Davos is my Coachella
If it were up to me, Davos would be part of the cultural zeitgeist.
Did you know that 3000 world leaders, CEOs, and high net worth individuals get together at a glamorous 5 star ski-resort in the Swiss Alps for a ‘conference’ every January?
Davos is the name of the town, and it was chosen as the location for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in 1971 due to its secluded and neutral location.
And because wealth whispers, we don’t really know much about what happens outside of the official proceedings.
Over the years, I’ve stayed curious about Davos and learned a shocking thing: the elites who attend have a really great time, rugged up in their two thousand dollar jackets, eating fondue, competing in intellectual jousting etc.
There is plenty of discourse as to why Davos is problematic. It’s positioned as a convention to address geopolitical shocks, living standards and the energy transition - but normies can’t attend. It’s exclusive, expensive, and driven by corporate interests. Hypocrisy is rife - many attendees fly in private jets to then weigh in on the climate crisis.
However, there are plenty of insightful takes on this. I’m not here to lecture about why the top 0.01% gathered at an alpine resort might be kind of sheltered from the realities of all the ‘global and regional’ issues they are setting out to solve.
I’m simply here to raise your awareness of this event through highlighting some of the amusing things I have learned about what happens on the ground Davos. It’s then up to you to decide whether you aspire to attend, protest it or remain indifferent.
Yo-Yo Ma gives one-on-one concerts
I know someone who attended Davos as a ‘Young Global Leader’ a couple of years ago, and he walked past a room to find famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing for literally one guy. This felt a bit far-fetched, but I did some research, and it turns out that Yo-Yo does hang out at Davos as he is a World Economic Forum Board of Trustees member. Give me that over an Artist Pass at Coachella any day.
The fashion moments are one of a kind
In a deep procrastination spiral, I once typed ‘Julie Bishop at Davos’ into google. I don’t know what possessed me to do it. Why my intuition produces niche and mostly useless results such as this (rather than naturally flowing ideas about what I should eat for dinner) is a question I wrestle with everyday.
Cue Julie Bishop, our ex Foreign Affairs and Trading Minister giving a keynote in an igloo, dressed in a cashmere cut-out top and designer snow boots. I don’t know why she was qualified to give a talk on the human immune system and frankly, I don’t really care - that’s not what this is about.
Only an environment unique enough as Davos, can marry important concepts such as the promotion of childhood vaccination with the promotion of the après ski-lifestyle.
There are opportunities to learn state secrets
Davos is a small village, which means accommodation and restaurants are scarce. Attendees rub shoulders each night, packed into cosy bistros and brasseries. The most famous is the Tonic Piano Bar in Hotel Europe that shelters punters until the early hours with the pianist taking requests.
Can you imagine the quality of salacious gossip you would have the opportunity to overhear? People’s guards are down, they are outside of their usual domain and often up for a little ‘fun’. It’s the perfect time to strike!
If someone offered to buy you a drink you could respond with, ‘only if you tell me a little state secret as a treat.’
Those who are not government officials or people with budgets for the five-star hotels are relegated to, ‘bare-bones, university dorm’ type lodgings.
So what you’re telling me is that reporters, staffers and delegates are basically doing elite adult schoolies in the Swiss Alps once a year?
How is Deuxmoi not covering this?
Davos in 2025
Davos started on Monday 20th January and runs until the 24th. I’ll be keeping a close tab on things and let you know if anything genuinely interesting happens. But for now, the mood is all about ‘navigating the intelligent age’ and how to deal with ‘Maganomics.’
To this, I say - ‘Florals? For Spring? Groundbreaking.’
