Privacy Policy

Effective and last updated: 8 October 2026

The Next PD is an Australian-based professional learning platform developed by Liam Bassett and Matthew Esterman through The Next Word. It provides short, human-created videos, worksheets, facilitator plans and interactive tools for educators and families, alongside live presentation features. This policy explains how we handle information when you visit the website, use the platform, join a presentation or contact us.

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We use information to deliver the platform, respond to requests and improve our resources and services.

Information we collect

• Accounts: email address, assigned role, account status, login dates, password credentials stored as salted hashes, and any school logo you upload. An administrator may create your account or reset your password.
• Learning activity: saved PD session selections, marked completions, progress and XP, video activity, sessions built and interactive tools opened. Activity can be associated with a signed-in account. Guest activity may be associated with a shared guest account.
• Enquiries and public tool submissions: the name, email, organisation, role, location, intended use, school enrolment or expected number of users, demo requests, referral sources and answers or results you choose to submit, together with follow-up preferences and status. Password reset requests are also stored for administrators to action.
• Presentations: the presenter’s account, room code, start and end times, and attendee first name and last name initial. We also collect entry slip answers, live question answers, poll selections, word cloud submissions, traffic light responses, question signals, emoji reactions, star ratings and comments submitted during a session. If you submit the Stay Connected form, we collect its contact details and selected preferences and associate them with your session response.
• Technical and usage information: browser session and attempt identifiers, public page paths and audience views, referrer domains and source categories, account enquiry and demo request counts, public tool visits, starts, step completion, time spent, results viewed and navigation actions. Hosting and external services may also process IP addresses, browser information and technical logs to deliver and protect the service. These identifiers are not a guarantee of anonymity.
• Communications: information you provide in support requests, feedback, suggestions and other correspondence.

You may browse public pages without an account. Some information is necessary to sign in, join a presentation or receive a reply. You can leave an entry slip answer blank and choose whether to submit contact details after a presentation. Please avoid including student names, sensitive information or another person’s details in tool inputs, comments or uploads unless necessary and you have appropriate authority.

How we use information

We use information to manage accounts and access, save sessions and progress, provide presentation interactions and feedback, respond to enquiries and password reset requests, support users, prevent misuse and improve the platform. Feedback and usage data help us understand which resources work and what needs improvement. We may use aggregated or de-identified findings for reporting; we do not publish identifiable feedback as a testimonial without permission.

We use your selected follow-up preferences to respond to requests for support, platform information or updates from The Next Word / The Next PD. Contact us to stop receiving updates or use an unsubscribe option where provided. Necessary account and security messages may still be sent.

Who can see your information

Authorised platform administrators can access account information, activity reports, enquiries, submitted public tool results and presentation feedback. The presenter can see attendee information and responses for their session. The presenter panel displays initials, but the underlying session record includes your first name and last name initial. Feedback records can show the full name you supply in a linked contact form. Presentation administrators can review sessions and feedback across the platform.

Administrators can use an impersonation feature to access a user’s platform view for support and administration. Other presentation attendees do not receive your individual feedback or contact details through the audience interface. Please note that a presenter may share their screen, including visible session information, with an audience.

We disclose information to providers needed to host, secure or deliver the platform and communications, when you ask us to share it, or where required or permitted by applicable law. Sponsors do not receive personal information merely because their logo appears on the platform.

Cloud services and external websites

The platform uses cloud hosting, databases and file storage through ChatGPT Sites and Cloudflare infrastructure. Email delivery may use Resend. Video playback uses services such as YouTube. Presentation and document links may open Canva, Microsoft OneDrive, SharePoint or Word Online; pilot forms may open Microsoft Forms. These services operate under their own privacy policies and may collect information when loaded or used. We do not collect your passwords for those services.

Cloud providers and their subcontractors may store or process information outside Australia, including in the United States and other countries where their infrastructure operates. We do not promise Australian-only storage. Provider processing locations depend on service configuration and may change; contact us for available information about current arrangements.

Cookies and browser storage

We use secure session cookies for sign-in and administrator impersonation. Browser storage also remembers selections such as your public audience view and presentation participation tokens. Public tool analytics use page-session and attempt identifiers. Public page analytics use a browser-tab session identifier that renews after 30 minutes of inactivity; this identifier is not linked to a platform account in the page analytics records. We store referrer domains rather than full referrer URLs or search queries. Embedded videos and external services may use their own cookies or storage. Blocking cookies or clearing storage can affect sign-in and session participation.

Security and retention

Safeguards include HTTPS, hashed passwords, expiring session tokens and role-based access checks. Temporary passwords require a new password on login. No online system is completely secure. Tell us promptly if you suspect unauthorised access; we will investigate and make notifications required by applicable law.

We keep information for service delivery, follow-up, reporting, security and legal needs. There is currently no single automatic deletion period for all records. Archiving hides a record from the current administrative list; it does not delete it. Deleting a presentation removes its session, attendee and shared-resource records, but separately submitted follow-up enquiries may remain. Copies in provider logs or backups may remain until those providers’ retention cycles expire.

Your choices, access and complaints

Contact us to request access to or correction of your personal information, withdraw consent for updates, request deletion or raise a privacy concern. We may verify your identity before acting. We will explain if we must retain information or cannot fulfil a request. We aim to acknowledge privacy complaints within seven business days and provide a response within 30 days, or explain any delay.

If you are not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which can explain available complaint avenues and whether it can handle your complaint. We handle information under applicable Australian privacy law; this policy does not claim that every provision applies to every circumstance.

Children and family activities

Parent tools are intended for adults to use with their children. Children do not need a separate account to complete those activities with an adult. Adults should supervise use and avoid entering identifying or sensitive details about children. Session organisers should arrange appropriate consent and supervision if children participate in a presentation.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as features and practices change. The date above identifies the current version. We will provide an additional notice where required for a material change.

Contact us

For questions about this policy or your use of The Next PD, contact liam@nextwordnow.com or matt@nextwordnow.com.