The Annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

The Annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland is a gathering of world leaders, businessmen, intellectuals, politicians and academics

Davos, the mountain resort in Graubünden, Switzerland is the annual site for the World Economic Forum, the gathering of world leaders, academics, politicians, journalists and business leaders to discuss various agenda that affect industrial, regional and global scenarios.

The public might view this as just another forum, where the elite rub elbows with the high placed business men and politicians, intellectuals and academies that do not have the right grasp of what is actually happening in the world. Today, with the help of social media, more people are becoming aware of what goes on in the WEF in Davos, what’s being presented, what’s being discussed, and what solutions the delegates could come up with during the five-day meeting. It also became apparent that women are taking a more active role in discussing global issues, which used to be the domain of men.

Annual World Economic Forum Activities

Attendance to the Forum is by invitation only. Included in the attendees are the CEOs of its member companies. Davos becomes the center of activity when the Forum is held around the last week of January each year. This year, the Forum is held from January 23 to 26. There are 220 sessions in the official program of the forum and the participants could also hold informal meetings outside the session halls. Some issues are even provided solutions and new ideas are brought out in these informal sessions.

Social Media

Nearly 500 journalists from around the world are invited to this event. They represent radio, television, print and online mediums. Webcasts are also utilized at times.

Even if the rest of the world could not be delegates to this forum, it is possible to follow the proceedings on different social media sites. Key quotes from delegates are uploaded and followed on Twitter. Flickr provides free pictures while all the plenary discussions are uploaded on YouTube for those interested in following the day to day activities in Davos.

With its increased usage, the public are more engaged to participate, gauging from the number of tweets and retweets, creating a healthy and very active online debate.

Increase in Women Delegates

It’s been noted that women are being very active in meetings and fora where men were the major participants a few years back. And they are prepared to be heard. They are very aware that for ideas to be disseminated across a wider audience, different media should be used, to make real-time impact, where their ideas, their opinions and their thoughts could be broadcast as is, without misquotes, misunderstandings or at times, censorship. In the 2013 Davos forum, at least 17% of the participants are women. On day one of the forum, there were 2,376 tweets sent by delegates. Female participants sent 784 tweets, while journalists sent 1,958.

It could be said the public may have been jaded when looking at forums like this. They usually think that the reports and discussion do not really reflect the true conditions within the region or the country. The use of social media and other more mobile and readily accessible forms of communication, more people around the globe are more willing to participate, to be heard, to voice their opinion and share their thoughts on the issues that affect them personally.

Photo Credits: World Economic Forum