"Imagine, for a moment, that Cleveland captured just ten percent of the entire market for Content Marketing," said Andrew Davis, a speaker at Content Marketing World. "Ten percent of a growing industry would mean $4.9 billion dollars a year pulsing through the city of Cleveland.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Content Marketing World 2015, the largest convergence of digital marketing, storytelling and social media experts in the world, will once again blanket Cleveland with tech-savvy, smartphone-wielding conventioneers with money to spend.
More than 3,200 people from 48 countries have paid up to $2,495 to attend the fifth annual #CMWorld at the Cleveland Convention Center from Sept. 8 to 11. That's 600 more than last year's 2,600 attendees and five times the number that came the first year.
Thirteen area hotels are booked solid.
And 78 companies are sending at least five employees, with Rockwell Automation and Skyword sending 23 or more.
The total estimated economic impact of CMWorld? Somewhere around $3.6 million.
CMWorld founder and content marketing evangelist Joe Pulizzi, who was floored when 660 showed up at first Content Marketing World conference in 2011, now wonders how long the event will be able to fit comfortably into the Convention Center.
Judging by the number of repeat attendees and the more than 150 breakout sessions, there is no shortage of creative ways to create demand for what your company offers, and always more search-engine-friendly secrets to make sure the right people see and want it.
Because this is the fifth and largest-ever Content Marketing World, Pulizzi has studded the four-day event with crowd-pleasing celebrities: Oscar-nominated actor, author and business motivator John Cleese, of "Monty Python's Flying Circus," and "A Fish Called Wanda," will speak at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday. His appearance will be livestreamed at http://www.contentmarketingworld.com/live-stream-john-cleese/
Actor, writer and woodworker Nick Offerman, of NBC's "Parks and Recreation" and "The Kings of Summer," will deliver the closing keynote at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. His talk will be livestreamed at http://www.contentmarketingworld.com/live-stream-nick-offerman/
They are just two of the more than 100 speakers sharing their insights over the four-day event, including local representatives from companies such as Lincoln Electric, Hyland, Avery Dennison, Salesforce, WTWH Media, PR 20/20, Lean Dog, The Cleveland Clinic, and Akron Canton Airport.
CMWorld attendees are exceptionally conversant in social media, and will be regaling their thousands of followers with minute-by-minute updates on what they are seeing and discovering, whether about content marketing or about Cleveland. Last year's attendees sent out more than 30,150 tweets during CMWorld 2014, including 2,500 during actor Kevin Spacey's profanity-laced closing remarks.
Andrew Davis, author of "Brandscaping: Unleashing the Power of Partnerships" and "Town Inc.", and a popular CMWorld speaker, says that Pulizzi is not only introducing people in his industry to his hometown, "Joe is looking to entice them to move to Cleveland."
"Imagine, for a moment, that Cleveland captured just ten percent of the entire market for Content Marketing," Davis said. "Ten percent of a growing industry would mean $4.9 billion dollars a year pulsing through the city of Cleveland.
"Imagine if content marketing agencies, content marketing technology vendors, content marketing software providers, content marketing consultants, and even content marketing producers set up shop in Cleveland," Davis said. "Five billion dollars a year makes the RNC's [Republican National Convention's] one-time deposit of $400 million look miniscule."
Five other highlights during the week:
-- The Opening Night Reception will be at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
-- Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies will perform at 9 a.m. Wednesday, at Cleveland's Public Auditorium, in the Music Hall.
-- Rajiv Chandrasekaran, a former Washington Post editor and Baghdad war correspondent and author of "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone," will speak at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
-- Pulizzi will be releasing his fourth book, "Content Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses."
-- A locally-built, life-sized game of Hollywood Squares (about which very few details have been released in advance).
This year's attendees will include Bedford High School digital marketing instructor and DECA advisor Melanie Kirin, who is taking 38 of her students to the Content Inc. summit for startups, entrepreneurs and growing small businesses on Friday (Content Marketing World is providing the students with complimentary registrations for the day).
"What an awesome opportunity that we've got this fantastic event in our own backyard," Kirin said. "Experts from all around the world coming to spend three days in Cleveland, Ohio." She is looking forward to brainstorming with her students ways to roll out a really strong marketing strategy and figuring out what elements would be needed to make it successful.
Kirin said that because Pulizzi's Content Marketing Institute is giving the students complimentary registrations for the day, it is making an investment of more than $28,000 in the students. "I've attended the conference on my own before. It is phenomenal," she added.