This blog is getting more and more interesting. A couple reactions to posts below:
-I agree strongly with Barney Frank that the common format here of mealtime table discussions followed by summaries is very ineffective. I’ve moderated two meal sessions here at which I have dispensed with the format and conducted a room-wide discussion instead. In both cases attendees said they preferred it. The forum would do well to rethink this longstanding format.

-The blogging dinner on Thursday night was fascinating, as Rebecca explains below. Here’s a link to my cover story in a recent Fortune about the impact of blogs on business. It’s big. The power of the individual is growing in society, and blogs are one of the most concrete ways it is being manifested. The Forum this year is not sufficiently including in the program sessions devoted to this macro trend: bottom-up empowerment. Every company represented here would be well-advised to pay heed to how empowered consumers and customers will change the way they have to do business. The Forum’s willingness to empower those of us invited to blog here is commendable. It demonstrates openness. Companies need to have a similar spirit. Some businesses are already hosting blogs and bulletin boards in which customers can criticize them and not have their remarks erased. In the long run it makes the business stronger. Worth mentioning: Amazon’s customer comments were one of the real breakthroughs along these lines, some years ago.