It’s been just over a month since people flocked to Las Vegas from all over the world to attend the largest international cannabis business conference. Hosted annually by Marijuana Business Daily, MJ Biz Con has been going since 2012 and increases exponentially in size each year, and 2019 was no different.
This year, MJ Biz Con included Associations Day for the first time as well as the inaugural MJBizDaily Awards Gala. Additionally, there were 1,300 + exhibitors (up from 1060 in 2018), 70+ program sessions with 180 total speakers, and 75 countries there, with the largest representation from the US, Canada, Israel, UK, Colombia, Australia, and thenNetherlands. The company even had some leadership roles change and you can learn all about it from Chris Walsh, President and new CEO of Marijuana Business Daily.
Some of my personal highlights included…
–Tour of Planet 13, the country’s largest cannabis retail shop/dispensary!
This is the second tour I’ve taken at Planet 13 (the first was during BIz Con 2018, right after their grand opening), and I have to say that I was even more impressed this time around. Planet 13 not only boasts 50+ vendors and 70+ cannabis strains in their dispensary, but also includes giant interactive lotus flowers, a water feature, and and LED interactive floor amongst other entertainment features. Since last year, they have also added a cafe and beer tasting room and a show room where costumers can actually watch products being created. This is a must-visit destination if you ever go to to Las Vegas!!!
–The Napro Research Media Breakfast
While I knew that there were some cool things going on in California in terms of research and data collection with cannabis cultivators, I was not familiar with Napro Research until attending a breakfast they hosted on Day 2 of the Biz Con expo. They cover all aspects of plant science research, including services like proprietary genetics, chemical and biological analysis, seed to sale, extraction and formulation, and data collection/software. It was great to network with some of the California cultivators that were working with, including Emerald Cup winner Molecular Farms.
–Chatting with Shanel Lindsay and Ardent Cannabis
I have been following Shanel Lindsay for a while now. She has done some amazing advocacy for the cannabis movement and I was thrilled to get to meet her in person and learn about what she has going on in terms of activism as well as about her products with Ardent Cannabis. The Nova is a precision decarboxylation and infusion device that allows for prepare your own oral, sublingual and topical therapies right at home in the most cost-effective way.
–The High Times Biz Bash 3.0
Held just off the strip at Brooklyn Bowl, High Times hosted their 3rd Annual BIz Bash. This year’s party was sponsored by Spectrum King LED and featured George Clinton & The Parliament Funkadelic as their main entertainment. The party was a ton of fun and they kept the vibes high all night long!
And I really enjoyed learning from exhibitors such as….
This company creates products that allow for home and small business ethanol extraction for cannabis. Their appliances work under vacuum, with low heat, to recover almost all the ethanol for reuse. They have 2 main products: the Source Turbo (which is great for personal, small batch production, or process testing) and the EtOH PRO (a workhorse with a 1-gallon capacity).
We had a great meeting with Dr. Dabber and talked with them about the SWITCH as well as their new CBD vape line. After navigating the vaporizer sector of the industry for quite some time, Dr. Dabber has now decided to create their own CBD line that includes 4 blends of broad spectrum distillate made from U.S. grown hemp and botanical terpenes. It was great to see a bigger splash of their branding on this new line at their booth, as well as to learn about their other new products.
Surfside.io is an analytics and advertising platform that collects and helps businesses understand all of the first-party data and insights from consumers. We learned about how this can help cannabis companies with “people-based marketing”, especially for dispensaries/retail shops and brands.
Advanced Nutrients is an international marketer and manufacturer of agricultural, home and garden, hydroponic fertilizers and plant nutrients. The company was founded way back in the ‘90s, helped pioneer the cannabis cultivation sector of the industry, and is still going strong today. This year their booth had raffles, giveaways, and even a screen printing station. Both their newest products as well as their tried and true products were showcased, right alongside their Big Bud mascot!
Manna Molecular develops safe and reliable cannabis products with scientific rigor and proven technologies. The company was founded in 2015 by a team of world-class scientists, medical professionals, and industry experts. Manna creates transdermal patches, serums, lotions, and other modern cannabis delivery systems for specific dosing, high efficacy, and personalized therapy. During MJ Biz Con, Manna was launching Vella a topical gel designed to enhance feminine sexual pleasure, formulated by a scientist who developed Viagra. Vella is a sexual serum engineered with nanoencapsulated cannabinoids shown to give women enhanced arousal and orgasms. It will be interesting to see how this product does on the market! There really is no limit to the potential of the cannabis plant.
Like the cannabis industry, it seems that there is really no limit to MJ Biz Con as it just gets bigger and better each year. I am already excited to see what new developments happen in 2020!
