Demystifying Davos: Behind the scenes with GZERO & Microsoft

GZERO on the Global Stage | GZERO Media

Since its launch in the fall of 2020, GZERO Media’s Global Stage series has been bringing our audience in-depth conversations and coverage from the biggest gatherings in the world—including the UN General Assembly, the Munich Security Conference, and the World Bank/IMF annual meetings.

And last week we were in Davos, Switzerland, for the 53rd World Economic Forum. Perhaps you had a chance to check out our livestream on the risks and rewards of AI, or some of Ian Bremmer’s conversations with newsmakers like Finland’s former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. But we also wanted to share with you a behind-the-scenes look at a cool workspace that quickly became the go-to gathering spot for everyone from members of the media to heads of state.

Our partner and sponsor for the Global Stage series, Microsoft, hosted a diverse array of guests throughout the week at their café, located on the Promenade directly across from the Congress Center where the mainstage Forum events take place.

Microsoft’s VP of Global Public Affairs, Steve Clayton, took us on a tour of the facility. Fun fact: the rest of the year the café is actually a bowling alley. But for one week in January, it is transformed into an international salon for conversations ranging from digital inclusion to cybersecurity to the power of the metaverse.

More from GZERO Media

South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae Myung of the Democratic Party speaks at a campaign rally in Seoul on May 29, 2025.
Kyodo via Reuters Connect

South Koreans head to the polls this Tuesday, June 3, to elect a new president. They’ll face a choice between two candidates with sharply contrasting visions for the country’s future — and its foreign policy.

A serviceman of the 43rd Separate Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fires a 2S7 Pion self-propelled gun toward Russian positions, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, on the front line in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, on May 30, 2025.

REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov

A roundup of three major storylines that we’re keeping an eye on this week.

The world has its first (North) American pope. Now what? On a new GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with Jesuit priest and bestselling author Father James Martin to talk about the historic ascendancy of Pope Leo XIV and what his papacy means for the Catholic Church, American politics, and a world in search of moral clarity.

US President Donald Trump is joined by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Vice President JD Vance while announcing a trade agreement with the United Kingdom in the Oval Office on May 8, 2025.
Emily J. Higgins/White House/ZUMA Press Wire

On Wednesday evening, the US Court of International Trade ruled that President Donald Trump could not impose his “reciprocal” tariffs. GZERO spoke to Eurasia Group’s top analysts to assess what could happen next.