unDavos Playbook

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The unDavos 2025 Playbook

What is UnDavos?

Welcome to unDavos: A Decentralised, Action-based Collective Intelligence Summit

The unDavos Summit is a community-organized series of engaging and interactive panels, talks, and networking. The Summit takes place in Davos, Switzerland, in parallel to the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting.

A dynamic, decentralized global community committed to democratizing ideas, solutions, and actions. It serves as a platform for new voices to challenge the world elites and each other, encouraging them to "walk the talk." At its core, unDavos is about giving access and voice to the unrepresented, functioning as the mycelium connecting all stakeholders in the community.

The essence of unDavos, a community-driven event, is to foster an inclusive, diverse, and collaborative environment that promotes an action-oriented approach to learning and growth. This engaging and dynamic experience encourages participants to be curious and open-minded, while valuing a human-centered approach to problem-solving.

At unDavos, individuals from all backgrounds are welcomed into an underground and unconventional space to share their knowledge and experience. The event prioritizes community building and cooperative learning, where generosity and abundance are emphasized, and attendees feel empowered to collaborate with one another.

The essence of unDavos lies in creating a unique and alternative experience to traditional conferences, where participants can come together to network, share ideas and discuss solutions to societal challenges. By putting community at the forefront, unDavos aims to create an environment that inspires individuals to take action and create positive change.

unDavos - a mini-History

The unDavos movement (‘underground Davos’ or ‘unconferencing Davos’ were the two ideas) was started by Mark Turrell (

www.markturrell.com⁠

) on his 3rd Davos in 2011. Apartment sharing practically did not exist then so Mark coordinated the first shared apartments for his YGL and tech pioneer friends.

Then Yobie joined the community and coined the term unDavos!

Later there was a Facebook group to help share experiences and how-to info… and then we quickly adopted messaging apps, first WhatsApp then Telegram, to coordinate.

Our Vision for unDavos: UnDavos is a distinct entity, not an alternative to the World Economic Forum (WEF). Its core values and principles include:

Open, welcoming and Inclusiv: A cornerstone principle, unDavos is founded on the belief in absolute inclusivity with no barriers, including political.

Representation: We strive for a diverse representation across geographies, topics, industries, and communities.

Purpose and Action-Driven: Our focus is on tangible outcomes and agile methodologies, ensuring that we're constantly reinventing to stay relevant.

People-Driven: Ideas originate from individuals. If you have an idea, you're empowered to run with it.

Structure: We aim for linear, peer-to-peer, horizontal structures, offering support and filling gaps where needed. Transparency and clear governance are pivotal.

Helpful: unDavos is designed to provide value and aid to its participants, fostering a supportive environment to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaboration.

Non-Hierarchical: Leadership roles are primarily operational to facilitate the functioning of the community.

Distinct Identity: UnDavos is a unique entity, separate from the WEF.

Beyond Money and Power: It's not driven by financial incentives or power dynamics.

Non-Political: It deliberately avoids political affiliations and agendas.

Furthermore, it aims to counteract elements often associated with traditional conferences, such as being individualistic, isolated, self-centered, possessive, scarce, and controlling. UnDavos strives for engagement, community, and collective action, fostering a unique experience that's far from being stage-managed, unengaging, or lonely. It acknowledges the great work that goes on behind the scenes.

unDavos Strategy

Mission

Goals

Democratizing Davos

Humanizing Davos

Bringing Action to Davos

Values:

Action Oriented

relational

unconference

underground

inclusive

diverse

experience

engaging

curious

words

community

human

open

collaborative

cooperative

generous

abundant

Sharing

Helpful

Welcoming

Open

participant driven

self-organised

warm

imperfect

playful

a wow in everything we do

Objectives, Key Results

What are the objectives of unDavos 2025 and how do we measure them?

Value of unDavos

Networking with Global Industry Leaders

Connect to investors

Develop clients and partnerships

Drive focus and attention to your offering

Maximize meeting time

Influence & be part of the conversation

Gain Visilibity on global stage

Show a meaningful presence in Davos

News Articles to Get You in the Mood

BBC - ‘Why I keep coming to the Magic Mountain’ -

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-30881570⁠

⁠

Medium - Networking Tips for Davos -

https://medium.com/@mark_turrell/davos-networking-tips-from-a-wef-tech-pioneer-2008-young-global-leader-2010-f5a5f476747f⁠

⁠

HBR ’99% of Networking is a Waste of Time’ - Stromback -

https://hbr.org/2015/01/99-of-networking-is-a-waste-of-time⁠

⁠

Vice - 'Inside the World Economic Forum at Davos’ -

https://video.vice.com/da/video/leaders-of-the-world-unite-inside-the-world-economic-forum/56a9f668377b9bb040dc77e7⁠

⁠

Dandelion Chandelier - ‘How to Pack for Davos’ -

https://www.dandelionchandelier.com/2020/01/03/how-to-pack-for-davos-what-insiders-wear-at-the-wef/⁠

⁠

“Classic Davos” -

https://medium.com/@mark_turrell/classic-davos-frowned-on-by-blue-davos-90a8e7fa54ee⁠

⁠

The price of attending WEF -

⁠

https://apnews.com/article/putin-politics-russia-government-business-human-rights-5ca2efa969b142bff4843df8a2e6cdea⁠

⁠

Join us in shaping a new paradigm of global dialogue and action. Welcome to unDavos 2024.

Welcome to unDavos: A Decentralised, Action-based Collective Intelligence Summit

unDavos - a mini-History

Our Vision for unDavos: UnDavos is a distinct entity, not an alternative to the World Economic Forum (WEF). Its core values and principles include:

Mission

Goals

Democratizing Davos

Objectives, Key Results

News Articles to Get You in the Mood

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