Space and access
Include venue hire, deposits, permitted use, installation windows, insurance, utilities and restoration. Ask the owner which costs are excluded.
Confirmation: Written venue conditions and handback obligations
COMMERCIAL CONTROL · DAVOS 2027
Know what you are funding. Not just what it looks like.
There is no meaningful fixed price for a Davos programme without its scope. Start with the business decision, separate fixed commitments from optional elements, and keep a line for uncertainty.
Discuss your brief ↗THE BUSINESS CASE
Start with the decision.
A one-night, twelve-person dinner can serve a different objective from a week-long corporate house. Comparing only the hire fee makes both formats look cheaper than they are.
Write down the intended relationships, number of operating days, approval deadline and the non-negotiable outcome. Use these to evaluate formats before requesting detailed quotations.
OPERATIONAL CHECKLIST
The six questions
worth resolving.
Use each checkpoint to evaluate suppliers, plan dependencies and protect the quality of execution.
Experience production
Include set design, furniture, AV, signage, technical operators, equipment contingencies and load-in. A concept illustration is not a technical quote.
Confirmation: Supplier scope with itemised exclusions
Hospitality and people
Calculate service personnel, crew, guest management, food and beverage, staff accommodation and overtime separately.
Confirmation: Confirmed headcount, shifts and service model
Guest and content programmes
Budget invitation coordination, registration, photography consent, recording rights, editing and post-event distribution as separate workstreams.
Confirmation: Content and invitation deliverables defined
Contingency and change control
Record weather, transport restrictions, supplier substitution, cancellation terms and who approves scope changes. Do not treat contingencies as profit.
Confirmation: Named decision maker and contingency allowance
Measurement and follow-up
Set evidence you can actually collect: qualified meetings held, opted-in guest follow-ups, approved content and decisions made.
Confirmation: Owner for post-event reporting
COMMON ERRORS
Where good plans lose control.
- Comparing event formats by day rate alone
- Assuming advertised venue availability is contractual confirmation
- Leaving tax, cancellation or de-rig costs out of totals
- Using hypothetical return on investment as a performance guarantee
Request an indicative range only after format, dates, audience and delivery assumptions are clear.
Read the broader Davos 2027 timeline ↗PRACTICAL BUYER TOOLS
Price the actual supplier brief.
Use real quotations and guest counts in the free Davos budget calculator, and make missing supplier lines explicit.
Open event budget calculator ↗TURN THE GUIDE INTO A BRIEF
Davos activation supplier RFP template
Use the same categories and exclusions when requesting quotes so you can compare the complete commercial exposure.
Continue to the practical resource ↗