It's almost that time of year again, Content Marketing World is just around the corner! As the weather starts to change and kids start to go back to school it also means it's time to gather in Aztek's home city of Cleveland for one of the best marketing conferences out there.

With over 120 sessions, people from over 50 countries, more orange than you can imagine, AND Tina Fey as keynote speaker, CM World is one of the most engaging conferences of the year.

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If you've never been to Content Marketing World before you're in for a treat! We may be biased because we live here, but Cleveland ROCKS (yes, we did just do that). There's so much to do here, from the Rock Hall to the West Side Market, you won't be disappointed. If you're returning to the conference we've had some cool new things pop up, like Back Yard Bocce, a new children's museum, and Forest City Shuffleboard.

Many of us at Aztek have been to CM World before and always come back with great information and a renewed sense of propose for what we do. So if it's your first time, here are some tips to get the most out of this awesome three-day conference.

Come Hungry

CM World has a ton of options for food, and taking advantage of the food is a great way to network and break the ice with new people. In years past, there has been an orange color theme to the food. It always unites people when you remark, 'wow, even the rice Krispy treats are orange!' The frequent snacks gives the opportunity to mingle, network, and make new friends! Our Content Strategist, Alex Crump and VP of Digital Marketing, Anna Yunker, both made new Australian friends the last year they attended (hey Justin & Rebecca!). And our COO, Dave Skorepa, advised "The breakfast is good. Eat the breakfast."

Make Your Schedule Ahead of Time

There are a variety of speakers and workshops to go to, our COO Dave really hit the nail on the head with which speakers you don't want to miss:

"If Ann Handley, Andrew Davis, Jay Baer, or Kristina Halvorson speak, do not even think about attending a different session at that time."

Once you've gotten those out of the way, make sure you use the app to schedule what other sessions you want to go to. It can be overwhelming to know which sessions to attend. That's why we recommend taking some time to read through the descriptions and chose the best ones for you.

A few sessions we're excited to attend this year:

• Content Strategy and SEO for B2B Lead Generation
• How Killer content Creates Conversion and Clones Customers
• Secrets of the Most Shareable Content.

Come Prepared

As we already said, we love Cleveland. So come prepared to take in all Cleveland has to offer. We have a great bike share program to help get you around the city (you can't miss the red UH Bikes). The Flats and Hinge Town neighborhoods are both great, fun spots to take advantage of for nightlife. A little further out from the city we have great parks and trails to run and hike. What's great about Cleveland is we have a little something for everyone.

When it comes to being prepared for the conference, make sure you have a reliable way to take notes. An iPad or old-fashioned pen and paper are what works best for our team. We also try to limit our tweeting and focus more on notes so that we will be able to go back after the conference and digest what we learned.

Also, bring a portable phone charger, you don't want to miss out on valuable information because you have to go into the corner to charge your phone.

Take Action

Make sure that once you get back to the office you are able to apply what you've learned to your everyday work. Whether it's a blog post, a workshop, a presentation, or implementing a new process. Putting into practice the new skills you found proves not only to you but to your team as well that you learned something valuable during your time at CM World!

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Hopefully, these tips help you make the most of your time at Content Marketing World! Give us a shout if you will be there too! And if you want to stay up to date with CM World and some of the awesome speakers, check out the #CMWorld twitter chat every Tuesday at noon.