Heading to Content Marketing World for the first time? A few days before I left for my first trip to the event last year, I scoured the web for advice but still felt a bit unprepared for the conference. I had an amazing three days (yes, I know that word is overused, but it really fits in this case). I made new friends, learned a lot about content and came back wanting to save the world – well, the content marketing world, that is.

So this year, I decided to write the post that I was searching for as a first-time attendee. Be sure to also check out CMI’s posts “Staying Organized in Sessions” and “How to Crush it on Social Media at CMW” for more helpful tips as well. And if you are heading to the event, be sure to check out the panel that I am speaking on, Hunting the Unicorn: Five Ways to Rope in Highly Qualified Freelancers.

With many new attendees this year, I wanted to share what I learned last year as a newbie:

1. Download and use the conference app. Not only is the Content Marketing World app great for telling you where your next session is located, it also contains valuable networking information. The app lists all the attendees along with basic information, such as where they are from and their employer. You can also use it to share more detailed contact information (email, phone, etc.) with specific attendees by connecting through the app. I found it to be very valuable when I had a quick conversation with someone but forgot to get their last name or card. This way I was able to search on the app and usually find out who I had been talking to so I could follow up on LinkedIn. This ended up saving me when I lost all of the business cards I spent three days collecting, but that’s another post in itself.

2. Follow and Tweet #CMWorld. Hanging out on the Twitter hashtag is a good idea for any conference, but especially so with Content Marketing World, since it’s a gathering of a bunch of marketers who use social media for a living. And–bonus–you will learn about many unofficial gatherings and happy hours hosted during the conference. The free food and drinks last year were great, but the contacts I made during the two vendor happy hours I learned about on Twitter were definitely longer lasting.

The #CMWorld hashtag is already very active, so start tweeting before you even begin packing. Last year I met two content marketers on my flight out of Raleigh headed to Cleveland all because I checked #CMWorld while waiting to board and saw someone else was posting from the same gate.

3. Find your own networking strategy. Going to conferences is a bit nerve-racking for me. My goal is always to meet people, but it can be intimidating to get the conversation started. Last year, I found that the round tables set up during meals and breaks were a great place to start conversations. I would find a table that had an open spot, ask if it was OK to join them, and then set my coffee, muffin or whatever yummy snack was in my hand down on the table.

The other strategy that worked for me was to get to sessions a little early and ask the person sitting next to me what the best session they had attended so far was. Almost every person had an answer, and I learned a lot and made some new friends. The trick for those of us for whom networking does not come naturally is to figure out what feels comfortable.

4. Attend all the related events. I was surprised when other attendees told me that they didn’t go to the opening night party, cocktail hours, or the concert. Yes, the sessions are interesting and educational, but the events are honestly the best source of networking. And they are a lot of fun. One of the best contacts I made last year was when I gave a leftover drink ticket to someone at the Bare Naked Ladies concert.

5. Eat all meals and snacks onsite. Normally conference food is boring, bland, and unhealthy. But the food at last year’s CMWorld was fantastic. The frittatas at breakfast were tasty, lunch was a wide variety of gourmet sandwiches, and the snacks between sessions were yummy. My favorite last year was the orange sherbet break – yes, you will eat more orange food than you ever thought possible during this event.

Instead of eating breakfast before heading to the conference or scheduling an offsite lunch, be sure to eat the yummy meals that are included in the conference. Yes, I know that I just used yummy three times in this post, but hey, the food was that much of a highlight for me last year. And don’t forget to check the vendor floor for morning and afternoon snacks as well.

Bonus Tip: Give yourself a cooling off period when you get back before you overwhelm your boss with all of your new ideas. I learned this the hard way. I called my biggest client on the way home from the airport last year and talked for 25 minutes without taking a breath about all the new ways I wanted to improve their content. She humored me and luckily she is still my client.

What are your best tips for the event? First-time attendees – any questions that veteran attendees can answer?