Our Ethos
The mission of Venture Café Winston-Salem is to connect innovators to make things happen. Through a localized approach, Venture Café Winston-Salem works with other Venture Cafe sites to accelerate and enhance the innovation process in cities around the world. With high-touch programming, spaces, storytelling, and broad innovation engagement, Venture Café Winston-Salem provides the connective tissue to uncover and link various parts of an innovation ecosystem, amplifying the work of partners and convening the local community in cities where we operate.

As part of our mission to connect the innovation community, we seek to provide safe, supportive and constructive environments for conversations and meaningful connections. 

Terms and Conditions
These are the terms and conditions (the “Terms and Conditions”) that govern the relationship between you (“you”, “your(s)”) and Venture Café Winston-Salem of 486 Patterson Ave., Winston-Salem, NC 27101 (“we”, “our”, “us”, “Venture Café“) in relation to your participation at any meeting or event promoted, sanctioned or organized by us (an “Event“) as outlined in these Terms and Conditions. 

The Terms and Conditions shall be made available on our website, and you agree to be bound by them as well as our Community Credo which is available here at and posted publicly at the majority of our events.

1. Observe the platinum rule. Treat others as they would like to be treated. Contribute in a positive, valuable way. Respect the social norms of conversation and engagement, respecting others’ desires to interact, or not interact, based on the context of the situation. Be honest and straightforward in all dealings. Make yourself comfortable and be kind to others. Our open, friendly atmosphere is exemplified by our community.

    

2. Refrain from hard selling. It’s okay to say what you do, but don’t sell. Initiate and cultivate meaningful connections rather than pitching your product or service. If it feels like selling, it probably is.

    

3. Respect the space and the people around you. Venture Café provides meeting, collaboration and sometimes workspace to the public at our sites. All are welcome at Venture Café.  Please respect this community events and space — clean up after yourself, dispose of all trash, and keep noise at a moderate level.  Treat all individuals with respect while utilizing Venture Café sites and programs, including refraining from unwelcome interactions or harassment or defamation of their work. Please refrain from using any device to make an audio and/or visual recording, transmission, or broadcast of any Event.

    

4. Be an active participant in our community. The Venture Café is an expanding and dynamic organization. We rely on our community to contribute to make the organization what it is. Please join us and share the love with a little creativity and collaboration! We constantly try new things to improve your interactive experience in this unique space. We encourage you to provide constructive feedback and share your ideas.

    

5. Protecting IP You may hear from and share ideas and materials with fellow participants at the Venture Café so please respect the work of others.  Your participation shall not excuse you from following the laws regarding intellectual property including the copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights in the work of your fellow participants and of any third-party.  Venture Café does not condone or support intellectual property infringement and our hosting of the Venture Café does not signify our intention to induce, cause or materially contribute to any infringement.  Your use of and reliance upon any information, ideas or materials learned at the Venture Café is at your own risk and Venture Café makes no representations or warranties with respect to any of them.  You acknowledge that any material provided by Venture Café at an Event shall belong to us, including without limitation any intellectual property pertaining to such materials.

    

6. Connect responsibly. Behave professionally. All Events should be considered community gatherings, not bars (when alcohol is served). If you wouldn’t do it in your office, don’t do it here. Communications of an unwelcomed, harassing, or sexual nature are not appropriate.  All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds.
   
   
7. Keep Venture Café spaces free of harassment. We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free and welcoming experience for everyone, regardless of and not limited to gender identity or gender expression, sex or sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, color, national origin, age, military service, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment in any form.  Please respect everyone’s background and comfort level. The following behavior and language is considered unacceptable whether at an Event or ancillary to such Event (including without limitation in respect of social media posts).

