Back to Gideon RachmanWhen I started as an FT foreign-affairs columnist, I told myself that I wouldn’t spend too much time going to conferences. I don’t know quite what I envisaged myself doing instead - working, perhaps? Sitting in monk-like contemplation in a library? Going undercover in the tribal areas of Pakistan?
Anyway, I’m not doing very well on my “avoid conferences” rule. I spent the weekend at Ditchley in the English countryside, conferring about the future of the European Union. And I am currently in residence at Schloss Leopoldskron - an Austrian castle where they filmed the “Sound of Music”. I’m a guest of the Salzburg Global Seminar. We are discussing - let me just look at this folder - yes, we are discussing: “The United States in the World: New Strategies of Engagement”. Later next week, I may re-surface in Texas at yet another conference.
There are legitimate reasons to be suspiscious of the conference circuit. Spending your time in country houses and castles is perhaps a little too comfortable. You can discuss the causes of global poverty or conflict, without ever feeling too upset - and the food and drink are free. You also tend to see the same faces. I was not entirely surprised to encounter Lord David Hannay (author and former British ambassador to the UN) at both Ditchley and Salzburg. (Perhaps he will be in Texas, too?)
Conferences can also be brilliant ways of re-enforcing the conventional wisdom - defining both the questions and the answers. There were no real Eurosceptics at the Ditchley conference on the European Union. (I made a feeble effort to fulfil the role.) I haven’t met anyone in Salzburg who regrets the election of Obama.
So what’s the point? Well, aside from the sybaritic side, they can be very efficient ways of getting a sense of the debate on any given issue and meeting a lot of interesting people in one go, and exchanging information and gossip. At Ditchley, I found myself sitting next to the State Department official who had been sent on an emergency mission to Georgia, when the Russian tanks were moving in. Here in Salzburg, I’ve just done a session on the Middle East with Hanan Ashrawi - and met various people who deal with issues I follow: a German diplomat who told me all about the state of their debate on Afghanistan, a trade negotiator who told me what had happened to the Doha round.
So it really is work. Promise.
This blog covers a variety of topics from US foreign policy to European politics and the Middle East - and whatever else happens to be in the news or catch my attention. I joined the FT as chief foreign affairs commentator in 2006, after a 15-year career at The Economist which included stints as a correspondent in Brussels, Bangkok and Washington. I write a weekly column on foreign affairs, which appears in the paper on Tuesdays. Occasionally my FT colleagues contribute posts to this blog.
Geoff Dyer is the FT's China bureau chief. He has been a correspondent in Shanghai and in Brazil and has also covered the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industries from London.
Roula Khalaf is the FT's Middle East editor. She has worked for the FT since 1995, first as North Africa correspondent, then Middle East correspondent and most recently as Middle East editor. Before joining the FT, she was a staff writer for Forbes magazine in New York. 
James Blitz is the FT's defence and diplomatic editor. He has been the FT's political editor, based in London, and Rome bureau chief. James is a former Moscow bureau chief for the Sunday Times.
Alan Beattie is the FT's world trade editor. He has previously been economics leader writer and spent two years in Washington DC as chief US economics correspondent. Before joining the FT, Alan was an economist at the Bank of England. 
Victor Mallet is the FT's Madrid correspondent. He is a former Asia editor of the FT, and, in more than 20 years at the organisation, has also worked in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. In 1990 he escaped from Kuwait after being one of the few foreign correspondents there when Iraq invaded. 
Stefan Wagstyl is the FT's eastern Europe editor, co-ordinating coverage of the region. He has also been the FT's bureau chief in Tokyo and New Delhi.
