We are back with another wonderful CMC attendee, introducing Ainsley of BookNet Canada:

 

Tell us about you, where you work, and your content marketing history!

I work at a non-profit that serves the Canadian book publishing industry called BookNet Canada. I’m the marketing associate here and am responsible for our blog, social media, and e-newsletter.

 

What prompted you to register for CMC?

I’m interested in growing my content marketing knowledge base. I want to learn the tips and tricks from your speakers.

I liked the promise of being able to put what I learned in practice immediately, too.

 

How did you convince your boss?

I focussed on the workshops about creating content, repurposing content, and ways to work smarter and the keynotes about improving Facebook ads ROI and leveraging our social channels.

I mentioned that I thought it would have good takeaways for me to bring back to our company.

 

What speaker and session(s) are you most looking forward to? 

I’m having a hard time deciding between all the workshops on the first day — they all sound so useful!

 

What is your major 2017 marketing goal?

My personal 2017 marketing goals are to drive more engagement with our blog content — I want people to comment more and share our posts more widely.

 

What is one thing you’d like to know about Boston before heading here in April (food, drink, must-sees) 

I’d love some recommendations for interesting shopping, a restaurant loved by locals in-the-know and a place to get some great craft beer on Monday night before the start of the conference.

 

What has been your favorite conference to date and why? 

I think it might be a tie between BlogHer and Tech Forum.

I liked BlogHer for all the networking opportunities and the tips for building a community and telling a story online.

Tech Forum is the conference that my company runs every year, but I attended before I worked here and liked it’s focussed on the book publishing industry.

All the sessions and keynotes were immediately relevant to my work in the industry.

 

What is the best conference swag you received? 

I think it’s all been edible: donuts, popcorn, cookies.

 

If you could give one piece of advice to a speaker, a sponsor, and a conference host, what would it be? 

I’d like speakers to have lots of concrete examples.

Generalities often sound great in a presentation, but when attendees walk out they want to feel like they’ve got some actionable items to bring back to their work.

 

What’s your top conference networking tip?

Don’t pull out your phone immediately if you’re alone and feeling uncomfortable.

Look open to being approached. Conversely, look for other people who are standing alone looking open to being approached and go up to talk to them.

 

Thank you Ainsley, we look forward to seeing you in April (and providing you even more delicious food!)

To learn more about the sessions and workshops at Content Marketing Conference 2017,