The World Economic Forum is a rich man’s club. Nothing comes cheap here. The main 1,000 member companies are invited to the forum based on annual revenues of over $1 billion (as of 2002). This naturally led to allegations that companies from poorer countries are inherently under-represented. In its press release, the WEF claims that 200 companies, mainly from the developing world, are invited to join the WEF membership and events. Each member company pays a basic annual membership fee of $12,500 and a $6,250 Annual Meeting fee. However, in order for a company to be able to participate in deciding the agendas of the Annual Meeting and the regional meetings, the company must pay $250,000 each year in order to be an Institutional Partner and/or Knowledge Partner, and $78,000 to be an Annual Meeting Partner. We told you nothing comes cheap here, not even the pristine Alpine water which may be purchased for 30 Swiss francs (SR100) per one-liter bottle from the mini fridge in our hotel room.
Wherever you go the first thing that people do is to look at your chest to read who you are. That is where the cards are hanging. It must be embarrassing for women. The most interesting people often twist or partially cover their badge in some way so the name is not clearly visible. When one discovers somebody big (especially somebody you didn’t recognize and should have), which is too often the case, few people will admit that they are impressed or delighted. Instead the standard line is, “So you’re still holding that position.” Or “Weren’t you moving to....?” or “I thought at this time of year you’d be at...” Real top-of-the-line people act like they don’t notice the gawkers at all.
The problem for most of these people is that if they were anywhere else they would be the center of attention. At Davos, they hardly rate a second glance and to them that is unfortunate since they have paid a lot of money to be here and they want everyone to know that they are here. Some of the people that I met here yesterday would never have given a journalist a second look had they not been at Davos. It is easy to take appointments. In fact, the celebrities are looking for somebody to massage their egos, talk to them and make them feel important.
Now about the dress code. The WEF organizers don’t want men to wear ties. They have mentioned this in all WEF literature. “The idea is to make all this look very informal. We want everybody to relax and feel at home,” said one official manning an information desk at the Congress Center. That ruling still didn’t not stop many from wearing neckties. And people seem to be wearing half the clothes in their suitcases at any one time. This is understandable. As long as you are in the Congress Center it is warm and cozy. The moment you step outside, a blast of Arctic air hits you with full force. I tried to click some pictures in the street this morning; after two clicks my fingers went numb. I couldn’t make out whether I was pressing the correct button or not.
It has been mentioned often that the WEF is an ideal place for dialogue and debate in regards to the major social and economic problems of the planet. This is easy to see once you’re in a room where some of the most influential people in the world are casually chatting with each other on the details of some major issue. Representatives of both the most powerful economic organizations and the most powerful political organizations are present. Many intellectuals also turn up and there is a generally informal atmosphere throughout Davos that encourages wide-ranging debate.
All plenary sessions are open to journalists but reporters aren’t allowed to ask questions during the sessions. They can ask as many as they want during the numerous press conferences. Interactive sessions, workshops and working meals are off the record and reserved for participants. Reporting press are not allowed to attend these sessions, so it’s really important in understanding the events at Davos, to find someone who is willing to discuss what happened on those occasions — no names mentioned of course.
About 600 journalists from print, radio and TV are taking part in connecting the wider world with the business and political bigwigs here. Many journalists participate in both established and new media, such as weblogs, audiocasts, videocasts and podcasts. Journalists doing quick informal recording with small HD videocams are a common sight. The restaurants are important places where media veterans of Davos meet after 10 every night.
Journalists are some of the toughest critics of the events at Davos. “The World Economic Forum is really just a business forum, where the richest businessmen can easily negotiate deals with one another and lobby the world’s most powerful politicians. The aim here is profit-making rather than solving economic problems like poverty,” said one journalist.
A lot of business deals are taking place here, but the Congress Center isn’t where they are going down. The hotels surrounding the Congress Center are where most deals are clinched. The businessmen who are here are smart operators. They want to make the most of their presence in Davos. Networking is one aspect. They do their homework before coming here and are very clear who they are going to meet. One journalist remembered how Lakshmi Mittal flew back from last year’s WEF annual meeting early to unveil Mittal Steel’s bid for rival Arcelor. Merger and acquisition rumors form an important part of the informal discussions here.
The man who is the center of attraction wherever he goes is Klaus Schwab. He is the cynosure of all eyes and for no small reason. Since 1971 he has been able to get the world’s movers and shakers to this beautiful Swiss mountain resort. He is always surrounded by people wanting to talk to him. But he is a great PR guy. He doesn’t disappoint anybody. He made Davos famous. There was one other guy who made Davos famous though, long before WEF. Thomas Mann wrote his novel “The Magic Mountain” with Davos as its setting. Mann, Germany’s great man of letters, brought the magic of Davos alive in that story. He wrote about its mystique and magnetism. In the novel, a young bourgeois man visits his cousin in a sanitarium where he “falls ill” and struggles with the opposing forces of rationalism, faith, aestheticism, and common sense embodied by the other patients before rushing into World War I. The novel depicts the various cultural and intellectual currents swirling around in the soul of pre-World War I Europe.
Davos first became famous because of the novel’s setting. Mann describes the city in great detail through the novel’s protagonist. That was nearly 100 years ago. The mountains outside are indeed breathtaking. Snow-capped, they are a great inspiration. They beckon you. The setting is so beautiful that you run out of adjectives. For the Europeans and the First Worlders this is may not seem so, but for somebody from the Third World, it is awesome. Something indescribable and magical.
