It’s an exciting time to be a content marketing fan. Content Marketing World, the Holy Grail of marketing conferences, is less than a week away and the track, workshop, and keynote lineup is mind-blowingly incredible (*ahem* Tina Fey anyone?)
There are over 100 sessions planned for this year’s event ranging from AI, visual storytelling, demand gen, and embracing failure. It’s a pretty overwhelming list and as much as we’d all like to attend every single one of them, we sadly don’t live in a world where magic DeLoreans, Time Turners, and other means of time bending tech exist…yet.
Lucky for you, I’ve narrowed down that expansive lineup into 10 diverse sessions you should consider making a part of your CMW experience.
Whether you’ve already gotten a head start on mapping out sessions or if you’re still trying to make heads or tails of the whole thing, take some time to scroll through and jot some of these talks into your agenda.
Let us know in the comments which session(s) piqued your interest and if we missed some good ones!
All sessions and tracks listed are included in Content Marketing World’s main conference package.
1. Content Strategy and SEO for B2B Lead Generation
Breakdown: In this demand gen session, renowned marketer Andy Crestodina (Principal, Strategic Director, Orbit Media) will guide you through each step of the B2B lead process, connecting every dot between your first keyphrase to your final conversion along the way. Attend this session if you’re looking for an alternative, effective way to generate demand for services.
Date:
2. “Think Like a Filmmaker”
Speaker: Denise Roberts McKee
Breakdown: If you’ve been striving to create more authentic, compelling, branded stories, this visual storytelling track session is for you. Denise Roberts McKee (COO, About Face Media) shows you how to think like a documentarian to create shareable, absorbing, content. Expect to learn about story archetypes, storyboarding, character development, and serial content development in this unique and engaging session.
Date: Wednesday, September 5th
3. Going with the Flow: Adapting Scrum Practices for Marketing
Breakdown: In this Process & Workflow track session, Andrea Fryrear (President and Lead Trainer, Agile Sherpas and author of Death of a Marketer) will teach you how to incorporate more flow-based practices (outside of SCRUM) from the Kanban world into your agile marketing strategy. This session is great for marketers who are struggling to integrate agile or simply interested in learning more about it.
Date: Wednesday, September 5th
4. How to: 0 to 1 Million LinkedIn Video Views in 6 months
Breakdown: In this Influencer Marketing track session, Allen Gannett, best-selling author, LinkedIn video pioneer, and TrackMaven CEO will show you that you too can master the art of LinkedIn native video. Allen will break down his LinkedIn video methodology by showing his equipment, tools, tricks, and content templates. This session will fill up fast so make sure you get there early!
Date: Wednesday, September 5th
5. THE FUTURE OF STORY: The Coming Revolution Called Immersive Storytelling
Breakdown: In this Future Trends track session, John Bucher (Renowned Strategist & Communicator, Author of Storytelling for Virtual Reality) will enlighten attendees on the power of audience engagement via immersive narratives and experiences. Bucher believes that immersive storytelling will shape the future of marketing and he wants you to join the movement.
Date: Wednesday, September 5th
6. From Instincts to Intel: How Data Insights can Power Smarter Content
Breakdown: In this Future Trends session, Heather Whaling (Founder/CEO Geben Communication) will break down key learnings from real case studies with the focus of showing how data insights can shape and improve content strategies and overall business performance. Expect to deep dive into some successfully applied brand tactics through focus points; data in content, data informing content, and content becoming data.
Date: Wednesday, September 5th
7. Failing Your Way to Content Marketing Success
Breakdown: In this light-hearted, humorous talk, Anna Hrach (Strategist, Convince and Convert) shows you that sometimes failure can be the key to unlocking the secrets to success. This session is all about embracing the ugly side of content marketing, adopting a ‘fail first’ philosophy, and learning from your mistakes, missteps, and flaws.
Date: Thursday, September 6th
8. How To Use AI To Boost Your Content Marketing Impact
Breakdown: In this AI/Machine Learning track session, Chris Penn (Co-Founder and Chief Innovator, Brain+Trust Insights) will give you a beginner’s explanation of what AI is all about. Expect to learn the basics of machine learning and deep learning, and how they’re starting to impact all facets of marketing.
Date: Thursday, September 6th
9. Stories for the Win: The Hidden Neuroscience of Content Marketing, and Why Great Stories Make Our Brains Want to Buy
Breakdown: Contently’s Director of Content Strategy, Joe Lazauskas will guide you on a high-energy, enlightening journey into the cutting edge neuroscience of storytelling. If you attend this session, you’ll not only learn about storytelling techniques that spike empathy, attention, and purchase consideration in our brains but you’ll also have the rare opportunity to participate in a live neuroscience experiment. Pretty cool right?
Date: Thursday, September 6th
10. Think Like A Journalist: The 5 Keys To Compelling Content
Breakdown: Melanie Deziel, founder of StoryFuel, former Director of Creative Strategy for Time Inc., and first Editor of Branded Content at The New York Times’ T Brand Studio, shows you how to use journalistic integrity to create content that matters. This session will share five journalistic best practices taught in J-school classrooms. These tactics will put you right in the newsroom, help you create higher-quality content, and understand the processes of media partners.
Date: Friday, September 7th
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking to reinvent your email marketing strategy, create sharp visual marketing campaigns, integrate AI into your strategy, or simply take in some valuable advice from industry leaders, Content Marketing World has something for everyone.
The beauty of large-scale, small-feel conferences like CMW is that with so many intensive sessions to choose from, you can have a wholly individualistic experience.
The sessions I’ve listed above are certainly worth getting excited over but don’t feel obligated to stick to the list. Feel free to take part in one or two of them or stray away from the list entirely, it’s your choice.
In the end, the only thing that matters is your unique conference experience and the skills and connections you take back home with you.
Detailed information on these sessions can be found on the CMW website or mobile app.
Be sure to check out our guide on how to make the most out of your CMW 2018 experience and let us know what CMW sessions, keynotes, or speakers we should highlight.
This content was originally published here.