Davos Diary, Day 4: The Party Scene

Last night, the party scene in Davos was at a fever pitch. Smallish rooms crowded with delgates doing the Davos Dip, that slight bend in the knee and downward tilt of the head designed to enable them to read your name badge and determine whether you are worth their time. After that, they move into the “over-the-shoulder bob,” which involves periodically scanning the room over your shoulder to see who has walked in that might be more important.

From brief visits to the NASDAQ, Merrill Lynch and Canadian parties, I can report that the canapés were uninspiring, but the crowds and the talks were considerably great. You have to give the Davoisie credit. After listening to speeches all day (except for the real heavy hitters, who come only to deliver their addresses, and then spend the rest of the time in their suites at the Steigenberger Belvedere Hotel, meeting with other power-brokers one on one) they were willing to accept the notion that a party involved even more speeches, albeit with wine.

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At the Merrill Lynch soirée, Merrill senior executives hobnobbed with the likes of Dell Computer founder Michael Dell, former U.S. presidential candidate Mark Warner, and a number of enterprising journalists who had discovered that the food was much better than at chez NASDAQ. (Whatever may be said about their nose for news, there is no denying the fourth estate’s nose for free food.)

There were dozens of other parties in Davos last night, as there will be tonight, plus the Forum’s various official theme dinners (including the inevitable Jazz Dinner, which is just too charming for words. Jazz hasn’t been cool for fifty years. Even this crowd couldn’t possibly be so old that jazz is what they crave after a day of grappling with the planet’s biggest problems. Heavy metal and bowls full of OxyContin seem more appropriate.)