It’s hard to believe that Content Marketing World has wrapped up. It feels like I’ve been anticipating this conference for months. The conference was completely jam-packed starting with the opening event on Tuesday evening and finishing up with a keynote speaker on Thursday evening.

The team at Content Marketing Institute put together a flawless event…bringing together over 3,500 marketers from over 50 countries to hear from speakers on the b2b and b2c companies, agencies and content marketers.

There are a ton of speakers that I could discuss but my favorite was by far Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the former Washington Post reporter. Rajiv has worked with Starbucks to put together a social issues via a content strategy which has included a book, co-authored by Howard Schultz from Starbucks. The stories he told, and the passion he has, came through in every minute of his speech, captivating the entire audience.

His words “Be Authentic” were repeated, in a variety of ways, throughout the entire conference. A brand that wants to attract and really engage with this customers can only do it by being authentic, and more than anything, making a difference.

Other highlights? John Cleese. Branched Ladies. Nick Offerman. You know, just your typical conference.

Yes, it’s obvious the color of the conference was orange. You think CMI’s founder, Joe Pullizi, likes the color orange a little bit?

If you weren’t able to attend this year, I highly recommend you adding this conference to your 2016 schedule. I can only imagine what the team at CMI is planning for next year!

p.s. Cleveland you did us proud.

Disclaimer: I was invited by CMI to attend this year’s CMW as an official blogger. In return for blogging, tweeting and being social I was given one main conference registration. All opinions are my own, as always.