Code of Conduct

Effec­tive Decem­ber 12^th, 2021

ASUG strives to ensure that every­one feels wel­come and safe at any event and on our vir­tu­al plat­forms (col­lec­tive­ly, ​“Events”). This event code of con­duct (“Code of Con­duct”) out­lines our expec­ta­tions for behav­ior at our Events as well as the con­se­quences for unac­cept­able behav­ior. By par­tic­i­pat­ing in our Events, all par­tic­i­pants, speak­ers, exhibitors, spon­sors, media rep­re­sen­ta­tives, ser­vice providers, ven­dors, con­trac­tors, and oth­ers (col­lec­tive­ly ​“Par­tic­i­pants”) agree to abide by this Code of Conduct.

All deter­mi­na­tions of appro­pri­ate or inap­pro­pri­ate behav­ior are in our sole dis­cre­tion and our deci­sions will be final.

Expect­ed Behavior

Be con­sid­er­ate, respect­ful, and kind to oth­ers. Refrain from demean­ing, dis­crim­i­na­to­ry or harass­ing behav­ior and speech. Spam, or repeat­ed con­tact of Par­tic­i­pants that have request­ed no con­tact from anoth­er Par­tic­i­pant is strict­ly pro­hib­it­ed. Par­tic­i­pants should be mind­ful of any copy­right laws, music licens­ing etc., and not vio­late any terms or con­di­tions relat­ed to such.

Unac­cept­able Behavior

Harass­ment and dis­crim­i­na­tion include any ver­bal, phys­i­cal, or visu­al con­duct based on sex, sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion, gen­der expres­sion or iden­ti­ty, trans­gen­der sta­tus, race, age, nation­al ori­gin, or dis­abil­i­ty. Inap­pro­pri­ate dis­play, shar­ing, or use of nudi­ty and/​or sex­u­al images in pub­lic spaces or on vir­tu­al plat­forms (includ­ing pre­sen­ta­tion slides); any phys­i­cal or ver­bal intim­i­da­tion, stalk­ing, doxxing, gaslight­ing, pho­to­bomb­ing, or fol­low­ing of Par­tic­i­pants; harass­ing, pho­tograph­ing or record­ing of Participant(s); inter­rup­tion or inap­pro­pri­ate intru­sion or dis­rup­tion of ses­sions, talks or oth­er events; inap­pro­pri­ate phys­i­cal con­tact; and, any unwel­come sex­u­al atten­tion (phys­i­cal or ver­bal) will not be tol­er­at­ed. Vio­la­tors may be removed from the meet­ing if found to be in vio­la­tion and their abil­i­ty to attend future Events may also be restrict­ed or prohibited.

Any bois­ter­ous, lewd, or offen­sive behav­ior or lan­guage, threat­en­ing, intim­i­da­tion, coer­cion, use of sex­u­al­ly explic­it or offen­sive lan­guage or con­duct, pro­fan­i­ty, obscene ges­tures, or racial, reli­gious or eth­nic slurs will not be tol­er­at­ed. Ver­bal or oth­er abuse of any par­tic­i­pant, speak­er, vol­un­teer, staff mem­ber, exhibitor, spon­sor, ser­vice provider, or oth­er meet­ing guest is unac­cept­able. Par­tic­i­pants vio­lat­ing this Code of Con­duct will be asked to leave the Event at the sole dis­cre­tion of our staff. We retain the right to take any actions to ensure the Event is a wel­com­ing envi­ron­ment for all.

Tech­nol­o­gy Use

Par­tic­i­pants acknowl­edge that the avail­abil­i­ty, access, and use of tech­nol­o­gy dur­ing Events is not guar­an­teed. We and our ven­dors and ser­vice providers will use com­mer­cial­ly rea­son­able efforts to com­mu­ni­cate with Par­tic­i­pants regard­ing cam­era use in devices and com­put­ers, mobile app capa­bil­i­ties, video, audio, and head­set set­tings and use for in-per­son Events, and use of the vir­tu­al event plat­form for vir­tu­al Events. All chat con­tent at vir­tu­al Events is non­con­fi­den­tial, and you should assume that any­one can view any chat con­tent you sub­mit. You agree that your chat con­tent will com­ply with this Code of Conduct.

