Your 2026 Guide to Ever-Evolving Davos
Ryan Heath, former global correspondent for POLITICO and Axios, and member of Weber Advisory’s Global Senior Advisors Counsel, shares his insider perspective on navigating Davos 2026. As the World Economic Forum adapts to shifting power hubs, AI-driven agendas, and geopolitical complexity, Ryan offers essential insights for executives seeking to make their mark at the world’s most exclusive global gathering.
Davos retains its crown as the world’s most elite gathering. Many of 2026’s geopolitical, economic, social, and technological conversations will be shaped during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, 19 – 24 January.
The Forum’s internal turmoil has calmed — founder Klaus Schwab has been cleared of misconduct after an investigation, and reformers are biding their time until Christine Lagarde is available to take over — but there are signals that the Davos ecosystem is evolving.
USA House and changing power hubs
Leading the charge this year will be the heavy-hitting U.S. delegation, led by President Donald Trump, which has a new unofficial home: USA House, celebrating 250 years of American Independence.
While globalization skeptics now feel comfortable flocking to Davos, they also drag energy away from the official Congress Center’s stages. USA House is the latest of Davos’ new power hubs, helping to cement the Davos Promenade as the lifeblood of new deals and relationships formed during WEF.
Other new spaces and events are pushing back against this skeptical approach, including Science House, whose partners include dozens of big tech companies, universities, and UN agencies, and Compass for Europe, one of a growing range of events taking place on Monday 19 January.
Navigating media and messaging
Executives should prepare for on- and offstage discussions that are heavy on energy diplomacy, overtly transactional alliances, and efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
There’s also no shortcut to thought leadership at Davos: every CEO and CCO must consider why they’re going, and create content based on what they are learning about that theme and mission. Davos offers many forums for making those points, mostly off the record.
With increasing scrutiny of corporate positions — from vocal stakeholders to the White House — many leaders are choosing private spaces and dinners to make their points.
Alongside the rest of Davos, media investments and relationships are changing, but there remain significant efficiencies from building media relationships in Davos. Fewer outlets send large teams, but those that do send their top reporters and host daily live event programming.
TV hits with scenic Alpine backdrops remain prized. Still, other prime media real estate is expanding beyond newsletters, such as POLITICO’s Davos-focused Playbook, to fireside chat slots at venues like Axios House, and to brands ranging from CNBC to The Economist, FT, Washington Post, and Business Insider.
To achieve broad airplay, your point of view needs to be anchored in leadership credibility, original economic data, and evidence of how AI is being used or delivering ROI. One clear, fresh insight from your CEO goes further than a 45-minute panel filled with talking points. And it can be amplified across all owned channels.
The logistics and realities of Davos
Davos is a humbling environment for nearly everyone — it’s the only conference where hundreds of prime ministers, Cabinet members, and CEOs must line up for their own badges, and wait in the same security lines as everyone else. There’s no way to bypass the traffic into or around the town in Davos, except by walking or taking the train.
Yet, because everybody is somebody in Davos, the conversations are serious, and the potential deals are real.
Expect to be exhausted. Bilateral meetings and roundtables often start from 6:30 a.m., and nightcaps can run past midday.
The energy of the event is shifting to earlier in the week. Monday was previously reserved for C-suite travel to Switzerland but now offers a full day of programming on the Davos Promenade.
Themes driving the Davos agenda
WEF has nominated “A Spirit of Dialogue” as the forum’s official 2026 theme: an attempt to re-legitimize global capitalism in an age of AI, regional fractures, and disappearing trust.
While few pay close attention to the official theme, it signals where on-stage and corridor chatter will flow.
- AI, Work, and Energy: AI is a CEO obsession for good reason, but significant gaps between this enthusiasm and the mixed and skeptical views of the employees who have to build and use the AI are a source of ongoing tension. There’s also no escaping AI’s appetite for energy. How to source that energy, while making AI systems more efficient, will be a hot topic. Get ready for energy diplomacy moments.
- Rewired Geopolitics: Trump’s return is reshaping not only alliances and trade, but the practice of international law, with the arrest and extradition of Venezuelan President Maduro. Add to that China’s 2027 Taiwan milestone, and the ongoing occupation of parts of Ukraine and we see a dynamic which traps CEOs as geopolitical actors, in addition to their roles as stewards of employees, customers and shareholders.
The Davos Journey: plan early, think long-term
With so many factors to consider when planning Davos engagements and messaging, the golden rule is to plan early and to treat your Davos presence as a multi-year investment.
While Davos dance cards are never settled until January, planning often commences in the summer. For those new to Davos, your first visit should be treated as exploration, your second as experimentation; only from your third year onward will you achieve maximum impact.
For guidance on how to navigate and maximise your impact at Davos this year and beyond, please contact a member of the Weber Shandwick team here.