"Exceeding the estimated attendance at Content Marketing World shows a growth in the importance of the convention and its value among marketing professionals," said David Gilbert, president and CEO of Positively Cleveland.
* CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Content Marketing World not only attracted more than 2,600 people to Downtown Cleveland, it also made an outsized splash via social media, as attendees collectively sent out more than 30,150 tweets. That includes 2,400 tweets during Andrew Davis' tips on better storytelling, and 2,500 tweets during actor Kevin Spacey's profanity-laced closing remarks at the Cleveland Convention Center.
View full sizeKevin Spacey delivered a rousing endorsement of giving people "what they want, when they want it" at Content Marketing World in Cleveland. CMWorld, billed as the largest content marketing gathering on the planet, attracted people from more than 50 countries to Northeast Ohio, many of them first-time visitors to Cleveland.
And as attendee Jeremy Bednarski pointed out in a ClevelandPlus essay: "What you need to understand about this group of marketers is that we LOVE to post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and just about every social media network out there. And, most of us have large networks of followers. What does that mean for Cleveland? It means a great experience will get a ton of mileage and drive even more visitors."
View full sizeBestselling author Andrew Davis, taking the stage in bright orange trousers, bowtie and glasses, shared four secrets of brilliant storytelling at Content Marketing World.David Gilbert, president and CEO of Positively Cleveland, the region's convention and visitors' bureau, said that because of CMWorld, Cleveland could very well become known as the epicenter of content marketing.
"Exceeding the estimated attendance at Content Marketing World shows a growth in the importance of the convention and its value among marketing professionals," he said. "It also demonstrates Cleveland's position, not just as a destination for meetings and conventions, but potentially as a meeting hub for this particular industry."
Other highlights of Content Marketing World, by the numbers:
* 181 -- the percentage by which Google searches for "content marketing" jumped during the week.
* 5,561 -- the number of box lunches served by Levy Restaurants, the exclusive convention center food and beverage caterer.
View full sizeIce-cold cans of Orange Crush at #CMWorld 2014* 62,500 -- the number of items stuffed into CMWorld convention bags (including notebooks, yo-yo's, power adapters, and computer screen cleaners).
* 6,437 -- the number of orange food items (including orange-frosted doughnuts with orange sprinkles, cantaloupe wedges with peaches and mandarin oranges, Doritos nacho cheese tortilla chips (orange fingers), and cans of Orange Crush).
* $3 million -- the estimated impact of #CMWorld on the Greater Cleveland economy, including more than 4,200 hotel room nights, flights into Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and other local venues, and meals and beverages at area restaurants.
* 12,128 -- number of cups of coffee consumed at CMWorld.
View full sizeBarista John Johnson slowly pours hot water over coffee at Rising Star Coffee Roasters. Rising Star baristas served nearly 2,000 cups of coffee at Content Marketing World.Haley Morris, brand manager for Rising Star Coffee in Ohio City, estimates that her eight co-workers poured nearly 2,000 cups of java during their two-day appearance at the NewsCred media booth in the convention center expo hall.
"The biggest way we measure the success of the event was the positive feedback, and the satisfaction of the people who tried our coffee," she said. Despite the fact that there was plenty of free coffee available throughout the convention center, attendees said they liked the fact that Rising Star was local and that the servers were pouring cups of freshly brewed coffee from the booth.
Even if next year's Content Marketing World doubles in size, there's more than enough room to keep the event in Cleveland for years, said Dave Johnson, director of public relations for the Convention Center and the Global Center for Health Innovation. As evidenced by its hosting of the Gay Games 9 and the National Model Railroad Association's convention, "we can handle up to 15,000 people," he said.
The fifth annual Content Marketing World will be September 8 - 11, 2015, at the Cleveland Convention Center, 300 Lakeside Ave., Downtown Cleveland. Registration opens Dec. 1, 2014.