Davos Unfiltered: The Good, The Chaotic, and How to Thrive in the Madness
In January 2025, I finally checked “attend Davos” off my bucket list and made my way to the Alpine hub of global changemakers to experience the sessions surrounding the World Economic Forum. What follows is a mix of my reflections, lessons learned, and (hopefully) a guide for those daring to brave the Davos whirlwind in the future.
Although I attend roughly 25 conferences a year, Davos is in a league of its own. Why? For starters, there’s no prescribed agenda. You’re not handed a tidy list of sessions and speakers. Instead, there’s the main event — the World Economic Forum, held inside the highly restricted Congress Center — but that’s reserved for an exclusive club of delegates, members, journalists, and, presumably, anyone who can teleport past security.
For the rest of us mere mortals, Davos becomes a “choose-your-own-adventure” of hundreds of independent events scattered around the town, held in pavilions, houses, and even temporary domes. Most of these events are free (good news!), but you’ll need to pre-register and then nervously wait to see if you’re accepted (not-so-good news).
One of the highlights for me was attending Imagination in Action, an event co-sponsored by MIT’s CSAIL department, held in a stunning dome that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. It was a full day of thought-provoking discussions and networking with incredible minds — an experience I’ll never forget.
Leading up to this trip, I sought advice from my trusty social media network on how to approach my first Davos experience. “Go with a clear mission and goal!” they said. Easier said than done, because, spoiler alert: I had no idea what to expect. That’s why I’m writing this blog — to help others navigate the madness of Davos and make the most of their journey.
Whether you’re dreaming of attending or simply curious about what goes on in this Alpine hub of global activity, stay tuned for the lessons, tips, and stories from one of the most unique conferences I’ve ever experienced.
How does WEF Davos work?
The main World Economic Forum (WEF) event was attended by about 3,000 delegates from 130 countries, including 50 heads of state and government. Meanwhile, several thousand others flocked to the events surrounding WEF, creating a veritable carnival of ideas, connections, and — let’s be honest — badge envy.
You see, WEF delegates either pay a few hundred thousand dollars for membership or receive a golden invitation to attend the sessions inside the prestigious Congress Center. These elite few are issued the fabled “white badges,” which instantly grant them celebrity status. In Davos, white badges aren’t just accessories — they’re power moves, flashed proudly to remind us lesser mortals (like yours truly) of our humble station.
In fact, Davos has a badge-based caste system that could make even the strictest hierarchies blush. Badges come in all colors, each representing a different rank and set of perks.
Casteism is alive and kicking… in Davos
At the bottom of the badge hierarchy lies the humble “hotel badge,” which allows access to some security-controlled sections of Davos but little else. Ironic, isn’t it? This badge cost just CHF 100 two years ago but has since skyrocketed to CHF 1,200 — a clear sign of just how eager people are to pay their way into the orbit of the rich and powerful.
And then, there are people like me — the badge-less wanderers, who decided to forgo any badge at all. Sure, it came with limitations (like not being able to attend sessions in exclusive venues like the Belvedere Hotel), but honestly, it wasn’t too bad. Most events clearly indicate whether they require a hotel badge or not, and plenty of fantastic discussions are open to the free-roaming masses.
So, while I didn’t have a white badge to wave around or a hotel badge to flash, I found my own way through the Davos maze — and I survived to tell the tale.
Many of the sponsored events in Davos take place in “houses” along a short, winding stretch of road called the Promenade. If it’s not teeming with attendees sporting a kaleidoscope of badges, it’s packed with press, security personnel, and the occasional billionaire surrounded by bodyguards and camera men. True to their reputation, the Swiss excel at security, but even with all the guards and checkpoints, the atmosphere is undeniably intoxicating. Crunching over frozen ice, dodging wet snow, and prowling the Promenade often leads to casual celebrity or billionaire sightings — just your average stroll in Davos!
Lesson: be a ferocious networker
The hustle in Davos is as elevated as the town itself, which also happens to be the highest in Europe. If you’re not the type to walk up to a complete stranger and strike up a conversation, Davos might not be your scene. But here’s the thing: this isn’t your typical networking crowd. Look left, look right, and you’re likely chatting with movers, shakers, or someone who’s just made a multi-billion-dollar deal before breakfast. Introducing oneself with wanton abandon isn’t just encouraged — it’s basically a sport here.
