MJbizcon is the biggest conference in cannabis. People sometimes call it the Superbowl of Weed or The Pot Prom and two years ago, it was the first event I attended representing my consulting business after venturing off on my own. I attended the conference with a friend and colleague and it was overwhelming but an excellent overview of the space and I attribute many of the important business relationships I have today to that experience. Last year, I attended the event by myself. I met up with people I knew along the way but I really did my own thing and didn't participate in everything that I could have.
This year, I planned, I had a partner in crime, and I made the most of it. It felt appropriate to have the headline picture for this post be me and my MJbizcon 2024 partner, Sandra Bergman, dressed up fancy for Blunt Blunch. Sandra and I did a lot of planning, I created a Google calendar with all our events to share and we really thought through how we should spend our time. The third time is the charm, right? Though I loved my first two years, this one was something special and I'm excited to share some of it with you.
I drove out to Vegas on Monday and got settled into my room at the Park MGM for the week. On Tuesday, I was hoping to get a ticket to go to the preshow forums where I knew a bunch of people speaking, including Sandra, but the price didn't make sense. I tried using a discount code but that just turned into an unsuccessful tech support nightmare. So without that on my agenda, I took it easy, got oriented to the Vegas chaos and how it takes forever to get anywhere, and dropped off swag at the event I was speaking at on Wednesday.
That gave me plenty of time to get glammed up for the fancy event Blunt Brunch was throwing. Most of the women I know in the industry who made it to Vegas attended Blunt Brunch and it was a great way to kick off the MJbizcon week. The icing on the cake was that I the first person I ran into was Lisa Battista who has been the first person I see at almost every event I've attended for the past several months. It's a tradition that started after we met at the Emerald Cup and I hope it continues into next year!
There are so many amazing women in this industry and I feel like I've only scratched the surface. I got to see some of my favorites from San Diego and have some photo booth fun. I've said it before and I'll say it again, California is the leader in cannabis culture and cultivation and though I love running into people in this industry from all over the country and world, you can't beat some California cannabis boss babes. Speaking of around the world, Blunt Brunch gave me the opportunity to reunite with Cecelia who I met at the event last year. Having a space where women from all over the world can come together and feel comfortable to be themselves is not a frequent experience but it's one Blunt Brunch provides.
I also got to take an elevator selfie with my car companion from Meadowlands, Shannon DeGrooms who was wearing the Jackie collab from High on Plants which is one of my faves and looks so good next to the big pink ones I was wearing. It also was lovely to chat a bit with Chelsea Mulligan. I love her energy and she's such a badass with all her retail knowledge, I just couldn't get enough. If you want to hear a fun little story, ask her about her Uber pick-up from the party. She was wearing a STUNNING mermaid dress and this GIANT truck pulled up to get her. It was hilarious to watch it all play out and Chelsea handled it like a champ!
The balance at the event was really well done this year. They had a dance floor, a bunch of activations, some food and drinks, and an outdoor consumption area including a bus. It was cool to move around the various spaces and having a private outdoor consumption area is important to be able to network and consume. I spent a little time out there sharing some CA cannabis. It was an important part of the special vibe.
The event didn't go very late and it was nice to get back to my hotel room early and have a good night's sleep before Wednesday, which I knew would be my most important day.
Wednesday morning I woke up and went to the Wake n Bake at Hash House A Go Go which was thrown by one of my favorites, Meadow, alongside Nabis and Ispire. Always love getting to squeeze Luna, who was one of the first people I saw on Tuesday when I was picking up my conference badge. She's such a ray of light and we are all so lucky to have her in the industry. I also got to see my favorite guys, The Beard Bros. It was great to have breakfast with Bill, Jeff, Brian, and Chris. After that, I was headed to give my first talk since joining the industry and they were perfect pregame for me. Love this pic!
Heading off the strip, I spent the next couple of hours at the sanctuary that Sarah Falvo and Lucia Cifonelli created in the backyard of a private residence. It was a no-brainer to join the event as a sponsor when they shared their vision with me, I had to be a part. But it was so much more than I could have imagined. The way they thought about every little detail and incorporated various swag items that I provided for the coffee bar and the puzzle table, everything had a purpose.
The pictures taken by Ashley Ann Photography captured the little details and the vibes so well. Each of the sponsors put so much thought into their participation and activations. I've been to a lot of great events, but there's something about events put on by women for women that elevate them.
I'm obsessed with Smoke Show's clothes and loved having the opportunity to not only showcase the piece I picked up in Anaheim last month but also check out some new clothes. I ended up buying the navy sweater pants and wore them this past weekend. They are so comfy and look great! (I'm also wearing the sweater I bought in Anaheim as I write this.)
Sarah asked me if I wanted to do a fireside chat with her and I was a little intimidated as I had yet to give any sort of public talk since I've joined the cannabis industry but I also couldn't say no. I enjoyed the whole process of working with her. We had a short prep call and she prepared a bunch of notes and it all felt very easy. We decided to call it 'Dirty Data' because it's a big problem that I'm trying to address and something Sarah and I often chat about. Having Sarah's passion and experience in the industry as a part of the talk made it better and I'm grateful that she created the space for me to share what I'm passionate about.
Jill Scher and Marianne Cursetjee also shared the stage, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge to round out the short talks that Smoke & Flower brought to the women (and a couple of lucky guys) who shared that magical space.
