, press releases, and our website.

If you do not wish to be photographed or recorded, please notify event staff at the venue and we will make reasonable accommodations. This provision applies only to EXPlore-produced events and does not govern photography policies at community calendar events managed by third-party hosts.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy and, where appropriate, notify you by email or through a notice on our website.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of our website or services after the effective date of any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

EXPlore Innovations LLC

Attn: Kenya Porter, Founder

Email: kenya@techweekpittsburgh.com

Website: techweekpittsburgh.com

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

We will respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 30 days.