That said, you quickly notice a recurring theme in conversations: “So, what can you do for me?” Initially, I thought I must’ve owed someone money. Many attendees come to Davos armed with big ideas and subtle (or not-so-subtle) pitches, hoping to connect with investors or partners. But amid all this hustling, you hear inspiring stories of grit, resilience, and the audacious courage it takes to become an entrepreneur.
Davos during the WEF week is a world unto itself. I probably wouldn’t recognize the town outside of this chaos. Every storefront is transformed into temporary headquarters for governments and corporations. Tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Snowflake, C3.ai, Palantir, and IBM dominate the scene, along with every major systems integrator (think EY, Infosys, and Accenture). Governments also have a massive presence — Dubai, Qatar, the USA, and India all make bold statements. In fact, last year, India dominated with seven houses, so this year the organizers imposed a new rule limiting each country to just two. CNBC even took over a church, turning it into an epicenter of interviews with global thought leaders.
Pro tip: Cloudflare’s opening party at Barry’s Piano Bar is legendary.
I was lucky enough to snag an invite to a CNBC session, but even then, the line outside the church was long enough to make you wonder if divine intervention was required to get in. A seasoned attendee told me that, in the good old days, you could waltz into any event without pre-registration. Not anymore! The allure of Davos now leads people to sign up for multiple overlapping events, resulting in a very real FOMO epidemic.
In my opinion, the sessions themselves can be hit or miss, often coming at the expense of networking opportunities. For me, the real magic happened in those ad-hoc conversations about topics I truly cared about. Sometimes, skipping a packed session to chat with someone in the hallway turns out to be the most valuable decision you’ll make in Davos.
The picture below is the ultimate Monopoly board for the slightly sleep-deprived hustlers of the Promenade.
Topics and Sessions
This year’s WEF had a unique twist — it coincided with the inauguration of President Trump. While he was slated to attend in person (as he has done in the past), he opted for a virtual session instead. True to form, his daily bombastic proclamations sent shockwaves through the attendees, unintentionally hijacking the agenda for many of the core WEF delegates. The Europeans I spoke to didn’t hold back their reservations about him, though they begrudgingly admitted some excitement about his pro-business policies.
As I mingled with the eclectic crowd, I was struck by the diversity of entrepreneurs. They didn’t just hail from the business world — one of them was a Bollywood actor who had apparently realized that entrepreneurship offers more lasting revenue than box office hits. Like many others, he was there to scout for business opportunities.
AI was the star of the show and dominated most conversations. One panel I attended, held in the Alpine Middle School — yes, the actual school (“Gymnasium,” as the Swiss call it) — was full of doom and gloom. The topic was AI regulation, and panelists passionately argued about curbing unregulated access to user data by tech giants. The session felt like a typical dose of paranoia, but what stood out was the Math students in the audience and one on stage as a representative. I couldn’t help but chuckle seeing parents calmly dropping off their kids at school, unfazed by the WEF carnival happening all around them.
On the flip side, many sessions were decidedly optimistic about AI. The buzzword of the week was “AI agents,” and everyone seemed to have a pitch on the topic. The only problem? Most had no clue how to actually build one. Meanwhile, crypto and blockchain entrepreneurs were busy pitching their own dreams. The most interesting discussions I had were about the potential convergence of these worlds — like using distributed ledgers (such as Hedera) to enable cost-efficient micropayments for AI agents at scale.
Collaboration was a recurring theme this year, amplified by China’s impressive strides in low-cost, open-source reasoning models. Trump added fuel to the fire with the announcement of Stargate, a $500B AI infrastructure investment. Staying in the same hotel as a group of Chinese journalists, I repeatedly heard the argument that the U.S. should collaborate with Chinese researchers instead of engaging in an AI arms race. They pointed to models like Deepseek R1, which costs just $5.6M to train — a fraction of what U.S. companies like OpenAI and Meta spend. Developers I met were already flocking to R1, slashing their token-processing costs from $100 per million tokens to under 4 dollars.
It made me wonder: How long can the U.S. AI companies afford to pay top researchers millions if the returns are dwindling? And how soon until every AI model becomes a sophisticated reasoning model? Discussions about generative AI’s trustworthiness, artificial general intelligence (AGI), and superintelligence were fascinating but heavy on theory and light on execution. Naturally, tech vendors and system integrators wheeled out their senior thought leaders to assure us they had all the answers.
