The New York Forum is off to a Good Start

Richard Attias and Lance Knobel had very little time to put together The New York Forum, so it is more to their credit that they managed to attract some impressive participants. It is not easy to get Carlos Slim, Rupert Murdoch, Mayor Bloomberg and some other globally influential people to yet another conference, but with a little help from some influential friends such as Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, Richard and Lance managed to pull it off.

As a participant, I found the Forum had just the right duration – it was basically a very active 24 hours for a first gathering. In the future, I can imagine it lasting a bit longer. As for the time of the year, well, it’s not really the best season to be in NYC, but I guess this guarantees that people stay in, because it was extremely hot outside. It was the same formula as Davos, but in reverse: they keep participants inside Congress Center because it’s way too cold.

Highlights? Rupert Murdoch having the cojones to say that America needs oil and “we did not buy Alaska to save the moose.” As opposite as this view is from mine, I have to confess that I found it funny.  As to what I would do to improve The New York Forum, I’d maybe balance the views. While Murdoch complained that Obama was way left of center, I would say that if the center is Fox News, so am I, and that there are a lot of people in New York City and even around the world who would like to see somebody like Hillary Clinton join in and debate the right of center tone of the conference. I leave you with a video I filmed of the event. I’m in at some point telling the story of Fon.