My First Davos

Davos for me started even before I set foot in Switzerland: it started with a series of emails and conference calls with various insights and advice, all of it very daunting… So after some serious preparatory meetings with the Friends teams looking at participants and possible strategies, I decided to go for a sensible 4 throng strategy:
    -select only a few of “target” people;
    -select sessions that would be interesting and that would probably allow me to meet interesting people;
    -leave it to karma;
    -enjoy myself!

With these basic principles in mind I embarked for “My First Davos”. Of course there were a few shocks:
    -the cold: coming from nice and warm Cambodia, relatively unprepared (I had to buy a sweater in the airport) some adjustments are required, including (re)learning how not to slip on ice…
    -the jetlag: nothing you can do about that and just pretend all is well, even if your eyes get seriously crossed.
    -the people: it is always an interesting feeling when all the cameras suddenly converge to your face until you realize that Merkel is climbing the stairs next to you…

Shocks were not enough to deter me from my goals and overall my strategy worked out splendidly:
-I did meet my main “targets” and initial contact will hopefully lead to a great collaboration in the coming months,
-I attended mind-blowing sessions that included me acting a play and me totally revising some of my strategies; listening to world leaders presenting their policies is always fascinating,
-my karma worked very nicely and I ended up meeting many different people with ideas that will help me push my work further (and yes, the advice about the many name-cards is a very good advice…)
-and finally I did not so much enjoy myself than got challenged and excited by what I saw, the people I met and the diverse discussions with my fellow social entrepreneurs and totally new people with such diverse backgrounds and interests.

Davos: an experience to be repeated, especially since I cannot participate to this year’s sledge-run down from Schatzalp because of a bad knee… I need to come back for that!

Sebastien Marot 

 

Editors Note
Sebastien Marot, Executive Director, Friends-International, Cambodia
Regional Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Asia, 2009

Friends-International works to protect marginalized children and youth, giving them opportunities to build their futures.