• • • Violence, threats of violence or violent language directed against another person.
    • Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, classist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
    • Posting or displaying sexually explicit or violent material.
    • Personal insults, particularly those related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or disability.
    • Inappropriate physical contact. You should have someone’s consent before touching them.
    • Unwelcome sexual attention. This includes, sexualized comments or jokes, inappropriate touching, groping, and unwelcomed sexual advances.
    • Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following (online or in person).
    • Sustained disruption of community events or our sites, including talks and presentations.
    • Making other guests and participants feel uncomfortable, threatened, or otherwise unwelcome in the space.
    • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.

8. Photography You authorize us to make use of any photographs, likenesses, films, broadcasts, cablecasts, audiotapes, taken of the event and of participant(s) while at Venture Café in any way we see fit for the promotion, coverage or benefit of the event, without compensation, so long as our use neither jeopardizes nor endorses a specific product or service, and hereby expressly and irrevocably waive and release any rights in connection with such use, including any claim to invasion of privacy, right of publicity or to misappropriation.

9. Health and Safety
Please comply with the applicable health and safety rules of the Event premises.

Our Rights and Protections
We are here to keep this a comfortable and safe place for all. To support Venture Café’s mission to enable productive conversations and to act as a community hub, we reserve the right to disinvite and remove any individual that Venture Café management feels, in their sole judgment, acts in a manner contrary to these Terms and Conditions. We reserve our rights in law to take further action against such behavior.

You shall defend, indemnify and hold us (including all successors, assigns and group companies of Venture Café (including without limitation, Venture Café Global Institute)  harmless from any claim brought by a fellow participant or third party in respect of possible infringement of such party’s intellectual property.

You shall waive all liability against us (including all successors, assigns and group companies of Venture Café (including without limitation, Venture Café Global Institute)for any loss incurred by you whilst you are at or in connection with an Event including without limitation any loss suffered as a result of personal injury or death (save for as a result of our fraud or negligence). In any event, the maximum liability of us (including all successors, assigns and group companies of Venture Café (including without limitation, Venture Café Global Institute)to you shall always be capped at $50 per claim.

Your Protections
It is our sincere goal that you feel safe in and enjoy the spaces, programs, and conversations hosted by Venture Café. If you find yourself in or witness a situation in which you are feeling uncomfortable or threatened, please do not hesitate to reach out to our team. We are here to support our community, and will do everything within our power to do so. We ask that if you have any concerns you please let us know – we want to be here to support every member of our community, and also rely heavily on community feedback in order to constantly improve the way we operate and facilitate our mission and values.

Please refer to Annex 1 as to how to report a violation. 

General
These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and us in respect of your attendance at the Event, and it shall be governed by and construed in accordance with United States law and both parties irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of Winston-Salem, North Carolina in Forsyth County in relation to any matters arising out of or in connection with this Agreement.

You acknowledge and agree that the Venture Café parties referred to in the section entitled “Our Rights and Protections” shall be deemed third party beneficiaries under these Terms and Conditions. 

Annex 1 – Reporting a violation of the Terms and Conditions for Venture Café Winston-Salem
We have listed ways to report a violation, reach out to our staff, and other local resources below:

Reporting a violation of the Terms and Conditions at an Event

We recommend that you first contact your event organizer. If you don’t feel comfortable doing so, please see a member of Venture Café staff at the Event, contact us via this Incident Report Form, or contact us directly via the email addresses below.

Suggested Email Template for Incident / Harassment Reporting:

SUBJECT: Safe Space alert at [EVENT NAME]

I am writing because of incident / harassment at a Venture Café event, (NAME, DATE OF EVENT).

You can reach me at (CONTACT INFO). Thank you.
Should any community member make you uncomfortable or fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions, please alert Venture Café staff immediately using the contact information set forth below.

Venture Café Contact Information:

Please report via this Incident Report Form or send us an email at the addresses below:

• Executive Director Karen Barnes – karen@venturecafews.org
• Program Director Susan Morris – susan@venturecafews.org

Additional Local Resources:
For emergencies, call 911.
Winston Salem Police Department – 1-877-777-9773