Strikes occur in Belgium nearly as often as in Paris, Berlin or Madrid and frequently affect the transport system. They are as powerful as they are disruptive.

On 20 June 2022, access to all Belgian airports and train stations was severely disrupted, also impacting on participation of two parallel meetings we supported in Brussels. As a project manager on site in Brussels, I received a flood of emails, phone calls and messages from participants and interpreters scheduled to arrive from 13 different countries who were unable to reach Belgium.

The stakes of the meetings were high. The organisational effort of getting everyone together – after 2 years of lockdowns – had been considerable.

At 6pm that evening, I took stock of the situation on the ground: We had some participants in Brussels, some participants from the same and/or from other countries stuck at their home airports, some interpreters on site and some equally stranded elsewhere.

During the next 3 hours, I discovered the power of advanced conference technology and the pivotal role conference technicians and a committed team of interpreters can play. With the help of the two most dedicated and determined technicians and a lot of communication back and forth, a solution was designed that allowed all participants, whether in Brussels or at home, and all interpreters likewise to connect successfully.

Both meetings went ahead the next day as scheduled. The software and hardware deployed in Brussels interfaced in a technically highly complex solution, supporting an event which ran as smoothly as the proverbial swans gliding across the lake. The amount of peddling beneath the water was extraordinary.

One interpreter received a call from her airline at 5am that morning offering her an early evening flight; she interpreted remotely on day 1, rushed to the airport at close of business, caught a flight and worked from the Brussels booth the next morning. Half of the participants made it to the destination on day 2, the other half logged in online and stayed where they were.

While travel may have been a small nightmare during that week, the technical challenges were of a different magnitude altogether. My gratitude and respect for our solution providers took on a new dimension. Our long-term take-aways have been: a creative, solution-focused, state-of-the art technical provider is worth their weight in gold. A committed interpreter team of versatile travellers, unfazed by any eventualities and ready to surmount any obstacles is as crucial as a group of excellent linguists. And: All meetings need to be planned with an in-built virtual component, to be activated in case of a volcanic ash cloud, an air controller strike, icy weather conditions and – strike.