A backstage pass to the world's most exclusive conference

It may be a surprise to hear that on a beautiful mid-January day in Switzerland the slopes in Davos are empty. Instead of warming up for a day of skiing, this sleepy ski resort is preparing for the 45th annual World Economic Forum.

For many it's a yearly tradition to fly to Zurich and take a train or windy car ride up snow capped mountains. Over 2,500 participants from more than 140 countries are expected to attend this year's conference.

For first timers, it's a trip to a place they would never consider going on their own. It's a trek no matter how you look at it: With the bustle of travelers arriving, traffic remains at a standstill with security checkpoints everywhere, guarded by the Swiss police in their iconic blue berets. No badge, no entry.

Access is everything in Davos. Without a badge, there is simply no entry. Your badge is your livelihood. If you have a white badge, you are all set -- that highest honor is handed out to "royalty", literally: King Abdullah gets a white badge. Founder Klaus Schwab also sports a credential around the Congress Center. Even someone as well known as "Bocelli" has an "Andrea Bocelli" nameplate around his neck. Bocelli is in Davos to receive the Crystal Awards, an award given to artists making a significant impact to improving the state of the world.

For us, the hundreds of journalists covering the meeting, we run around with different variations of the orange badge. Some only have access to watch the press conferences from the media village and they don't even have access to the Congress Center. For those that are lucky enough to be granted permission to go into the Congress Center, this is where the most important, powerful people in the world hobnob over espresso, join panel discussions, and attend exclusive late night parties.

Over 40 heads of state and government officials, including France's President François Hollande, Premier of People's Republic of China Li Keqiang, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are among this year's participants. Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will be in Davos to represent the United States.

This year's theme is "The New Global Context," a look at critical global challenges, economic growth and social inclusion, climate change and the future of the Internet.

WEF Founder Klaus Schwab called this year critical: "2015 is a year we are at crossroads with two possible directions. The world of disintegrations, of hate, of fundamentalism, and on the other hand, a world of solidarity, of cooperation and we have seen both of those of those worlds last week in Paris."

Setting the tone for the conference, the World Economic Forum just released its 10th annual Global Risks Report. In it, the WEF defines global risk as "an uncertain event that, if it occur can have negative impact for countries or industries within next ten years." They analyzed different risk categories: Economics, environment, geopolitics, society and technology. Based on their assessment, the top three risks that are most likely to happen are interstate conflict, extreme weather events and failure of national governance.

The biggest global concern is interstate conflict, a huge shift in sentiment when economic issues dominated the top of the risk report from 2007 - 2014.

When you break it down by region, North America's biggest concerns are failure and shortfall of infrastructure, large scale cyber attacks and failure of adaptation of climate change are the three risks North America is least prepared for.

These are some of the issues among many others that will be discussed in Davos this week. Many of the sessions will be streamed on www.weforum.org.