The World Economic Forum has begun its 36th annual meeting in the eye-popping backdrop of Davos, Switzerland. Designed to be a forum for dialogue and problem-solving between some of the world's top economic and political leaders, critics of the forum have denounced the week as fluff meetings coupled with chic soirees that are more conducive to corporate lobbying and deal-making than eliminating world poverty or other global woes. Will 2007 dispel the criticisms?

The program for 2007 is certainly an ambitious one. One can find the agenda, which includes hundreds of sessions on everything from global media to stem cells, on the WEF website.

In addition, the invitee list has certainly not failed to gather some of the world's best names in business, non-governmental organizations and politics. Eric Schmidt of Google, Mahmoud Abbas of the PLO, and Pascal Lamy of the WTO, to name a few.

Hot location, hot itinerary, hot guest list. How could this gig go wrong?

Despite the flash, everyone knows that the key to this program's success will be whether the meetings conclude with action plans and commitments or simply expanded contact lists and mild hangovers.

So don't feel so bad if you weren't invited this year. If you've sat in even one boring business meeting in your life, you've already learned the key to the success of even the world's most important meeting: assign responsibility. You can get the hangovers on your own terms (and save yourself the tux rental).

Posted by Michelle Smith on January 24, 2007 03:51 PM