THEY say there are two types of people:those who spend their lifetime trying to get to Davos and those who spend a lifetime avoiding it.

Until last Wednesday I was in the latter camp, but on the basis that at least three-quarters of the FTSE 100 is represented here as well as some of the world’s top banks, I decided to go.

The first impression is overwhelmingly negative. Set in a hilltop mountain village, Davos seems like a giant student campus on corporate expenses. It is a remote location, a feeling exaggerated last week by the pandemonium breaking out in financial markets around the world.

As a result most delegates spent their first two days glued to their Blackberrys.

The hotel accommodation, unless you are one of the strategic partners that helps finance the World Economic Forum event, is unbelievably poor. Intellectually you reach saturation point within four hours of arriving — there is simply too much to take in.

But as you walk round the sprawling conference hall you begin to take the World Economic Forum for what it is — one giant networking event.

Most of the 3,000 or so delegates use this as an event to meet their clients or prospective ones. It’s a bit like the opening Monday night of the Chelsea Flower Show, but on a global scale. I met too many chairmen and chief executives who espoused the event’s benefits to dismiss it lightly as a four-day holiday.

There’s a simple trick to Davos you learn from watching the masters. It is to stand at the top of the main stairway outside the conference hall. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan, worked it like a pro. A gentle tap on the shoulder of someone he wanted to talk to, a five-minute chat, a quick handshake and contact had been made.

The event was low key rather than extravagant. Tony Blair spoke at events for McKinsey and Price Waterhouse Coopers, and David Cameron spoke at a Barclays Capital event held in a picturesque hilltop restaurant.

Ben Verwaayen, chief executive of BT, was there with two board colleagues. They spent most of the week in back-to-back meetings with global clients. Samir Brikho, Amec’s chief executive, met half a dozen of his top global clients within two hours of landing.

That is part of the problem. Most of the interesting conversations take place behind closed doors, what the delegates call bilateral meetings. The public debates and the breakout sessions are interesting and the panellists are top-drawer, but there is a lot of hot air.

Last year Davos was all showbiz. This year the mood was very different. The dominant theme was whether we are headed into an economic slowdown or a recession. The short-term issues far outweighed the bigger long-term macro issues on which the forum likes to focus.

There were three big issues at the event.

One was the emergence of sovereign wealth funds as a new power with all the corporate-governance issues that go with that, the second was the continuing shift of economic power from West to East. (Or as one government minister put it, the changing distribution of power and the shift of power from national to international corporates.)

The third issue that came out clearly was that innovation has outgrown regulation, particularly in financial markets. Much of the agenda, however, is set by the big western economies, something that will have to change if the event is to remain relevant.

Four days in Davos is too much for most businessmen to spare, but four days of frantic networking does make the world go round.

john.waples@sunday-times.co.uk

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