23/05/2026
“Participant’s time is a more valuable resource than the budget.”
That line resonated with the room at .
During “Beyond Sustainability”, Orange Gibbon’s lead meeting designer Mike Van der Vijver challenged something the meetings industry rarely questions:
What if we’re optimising the wrong things?
We obsess over:
• stage design
• catering
• attendee numbers
• satisfaction scores
Meanwhile, participants spend two or even three days walking around exhausted, overstimulated, and struggling to have meaningful conversations.
Most networking formats mainly work for extraverts.
Gala dinners are beautifully produced… and socially uncomfortable.
Too many meeting organizers measure satisfaction, instead of change or impact.
In the long run, this is not sustainable and more importantly, sustainability does not include the mindset to create value.
Therefore, the circular economy provides the required framework.
Not just recycling materials.
But optimising:
Knowledge.
Connections.
Energy.
Attention.
At Orange Gibbon, we call this: Go Circular.
Because the purpose of meetings is to create impact that continues after people leave the room.
Otherwise we are just producing temporary experiences with temporary value.
Or as Mike described it:
“Then, meetings are a form of sea sailing. And the definition of sea sailing is tearing up €1,000 notes while standing under a cold shower.”
The industry representatives in the session had a good laugh.
But at the same time, they knew exactly what he meant.
