World Economic Forum 2024 Davos

Flying solo in Davos for WEF24

I can’t lie.

Initially I felt a bit…untethered.

No producer alongside me, identifying stories, organizing guests, asking if I’d eaten. No editor drumming their keyboard, waiting for me to get my words out so they could finish the piece and make our deadline.

What would a week in Davos for the World Economic Forum look like without a media outlet to prop me up? Could I exist on my own?

And then I was in it, and there was no turning back. The current of activity on the Promenade swept me away like the newspaper boats we’d chase along the gutters after a summer downpour. (Go ahead, do the math)…

Between the planned and the spontaneous, it’s INSANE how much goes on outside the Congress Center and the official session of the World Economic Forum!

Throughout the week I moderated an event on DEI and global health with the WHO Foundation, spoke on a panel on dis-/misinformation, shook new hands, and smiled warmly as I gripped familiar ones…I even got my groove on to will.i.am with some of my former colleagues. 😄

And while I also did do my fair share of listening to top speakers on this year’s hot topics like AI, DEI, global health, digitalization for good, and critical minerals (ask the Financial Times), I must admit I really got a kick out of hearing the more mundane, watercooler chats happening in parallel, all along the town’s main Promenade.

Like for example:

👞👠Where can one buy spikes to put on the bottom of their dress shoes…(followed closely by mutterings of why they even thought to bring them in the first place)…

📱Who gets your contact info via WhatsApp QR code vs. your LinkeIn one and why (there is a method to that madness)…or who gets your hand, in the case of the lady whose info was all on a chip between her thumb and forefinger (the jury’s still out on this one)…

🍽️ Where to grab a bite indoors during that ’dead’ time between when the Promenade lounges close and the dinners begin, if you’re fortunate or cool or savvy enough to have gotten yourself invited to one (shout out to the local supermarket bistro that stayed open until 8p)…

📳 How air tagging your coat is not the stupidest idea (especially if it’s black and any degree of puffy)…

🍸Is 11am too early to start drinking? (I mean, that’s when they start serving soooo…)…

🥤Speaking of which, am I really being asked to pay 8 Swiss Francs for a Coke? (This can’t be right…Are you seeing the same thing I’m seeing?)…

🤔 How much the hotel badges — a step up from no badge — can go for on the secondhand market…(Yes, there is such a thing, and yes it can be A LOT)…

♨ By the way, what about managing the heating in your room at night?? Crack the window, don’t crack the window? How do these mountain people do it?? (I’m married to one and still can’t figure it out)…

(Note to reader on this next bit: Housing in Davos and the surrounding areas during the week of WEF is scarce and hence gets very pricey…)

🏠 Speaking of rooms, next to ‘how the hell did you manage to land a ticket for X session, event, lunch or dinner’, the ‘where are you staying’ disclosures were some of the best.

How they scored and managed a proper room at a hotel or private home (top tier), or simply lucked out because they could stay with a friend of a friend whose grandparents have a place in Davos (top tier adjacent)…

Or conversely, how 20 years after finishing school they found themselves sharing a house (second), a room (third) or even a bed (bottom of the barrel, yep) — with people they hardly knew because that’s all that was available and/or affordable…(#toooldforthisshit)…

🚋 And if they had to stay someplace outside of Davos (like myself), why the hell couldn’t the red train people schedule just one more train after 11 pm, just for this one week a year? (I mean, seriously.)

Which brings me to the million dollar question: Would I do it again?

Maybe. We’ll see. 😉

I did write about it, so obviously it was memorable enough. But if I circle back to my penchant for not lying, it was also an ego boost. It turned out I was enough by myself, and for the moment that’s also enough for me.

Photo Credit: the awesome Pasha Kalachev.