This year’s edition will also take an important step forward in its sustainability journey. Meet Sleep Cycle will be independently assessed using the Planet Positive Event methodology, which measures its environmental and social impact and provides a comprehensive sustainability report with recommendations for future improvements. Rather than treating sustainability as a marketing exercise, the organisers have chosen to measure what matters and use the results to improve the event.
We spoke with Chris McQue, founder of Meet Sleep Cycle, about the idea behind the event, why cycling creates stronger business connections, and why measuring sustainability has become an essential part of the journey.
Q1: Where did the idea for Meet Sleep Cycle come from?
Having designed and managed 3 similar tours pre-COVID, we knew the power of connecting meetings & events professionals through active destination discovery, with the same sense of drama, theatre and surprise we see in top-level sporting events, but with an added layer of ‘shared journey’. Many MICE collectives, forums & trade shows are predictable, commoditising buyer time and offering superficial ‘party-planner socialising’ with copious amounts of food & drink, but little true emotion or value. The market deserves something far more creative, authentic, educational, experiential and humanly connective.
Q2: Why cycling?
We learn more about someone in three days of cycling together than in three years of working together. The same can be said for other team-based activities and passions, but cycling has the added advantage of being a carbon-light, accessible, adventurous, joyful, and practical form of travel between locations and venues relevant to meeting-industry buyers. It is not only about the bike, and it is not for experienced cyclists alone. Cycling is our glue between the bricks, and the e-bike is a game-changer for most participants.
Q3: What kind of connections do you think participants make differently on a bike than in a conference room?
Humans learn best through live experience, and we know from our product testing that cycling-event delegates quickly become ‘business friends for life’ in a way that other forums fail to achieve. Trust, new business ideas, and partnership vision build with each stage we ride together, and post-cycling dinners consolidate mutual appreciation and celebration after a degree of controlled physical challenge that fosters a strong sense of shared achievement.
Q4: Sustainability is clearly part of your philosophy. What does that mean to you?
The Anthropocene is the single biggest C21 challenge to humankind, all species and future generations. Over the last 50 years, we’ve created a climate emergency that has metastasised into a global cancer, and, moreover, alongside construction and shipping, Travel is one of the sectors most resistant to positive change. We can’t do any form of business on a planet that is dying due to human-made activity, and without any credible ‘Sustainable Aviation Fuel’, the meetings & events industry is one of the biggest carbon-criminal organisations of the day – and I’ve been part of it all my career!
Meetings & events organisations need to grasp the nettle, and act in the interests of all stakeholders.
We need more courageous leaders with longer-term vision, who embrace the ethical responsibility of ‘Net Positive’ transformation and see the business advantage of sustainable practice as an opportunity, not a cost. Meetings & events organisations need to grasp the nettle, act in the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and recognise that one of the most shameful consequences of a profit-at-all-costs model is the unsustainable and rising inequality across a volatile, fragile world – one that we treat as a playground for ‘corporate cool’.
Q5: Why did you decide to measure the event with Planet Positive Event?
PPE is backed by rigorous science and draws on the deep experience of its Slovenian parent, Toleranca Marketing. Unlike many other carbon calculator platforms, Planet Positive Event rejects the notion that emissions-heavy organisations can simply offset long-term environmental damage through highly questionable offsetting schemes. Insurance policies don’t work when the house is burning down! PPE adds value through a suite of smart tools, purposeful education, and committed experts, based in a country recognised as a global leader in sustainable practice, where responsible personal and business decisions run through the DNA of civil society. In short, Planet Positive Event is way ahead of the curve – and they practice what they preach!
As the meetings industry continues to search for more meaningful, responsible and engaging event formats, Meet Sleep Cycle demonstrates that innovation is about more than technology or new venues. By combining experiential networking with independently verified sustainability measurement through Planet Positive Event, the event offers a practical example of how business events can create stronger human connections while taking measurable responsibility for their impact.
Meetings and events professionals interested in joining the Green Ride and discovering Slovenia from a different perspective are invited to register their interest here. Places are limited, making this a unique opportunity to experience one of Europe’s greenest MICE destinations while building lasting business relationships and contributing to a more sustainable future for the industry.
The Slovenian edition is organised in collaboration with the Slovenian Convention Bureau, Liberty Adriatic, Hit Alpinea, ECO Hotel Bohinj, Sava Hotels & Resorts and Planet Positive Event.
Learn more about the event here.