I took a quick trip over to Planet 13 to check out all that the Beard Bros had going on over there and had to grab a quick drink and smoke in the consumption lounge, Dazed with Sandra and Ian Rassman.
After all that, it was time for happy hours at the Cosmo. I attended the Surfside Women's event for the third time and ran into Lisa Battista and one of my good friends, Steph Woods. Afterward, I went to the CannaLounge and saw my girls Aubrey and KC and several people from the Cannabis Chamber of Commerce. Both parties were great and had lots of good people to talk to with both inside and outside options. And the views were pretty sweet!
Sandra and I ran back and forth a bit trying to find all the people we wanted to see including Mike Mangi and had a fun run-in with Joe Khoury as we came out of the elevators. There are people that spend their entire MJbizcon time at the Cosmo and don't even go to any events...it's truly the place to be!
I finished off the night by going to the Grasslands party with Sandra. I hadn't been to the party before and Sandra was raving about it so I thought my expectations may be set too high and I'd be let down. But I was not disappointed! I had several conversations with interesting people and got to see some of my friends, including Lori Hirsch, Eva Jimenez, and Kary Radestock.
I also got to meet Peter Su who is not only the funniest guy on LinkedIn but also my banker! He is indeed as funny in person as he is online and I appreciate all he has done for cannabis banking. My only gripe about the party was that we had to go outside the venue to consume. It wasn't a big deal and there was a good crowd out there to hang with, like Jake Kuczeruk, who I met at Benzinga in Chicago.
Sandra went to another party across the street but I called it a night and returned for a good night's sleep. It was a big day for me. I accomplished a lot and had a lot of important conversations and also a lot of fun. But Thursday was going to be another big day and I wanted to be my best.
Thursday kicked off with the Bagel Bash which was a cool vibe. I loved the outdoor bagel bar and then you could also go in and have breakfast in the lounge Smoke & Mirrors for a little wake and bake. Outside, I ran into Lisa Williams and Loriel Alegrete, had some breakfast, then went inside and lit up a joint meeting up with Sandra. It was a fun start to the morning, but we had to keep moving because Sarah Falvo had another event she was throwing for High Spirits and Vertosa. High Spirits is an excellent podcast hosted by Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein and I also love a canna bev, so we had to check the party out. It was pretty crowded, but I did have a conversation with Jules Laspa on a project we have been talking about and then decided to scoot over to the convention center to finally check out the conference.
There were a couple of things I wanted to accomplish at the conference including some booths I wanted to visit and a few panels I wanted to listen to. I started by walking the floor with Florian Philippe. We stopped by a few booths of companies I have partnerships with and checked out the patio where you could consume.
Overall, I felt like it was still a massive show with a lot of exhibitors but not that many people walking the floor. It's hard with so many other events going on at the same time and having to choose. I do think one of the positive outcomes is that people walking the floor probably spend less time having nonproductive conversations. People go with a purpose and that can make it a more valuable experience for everyone.
Part of my agenda at the expo was an interview with Corvain Cooper of 40 Tons at their intake center modeled after a prison and designed to heighten awareness around all the prisoners still behind bars for non-violent cannabis offenses. They partnered with a number of social equity businesses to create Equity Row, which was one of the most impressive installations on the show floor. It's an important time in the US to raise awareness about all the people still in federal prison for cannabis crimes. Joe Biden has the opportunity to grant clemency before he leaves office and it's important to put pressure on him any way we can.
I was a little underwhelmed with the selection of talks during the main show and felt like a lot of the interesting ones were during the preshow forums but there were three talks that I decided to attend. I went to one on the retail tech stack, one about creating unique brand experiences using Reefer Madness the musical as an example, and one about marketing. I was mostly impressed with the moderators and panelists and felt like they were worthwhile discussions. I did feel there was some irony on the tech stack panel with the panelists bringing up how important it is to own your data and the moderator being from Weedmaps. I'll leave it at that.
Wrapping up my time Thursday at the show, I ended up on the patio sparking up. I spotted the partner of one of my clients who also works in the industry. He's someone I admire but had never met and was chatting with someone else I knew, so I went over to introduce myself.
When he learned who I was, he said something like, so you are the person who helped my partner calm down when the software switch was driving her crazy. THIS gave me all the feelings. I am an analytical person and work with data, but I have always been in a customer service role, and one of my core principles for my business is operating with grace. Software transitions are hard, and I take very seriously the people who are involved and what they go through. Hearing this anecdotally from the partner of one of my clients was one of the highlights of my trip to Vegas and made my expo day complete.
One of the things that drives me crazy about MJbizcon week is that Vegas has amazing restaurants but who has time to sit down and have dinner with so much else going on? After the show on Thursday, a bunch of us took the Loop over to Resorts World and had dinner together at the fancy street food court. It was a lovely mixture of people and I enjoyed chatting a bit with Krista Raymer (not pictured) and also Bella Dechard. I also really enjoyed meeting Shelby Poole who threw the Bagel Bash party that was so cool. I had some more CA weed to share and we took this sweet pic before we parted ways for the trip.
Las Vegas is not my favorite place. It takes up a lot of energy and can be overwhelming. I did a lot this year during MJbizcon week and it was absolutely worth it. I had a blast, met some cool people and found ways to grow my business. Appreciate all the people that I shared space with and I'm eager for more next year!
