I’m reminded what a huge logistic challenge it is to bring a couple of thousand of the world’s leaders to a small town in the Swiss Alps – get them to sessions, feed, house and protect them.
Walking to the registration area my wife Ana and I note a parking lot with about 30 tractor trailers that have brought stuff. There are hundreds (or more) staff working the event. And the information technology keeps getting better as every attendee can access the program, venues, events, other attendees through the web, including a cool little application that runs from your mobile device.
Not to mention the security. The beautiful snow covered mountain countryside is dotted with Swiss army and police personnel carrying automatic weapons and the environs surrounding the congress centre are separated by barbed wire fences, security cameras and very competent looking (and friendly) security people. Not just the congress centre but some hotels have metal detector systems that would surpass any airport, and everywhere are non-obtrusive police cars, personnel carriers and observant people. If you’re a bad guy, don’t even think about trying to penetrate this place.
The only event Tuesday was the opening cocktail party, where we had a number of interesting discussions. One of most insightful for me was with Samuel DiPiazza, the CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers. PWC has big section of the Belevedere Hotel, with vaulted ceilings and architectural coves, that is used only for the Davos summit.
The theme Tuesday seemed to be counter-posed forces or ideas – the dialectic, if you will. “Controlling versus letting go” (a huge issue for those thinking about the theme of Davos this year – collaborative innovation). “Push versus pull” (every marketing manager is struggling with that one). Evolution versus creation.
PWC has been a leader in the next generation of reporting – they call it value reporting – where the financial report is about al lot more than earnings and financial information. XBRL and the Web 2.0 are poised to transform reporting, where the focus will not just be on compliance but on transparency.
I wonder whether PWC could finally cash in on its leadership position in this area. More important, next-generation reporting could help companies be better understood by their stakeholders, including shareholders, not to mention bring some transparency to financial markets and in doing so possibly avoid crises such as the one we are currently experiencing.
In fact, every conversation, begins with the meltdown in the financial markets. What a mess to punctuate the start of the conference Wednesday. It’s big on the minds of CEOs and central banks who are attending the events.
There are a number of sessions Wednesday that are addressing the uncertainties of the global economy and what can be done to fix it.
I’m doing a session Wednesday on online communities and how social networking is becoming social production. There will be many leaders of the digital revolution participating, so it should be a good discussion.
To read my initial thoughts on the forum, as published in The Globe and Mail, click here.