In no event shall we be liable for slow­ness of or inter­rup­tions to Inter­net access, pow­er access, video cam­era access, or audio capa­bil­i­ties, nor of any sim­i­lar inter­rup­tions to vir­tu­al Events for the dura­tion of the Event.

At vir­tu­al Events, we request that if you use a vir­tu­al back­ground, it should be taste­ful and not dis­tract­ing. You should mute your line when not speak­ing. The record­ing or trans­mis­sions of any edu­ca­tion ses­sions, pre­sen­ta­tions, demos, videos, or con­tent in any for­mat is strict­ly pro­hib­it­ed unless express­ly autho­rized in writ­ing by us. Par­tic­i­pants should not copy or take screen shots of par­tic­i­pants or any chat room activ­i­ty that takes place in a vir­tu­al Event space.

Par­tic­i­pants may not uti­lize our web­sites or Events to (i) upload or oth­er­wise pro­vide infring­ing, defam­a­to­ry, obscene, porno­graph­ic, threat­en­ing, abu­sive, ille­gal or oth­er­wise improp­er con­tent; (ii) upload virus­es or harm­ful com­po­nents to an Event; (iii) upload or oth­er­wise pro­vide con­tent with a com­mer­cial pur­pose or attempt to solic­it funds or adver­tise goods and ser­vices, (iv) con­tain pro­mo­tion­al mate­ri­als, spe­cial offers, job offers, or prod­uct announce­ments (unless express­ly per­mit­ted by us); (v) engage in com­mu­ni­ca­tions lead­ing or relat­ed to an agree­ment in restraint of trade, to (vi) exchange spe­cif­ic infor­ma­tion relat­ing to your prices, prof­its, or costs; (vii) in any oth­er man­ner to lim­it com­pe­ti­tion or restrain trade in vio­la­tion of state and fed­er­al antitrust laws; or, (viii) to fur­ther any unlaw­ful pur­pose or to vio­late the rights of any per­son or entity.

Dress Code

The dress code at Events is busi­ness casu­al. Par­tic­i­pants are required to adhere to this dress code dur­ing Events includ­ing, but not lim­it­ed to, vir­tu­al conferencing.

Report­ing Vio­la­tions of this Policy

If you have a com­plaint or con­cern about harass­ment, dis­crim­i­na­tion, bul­ly­ing, or any oth­er con­duct which may vio­late this Code of Con­duct, we encour­age you to prompt­ly noti­fy ASUG Staff onsite or via email at events@​asug.​com. You may request that your report remain con­fi­den­tial and only be shared with those on a ​“need to know” basis.

Please remem­ber that noti­fy­ing our staff does not con­sti­tute or replace noti­fi­ca­tion to local law enforce­ment. This Code of Con­duct does not replace any rules or guide­lines that are part of our agree­ments with our ven­dors, exhibitors, and/​or sponsors.

Com­pli­ance and Enforcement

We reserve the right to take any action that is rea­son­ably nec­es­sary, in our sole judg­ment, for the pro­tec­tion of us, our Par­tic­i­pants, and our per­son­nel. We will main­tain full dis­cre­tion in the inter­pre­ta­tion and enforce­ment of this Code of Conduct.

Par­tic­i­pants will be asked to stop any behav­ior in vio­la­tion of this Code of Con­duct are expect­ed to com­ply imme­di­ate­ly. This Code of Con­duct pro­vides gen­er­al guide­lines and can­not cov­er every pos­si­ble type of unac­cept­able behav­ior. We reserve the right to apply cor­rec­tive action to instances oth­er than the spe­cif­ic exam­ples not­ed. Par­tic­i­pants vio­lat­ing this Code of Con­duct may be sus­pend­ed, sanc­tioned, removed, or expelled from the Event and all future Events, and there will be no refund of any amounts paid, at our discretion.

