This week marks the 40th anniversary of the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. I must admit I missed the first 39. Perhaps my invitation was lost in the mail. No matter. This year I’ll be front and center, because this year Sloane Berrent is attending for all of us.
Many, many (many!) of you already know this because you were part of the decision-making process. A panel of experts was involved in the selection of the “MySpace Citizen Journalist”, but the intense support of her friends and followers also influenced the final decision. You’ve decided to send Sloane to Davos, and she can’t wait to get there. In the announcement of her appointment to the WEF press corp she said that attending this high-profile summit has “been a lifelong dream”. (Mine is to be Julie Andrews. Another good reason Sloane is going and not I.)
It should be an interesting four days (January 27-31) in view of the past 12 months, not to mention the past two weeks. A bit of clairvoyance seems to have played into the theme of “rethink, redesign, rebuild” that will guide the world business leaders, government officials, NGOs, academic leaders, and members of the media from more than 90 countries during their discussions.
The financial crisis dominated the conversation in 2009, and it will continue to be the main focus, while the future of Haiti will also be on the agenda. Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum explained, “We have to rethink our values – we are living together in a global society with many different cultures. We have to redesign our processes – how do we deal with the issues and challenges on the global agenda. And finally, we have to rebuild our institutions.” Regarding Haiti specifically, Professor Schwab said, “We want to use Davos to solicit commitments of our partners, members and constituents in the form of practical help for relief of the continued pain of Haiti’s people and particularly for the reconstruction of Haiti.”
The World Economic Forum is not without controversy, but certainly the gathering of such an immensely powerful group of people will generate ideas and programs worth hearing about. Which takes us back to our pal, Sloane. She’ll be sitting in on private meetings with editors from the Wall Street Journal and News Corp execs; attending the Young Global Leaders conference; and documenting it all through written and video blogs on MySpace and the Wall Street Journal online.
Hers will be a point of view unlike any other coming out of Davos. You put her smack in the middle of the action. Enjoy the view!
Here’s Sloane telling her story of the moment she decided to change her life…
Sloane Berrent talks to Christopher Smith at Blogworld ‘09
For instance, each year, over one million plastic bags per minute are consumed worldwide. Californians alone throw away 600 plastic bags every second. And most of the bags we consume are NOT recycled! They end up on our beaches and in oceans and landfills. Yikes.
dget shortfalls have forced the government to send a lot of workers home on Fridays. But it leaves parents with the huge problem of what to do with the kids on that day off. We want to talk more about that later in the week, but it reminded me of the tremendous work being done by 