Of course, WEF wasn’t all about AI. Sustainability, healthcare, climate change, peace, prosperity, and inequality had their moment, too. One of my favorite events was the Imagination in Action day, where I was blown away by will.i.am’s talk (so much so that I posted about it on LinkedIn).
I had some incredible one-on-one moments as well. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, now 70 and frail, still had a fire in his eyes as he passionately discussed SOLID — his vision for the next evolution of the web, or as he calls it, “HTTP on steroids.” On the opposite end of the celebrity spectrum, David Beckham was refreshingly down-to-earth. I also attended the Ukrainian Breakfast panel, where CNN’s Fareed Zakaria moderated a panel.
Perhaps most unexpectedly, I spent time with a Nepalese monk, Shyalpa Rinpoche, who was spreading the message of world peace amidst the corporate hustle and bustle. It was a reminder that even in the midst of all the Davos glitz, there’s space for quiet reflection and universal connection. Ironically, he was also raising funds to build his university in Lumbini, the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha (624 BC).
Logistics
Dressing for sub-zero weather? Easy — just raid your local REI and layer up like a human burrito. But finding affordable accommodations in Davos? Now that’s a Herculean task.
Back in 1971, when Davos hosted its first WEF, fewer than 500 people attended. Fast forward to today, and the town is absolutely bursting at the seams. Rooms that normally cost $100/night suddenly morph into the price of a small car if you want to stay anywhere near the action. To save money, some folks stay in nearby towns like Klosters, while others brave the daily 2.5–3-hour train ride from Zurich.
As for me, I embraced the budget life and shared a basic room — with shared bathrooms, of course. That’s the price you pay to be close to all the Promenade excitement. Each day became a friendly competition for precious amenities like charging ports, ironing boards, and showers. Think of it as a real-life Hunger Games, but with networking opportunities.
While rooming with strangers may sound…awkward, it’s actually a great way to meet people. Almost everyone staying at my hotel was buzzing with excitement, creating a collegial vibe. Among my fellow “roomies” were MIT and Stanford professors, international journalists, and scrappy entrepreneurs.
Fun fact: the hotel itself started as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients 175 years ago when Davos gained fame for its clean air. Even today, it hosts kids with respiratory issues for free every summer. Oh, and all the hotel staff? Volunteers.
The process of securing accommodation was…a journey. I joined a WhatsApp group of attendees hoping to find roommates, but distinguishing genuine listings from opportunistic touts charging exorbitant rates was an adventure in itself.
When it came to food, the private house events had it all — fancy bites and free-flowing drinks. If you weren’t on that list, no worries. The communal dining sections at grocery stores were lifesavers for both meals and networking. Conveniently, the Promenade is bookended by two excellent Swiss grocery chains: Migros and Coop.
Conclusion
As I wrap up this blog, I find myself at a bit of a crossroads: should I return to WEF in 2026, or was one trip enough to check it off the bucket list and spare myself the investment of more time, money, and extreme networking cardio? Was the relentless hustling and business card slinging I witnessed a sign of true ambition, or just a masterclass in desperation? The jury’s still out.
That said, the incredible energy, mind-expanding ideas, and the kind of networking you’d never get on LinkedIn make Davos a truly unique experience. It’s a charming little village that transforms into a high-octane hub where innovators, leaders, and dreamers gather with a common goal: to change the world for the better (or at least to say they tried over canapés).
Now, one surefire reason to return would be to score an invitation as a WEF delegate. Not only would this upgrade my badge status — and my street cred — but it might also come with better accommodations. And hey, maybe I’d finally get to arrive in Davos via helicopter, dramatically stepping out while flaunting my white badge like I’m starring in a Mr. Bean goes to Davos episode.
On second thought, why wait for an invite? Instead, I’m planning to host my very own data and AI event, where my community can come together, hustle-free, to share ideas and insights. I’ve got one year to make it happen.
Until then, Davos…it’s been real.
PS. If you’d like to hear some of my — and my friends’ — experiences from Davos, tune in to this episode of the It Depends podcast: https://youtu.be/BfSTA5vQvig.
