#CMWorld 2018 Post-Event Chat with Kim Moutsos and Stephanie Stahl

During the weeks leading up to Content Marketing World, I’m giddy. I count down the days until I can meet up with many members of our community or see speakers I admire. (Yay!)

Then it’s conference time, and I realize, “Dang, I never saw so-and-so.” Or “Crap, I didn’t get to attend session A, B, and C.” (Boo!)

That’s why I am grateful for our attendees. I can review the#CMWorld hashtag and live vicariously through their tweets. And when I say “review,” I mean it. Attendees posted over 18,000 times on social media, and I went through every single one.

Now is also a great time to catch up on my blog reading. There are plenty of conference recaps out there, including some written by our chat friends.

• Content Marketing World Round-Up by Michelle Garrett
• The Best Advice for Library Marketing from CMWorld 2018 by Angela Hursh
• 3 Big Content Marketing Themes, Based on Backstage Chatter at Content Marketing World by Joe Lazauskas
• 13 Top Content Marketing Quotes You Need in Your Life by Emilie Moreland
• Not a blog post, but a Twitter video series put together by Ben Rome

But what I enjoy the most is hearing how attendees will be taking everything they learned and implementing them. So we asked CMI General Manager Stephanie Stahl and CMI Vice President of Content Kim Moutsos to compare notes with us.

What follows is a brief look at the Twitter chat. If you’d like to see more tweets, check out our Twitter Moment.

Keynote Tina Fey said, “Writing is the worst. Everything before Command-P is a nightmare.” When it comes to writing, what do you struggle with most?

A2 Rising above the noise is hard. I like what NY Times’ Kathleen Diamantakis said: “If we’re not careful, we’re going to end up with an epidemic of meaninglessness.” It’s a reminder that we all need to be empathetic and tell stories that matter to our audiences. #CMWorld

— Stephanie Stahl (@EditorStahl) September 11, 2018

A2: My biggest struggle is not writing the same thing over and over again. Continuously churning out new messaging and content for the same thing can be challenging! #cmworld

— Stephanie Totty (@Tottums) September 11, 2018

A2: First, carving out time to write. Between strategy, editing other people’s work, approvals, managing, etc. writing can feel like a luxury. When I do find time to write, though, knowing when I’m DONE is my biggest challenge. I love to tinker. Like, forever. #CMWorld

— Cassandra Jowett (@cassandrajowett) September 11, 2018

A2. For me, it’s definitely silencing my internal editor long enough to put words on the page. I have to remind myself the first draft is never perfect! #CMWorld

— Kim Moutsos (@KMoutsos) September 11, 2018

Andrew Davis says we need to #QuitBlamingTheGoldfish. Do you believe audiences have the attention span of a goldfish? Or do you think they will make time for longer content?

A3 If your audience has the attention span of a goldfish it’s a reflection on YOU, not your audience. #CMWorld

— Tod Cordill, MBA (@todcordill) September 11, 2018

A3) agree with @DrewDavisHere ppl all have preferences but regardless of their choice and form if it’s not attention grabbing in the first few seconds you’ve lost their interest. Everybody is competing for attention#cmworld

— Michelle Francis (ACIM) (@mich_fds) September 11, 2018

A3: It totally depends on the subject and the reader. Sometimes we skim and can only handle paying attention to quick lists. For super quality content, we make the time and commit to read (or listening) to the whole thing! #CMWorld

— Brafton (@Brafton) September 11, 2018

A3: You can make your content long form (mine almost always is!) but aside from the content being GOOD it needs to be easy to navigate. @IanCleary advised in his #CMWorld session to break up your text every 300 words, it can be simple as turning your bullet points into an image. https://t.co/elMI4jQ4GT

— Kristen McCabe (@AusmericanGirl) September 11, 2018

Feeling overwhelmed? We got you covered. CMI Editor Ann Gynn asked past CMWorld speakers and presenters how they handle work and life post-conference.

Want to go from attendee to speaker? Then this opportunity is for you. We are currently accepting session proposals for our first-ever ContentTECH Summit. If you’re a seasoned pro using technology to advance your practice, we want to hear from you!