Craft Content Nashville Explores Story in Digital Media Landscape

The Mid-South’s premier digital media “unconference,” Craft Content Nashville, is in just a few more days, on Saturday, April 9, and Craft Content co-founder Carla Swank is excited for the positive energy and the overwhelming response they’ve already received while planning this event.

Swank says the planning crew has had some really healthy conversations about how Craft Content Nashville (CCN16) fits into the greater Nashville content and technology communities. “There are exciting things happening around those discussions, including one new thing that we hope to announce before our keynote on Saturday morning,”  she says. 

Pamela Wilson

With ‘Story’ as the theme for this year’s gathering at Nossi College of Art, the keynote will be given by Pamela Wilson, executive vice president of educational content at Rainmaker Digital and an educator in content marketing since 2006. Swank says she was a no-brainer as their choice of keynote. “She recently moved to Nashville, she’s in charge of one of the most well-recognized content brands on the internet in Copyblogger, and she’s a successful businesswoman,” Swank says. “We’re just thrilled to have her.”

One interesting story is that Wilson actually participated in Craft Content last year as an attendee. “We were all stunned when she showed up and had no idea she had moved to Nashville,” Swank says. “She was so impressed by last year’s event that she wanted to get involved this year, and we couldn’t be happier.”

Other featured speakers include:

One notable aspect of this unconference is the diversity of the attendees. “We have marketing professionals from Fortune 500 companies sitting in and presenting sessions alongside creative entrepreneurs, freelancers and students,” says Swank, who was initially drawn to this “leveling of the playing field” concept within Pittsburgh’s PodCamp community in 2007.

They will also have a team of students who will be serving as a social media “street team” during the event, as well as all of the students each year who show up to help as volunteers. “Experience at an event like ours is incredibly valuable; to have speakers and professionals of this quality available to talk to students—and all other attendees as well—is something that just doesn’t happen every day.”

For conference chair Max Trenkle, getting to lead the planning this event was more than just encouraging. “Volunteering in Nashville’s tech community has been such a rewarding experience. The more I give, the more I get back.”  

“Whether you’re looking to get your feet wet or hone your skills in digital media, there’s something for you at CCN16,” he adds.

Tickets are still available online, but can also be purchased on the day of the event. 

Note: Startup Southerner is excited to be a media sponsor of Craft Content Nashville. We hope to meet you at CCN16!