We expect all con­fer­ence Par­tic­i­pants to abide by this Code of Con­duct at all Events and social events regard­less of whether we are a spon­sor or orga­niz­er of such meet­ing or event.

No-Suit­cas­ing Policy

ASUG has a zero-tol­er­ance pol­i­cy regard­ing suit­cas­ing. ​“Suit­cas­ing” is a par­a­sitic busi­ness prac­tice in which uneth­i­cal com­pa­nies or indi­vid­u­als will gain access to an event by obtain­ing an Event cre­den­tial or by attend­ing an Event with a reg­is­tered par­tic­i­pant with­out them­selves reg­is­ter­ing, and then solic­it busi­ness in the aisles or oth­er pub­lic spaces (in per­son or vir­tu­al­ly) used for the con­fer­ence or oth­er­wise con­duct busi­ness at on in con­junc­tion with the Event.

While all reg­is­tered Event atten­dees are invit­ed to the Event space reserved for exhibitors, any reg­is­tered attendee or non-reg­is­tered per­son who is observed to be solic­it­ing busi­ness in the aisles, oth­er pub­lic spaces, or in anoth­er company’s booth will be asked to leave an Event imme­di­ate­ly with­out refund.

Suit­cas­ing may also take the form of com­mer­cial activ­i­ty con­duct­ed from a guest room hos­pi­tal­i­ty suite, restau­rant, or any oth­er pub­lic place in prox­im­i­ty to or asso­ci­at­ed with an Event. For the pur­pos­es of this pol­i­cy, suit­cas­ing vio­la­tions that occur at venues oth­er than the des­ig­nat­ed exhibitors’ space and at oth­er Events are pro­hib­it­ed. Our Event team must be informed of any hos­pi­tal­i­ty suites that are not reserved through us, and express con­sent must be received pri­or to the Event.

Release and Use of Your Likeness

We and/​or our rep­re­sen­ta­tives may take pho­tographs, sketch­es, and/​or audio/​video record­ings of or dur­ing an in-per­son or vir­tu­al event (“Event”) which may con­tain your name, like­ness, voice, image, and any con­tent you sub­mit (whether in chat ses­sions, uploads, email, in per­son, or oth­er­wise), and the like (col­lec­tive­ly, ​“Like­ness”) for var­i­ous uses, includ­ing, but not lim­it­ed to, in news and pro­mo­tion­al mate­r­i­al, in print, elec­tron­ic and oth­er media, includ­ing our Web­site. In con­sid­er­a­tion of your being per­mit­ted to par­tic­i­pate in an Event, you uncon­di­tion­al­ly grant ASUG and our con­trac­tors, ven­dors, spon­sors, and exhibitors, a per­pet­u­al, irrev­o­ca­ble right and license to use, store, repro­duce, pub­lish, dis­trib­ute, edit, make deriv­a­tive works, per­form pub­licly, dis­close, assign, and trans­fer all Like­ness with­out lim­i­ta­tion, with­out com­pen­sa­tion. All media con­tain­ing your Like­ness shall be owned by us. We and our rep­re­sen­ta­tives, part­ners, spon­sors, exhibitors, con­trac­tors, and ser­vice providers may dis­play, dis­trib­ute or use your Like­ness for any pur­pose. You here­by release us and our employ­ees, licensees, rep­re­sen­ta­tives, part­ners, spon­sors, exhibitors, con­trac­tors, and ser­vice providers, and our and their suc­ces­sors, and assigns from any and all claims, demands, and caus­es of action that you may now or here­after have aris­ing out of or in con­nec­tion with the use of your Likeness.