I Was Supposed To Go To 8 Parties Last Night But I Only Made It To 6…

January 29, 2012
By

Audi

Given the quality of speakers at the World Economic Forum, you may be under the impression that people go for the content.

They don't.

The content is a interesting diversion, for those with spare time, but the real reason companies happily shell out up to $600,000+ per year to attend the Davos conference is because of the schmoozing.

One senior executive I spoke to on Friday afternoon had just finished his 50th meeting in three days. The executive comes to Davos every year, and he'll keep on coming, he says, because the density of clients and prospective clients in attendance saves him six months worth of world travel. The executive had attended only one conference session, on e-philanthropy, and he had bolted after 20 minutes because it was boring.

Late in the afternoon, moreover, the Davos day is only half over. The evening's schmoozing has yet to begin. And the evening schmoozing is a networker's dream.

And a corporate brand manager's dream.

And a cocktail-lover's dream.

So, let's get going.

Across the street from the Congress Center is this big white building, the Belvedere hotel. The Belvedere is ground-zero for corporate schmoozing. Most of the winter, it looks like this.



During the conference, however, it gets a complete makeover. For starters, this sort of black space-ship thing is constructed on top of it. Why? To make room for more schmoozing. Sponsored, of course.



Those photos were taken in the morning. In the evening, the entrance to the Belvedere looks like this. Your walk up the stairs is sponsored by KPMG.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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I Was Supposed To Go To 8 Parties Last Night But I Only Made It To 6…

January 29, 2012
By

Audi

Given the quality of speakers at the World Economic Forum, you may be under the impression that people go for the content.

They don't.

The content is a interesting diversion, for those with spare time, but the real reason companies happily shell out up to $600,000+ per year to attend the Davos conference is because of the schmoozing.

One senior executive I spoke to on Friday afternoon had just finished his 50th meeting in three days. The executive comes to Davos every year, and he'll keep on coming, he says, because the density of clients and prospective clients in attendance saves him six months worth of world travel. The executive had attended only one conference session, on e-philanthropy, and he had bolted after 20 minutes because it was boring.

Late in the afternoon, moreover, the Davos day is only half over. The evening's schmoozing has yet to begin. And the evening schmoozing is a networker's dream.

And a corporate brand manager's dream.

And a cocktail-lover's dream.

So, let's get going.

Across the street from the Congress Center is this big white building, the Belvedere hotel. The Belvedere is ground-zero for corporate schmoozing. Most of the winter, it looks like this.



During the conference, however, it gets a complete makeover. For starters, this sort of black space-ship thing is constructed on top of it. Why? To make room for more schmoozing. Sponsored, of course.



Those photos were taken in the morning. In the evening, the entrance to the Belvedere looks like this. Your walk up the stairs is sponsored by KPMG.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.

See Also:



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