star wars backdrop

Rather than traditional business attire, Content Marketing Institute founder Joe Pulizzi donned the event's color—orange—for his opening keynote.

The conference’s color theme carried through to snacks served at breaks. Cups of cantaloupe and peaches, cupcakes with orange frosting, Cheetos, Orange Crush soda, and carrots with dip are some of the orange-hued bites that are offered.

The spaceship design of the keynote stage tied to the conference theme of "Content Strikes Back"—a play on Star Wars—and became a popular backdrop for attendees to use in photos.

Instead of a traditional panel format, organizers created a replica of the set from the game show Hollywood Squares to house two sessions: one featuring nine of the conference’s keynote speakers and another with instructors from the Content Marketing University as game participants. Tim Washer, creative director for Cisco and a comedy writer, served as host, asking participants questions related to content marketing.

Since the third year of the event, organizers have designed something to recognize repeat attendees. This year it was a "Wall of Fame" made of squares attached with Velcro, bearing the names of those who have attended since the event began six years ago and those who have attended the last five years. During the conference, the wall was a popular site for photos, and at the end the individuals could take their squares home.

After selecting the theme of “Content Strikes Back,” organizers lined up Star Wars actor Mark Hamill for the closing session. Pulizzi and Hamill sat in futuristic-looking orange chairs for their discussion.

Kingman Ink created graphic renderings from 20 sessions at the conference. The artwork was displayed in the exhibit hall until the final day when organizers stacked them outside the workshop rooms. Pulizzi said they switched to a square format for the renderings because that shape makes them more suitable to be shared on Instagram.