Power Camps

While you've been packing the RV for that cross-country drive with the in-laws, the world's power elite has been jetting off to more exclusive sleepovers. Last week Hollywood and Wall Street names trekked to Idaho for the Allen & Co. conference, one of a handful of camps at which ambition burns hotter than any campfire. Our guide:

ALLEN & CO.

WHEN HELD Early July each year.

FOUNDED New York investment banker Herb Allen, who specializes in media deals, organized the conference in 1983.

LOCATION The Sun Valley Lodge in the lush mountains of Sun Valley, Idaho, a winter ski resort about 6,000 ft. above sea level and accessible most easily by gas-guzzling private jet.

WHOM YOU'LL SEE About 300 of Wall Street's and Hollywood's most powerful and famous (and about 100 of their glittery offspring). This year: Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Andy Grove, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Diane Sawyer (a longtime friend of Allen's), John Malone, Geraldine Laybourne, Diane von Furstenberg and Jerry Levin.

DRESS Very casual. "Jeans are the dress of the day," says a spokesman. And an Armani T shirt perhaps.

RECREATION Hiking, fly-fishing, an annual raft trip, golf, tennis and hanging out are all popular, but the most pressing activity is dealmaking (and posing for the annual Annie Leibovitz photo). The Disney/ABC merger originated after Eisner and Buffett met on a Sun Valley golf course. Any new deals at this year's conference? Stay tuned for the next few months.

SEMINAR TOPICS Mornings are for presentations on different companies and panel discussions. This year's presentations are on Nokia, America Online, Loral Space & Communications, Comcast and Disney, NBC, Coca-Cola and Microsoft.

HOW TO GET INVITED Be a company president, chairman or CEO at a multinational media concern. And plan to do lots of expensive deals in the near future.

EXCLUSIVITY RATING: 9

BILDERBERG

WHEN HELD Annually in late spring or early summer.

FOUNDED The conference was named after the hotel in Oosterbeck, a town in the Netherlands where the first conference took place under the chairmanship of Dutch Prince Bernhard in May 1954.

LOCATION Usually held in one of a succession of very posh hotels in North America and Europe. This year in June it was held at the Turnberry Hotel in Scotland, across the street from a top golf course.

WHOM YOU'LL SEE The guest list--which is released--is a Who's Who of global bigwigs. In 1998, for example, attendees included Henry Kissinger, Fiat chief Giovanni Agnelli, NATO's secretary-general Javier Solana Madariaga and Tory party leader William Hague. In 1991, Clinton, then Governor, attended when it was held in Washington. In 1990, Dan Quayle was there when it was held in Glen Cove, N.Y.

DRESS Smart casual. Wearing decorations is not required at dinner.

RECREATION Depends on the location. Given the guest list, anything that involves heavy perspiration is probably out of the question.

SEMINAR TOPICS Very likely the most interesting of international questions.

HOW TO GET INVITED Be a Rockefeller, an heir to the throne of a small European country, or else be an indispensable figure in global economic and political circles. Big bucks properly refined can help get you in.