Earlier this week, content marketers everywhere got together either physically or virtually for Content Marketing World. Not to be left behind, we packed up our team of Uberflippers and made our way to Cleveland, Ohio to see the godfather of content himself and his carefully selected entourage of speakers, panelists and content marketing experts. 

As always, the team at CMI put on a great show that struck the perfect balance of entertaining (who doesn’t love a good pub crawl) and educational on every level with sessions catering to beginner and advanced marketers.

On the heels of what was a killer event by all accounts, I thought I’d share a few key takeaways, helpful resources and why we’ll be attending again next year (both as sponsors and participants). 

Quotable Quotes

In every keynote and session I attended, there were some great nuggets that resonated well with virtually every content marketer in the room. Here are just a few:

“I might call myself an actor, and you might call yourselves marketers, but we’re all trying to do the same thing: to make a connection.” - Kevin Spacey, Actor, @KevinSpacey (tweet this)

“Great storytelling is hard. Tying stories to revenue is even harder. Content marketers have to do both.” - Andrew Davis, Founder of Monumental Shift, @TPLDrew  (tweet this)

“Tools are great, but content marketing success is about the wizard, not the wand.” - Jay Baer, President of Convince & Convert, @jaybaer (tweet this)

“Content is simple, we have one job to do, empathize with your prospects and customers.” - Jason Miller, Sr. Manager Content & Social LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, @JasonMillerCA (tweet this)

“Content marketers can’t know best practices, just better practices, because there is still so much we don’t know yet.” - Robert Rose, Chief Strategist Content Marketing Institute, @Robert_Rose (tweet this)

“Content marketers are so focused on being first, but instead of being first we need to be right…first.” - Scott Stratten, Author, QR Codes Kill Kittens & Unmarketing, @unmarketing (tweet this)

“'Build it and they will come' is a great movie quote, but a terrible marketing strategy.” - Mark Schaefer, author of Return on Influence, @markwschaefer (tweet this)

“The future of content marketing is writing. Writing is everything.” - Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer MarketingProfs, @annhandley  (tweet this)

Missed CMW? Here are a few great resources: 

• Dayna Rothman from Captora wrote a great summary of her favourite sessions by MarketingProfs’ Ann Handley, Maggie Jones from Marketo and Todd Wheatland from King Content. 
• CMO.com published some key takeaways from Kevin Spacey’s keynote. While some were initially surprised at the choice (despite his ability to rock the Uberflip pink!) Spacey was the perfect choice to speak about building an audience and the essential role of creativity. 
• In case you’re still not convinced about Mr. Spacey’s expertise in the topic of content marketing, here’s an insightful post from Michael Brenner that breaks it down for you. 
• Our friends at Kapost wrote about the one conversation that may have been missing from the vast array of topics at CMW — how to get your leadership on board with your content marketing initiatives. 

We’ll see you next year!

While the CMI team and speakers delivered (and then some) on the promise of an educational and inspirational conference, the crowd is what really made it great. While manning the Uberflip booth we had the opportunity to speak with so many people that were smart, focused and ready to geek out about content marketing. 

We’re already planning to attend next year and hope to see you there!