I think they do it again in July.
A recent article in forbes stated there might be too many events to be effective.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/debraborchardt/2016/01/07/cannabis-conferences-are-growing-like-weeds/#6cc07bd63651
Marijuana conferences have exploded from 1 in 2013 to over 30 planned in 2016 saturating this emerging industry with too many events. While some conferences are worth attending, others feel poorly arranged and only organized to enrich the organizers.
“You can literally attend, speak or exhibit at an event every weekend,” said Chris Drissen, Chief Business Development Officer at O.penVAPE. “It has really had a negative impact on the attendance and viability of the few shows that are worth going to.” Drissen said that an event in the U.S. can cost his company between $20,000-$40,000 depending on the size of the exhibit booth and between $30,000-$50,000 internationally. With the company exhibiting at approximately 6 shows a year, 3 domestic and 3 international; conferences become very expensive.
“The frustration for a business is figuring out which ones will make the most impact,” said Kyle Sherman, CEO of Flowhub. He pointed out that many conferences can be full of prototype companies with only “ideas” looking for capital and with no real product in place. Sherman said, “This has created a lot of noise and chaos in the space.” Since the industry is so new and so many people want to get in on the “green rush,” there is a flood of conferences and companies wanting to capitalize on the influx.
Aaron Herzberg, a partner at CalCann Holdings also agreed that there were too many and mostly served the purpose of introducing newcomers to the industry. “Many of the major players in marijuana, do not attend these events,” said Herzberg. He attends 5-6 conferences a year and has begun speaking at some of them, but as his company gets busier he just doesn’t have the time.
Troy Dayton, Chief Executive Officer of ArcView Group said conference organizers boldly over-promised and severely under delivered. “I suspect that most of them lost money and that attendees and exhibitors will wise up in 2016 and rally around a few of the best.” ArcView hold 5 events a year, but succeeds by keeping their conferences focused. They specialize exclusively on investors and companies raising capital. Dayton thinks that the future of cannabis conferences will evolve into 1-3 big general events and then others that specialize.
The Marijuana Business Conference held in Las Vegas is routinely named as the most important industry event to attend. It is sponsored by Marijuana Business Daily and is the oldest and largest industry event. Herzberg said most of the industry leaders attend the conference and that it was useful for networking. Many feel that as the industry matures the conferences will get more targeted. Kyle Sherman said his favorite so far this past year was the New West Summit in San Francisco, which seemed to follow the idea of specialization. This conference targets the media and technology aspects of the cannabis industry. It has been dubbed the “Tech Crunch Disrupt” of cannabis. Sherman said, “It was very focused on technology in cannabis, which is a huge driving force in where the industry is headed. I think curated conferences are the best.”
Jude Widmann, director of Operations at GreenRush.com thinks the premier conference of 2016 will be the Cannabis Investor Summit in New York. Widman had only positive things to say about the proliferation of events. “The conference ecosystem is another indicator of the vitality and maturation of the cannabis industry as a whole.” Widmann believes the networking, the panels and workshops are all beneficial.
The conferences are also becoming more global. Troy Dayton said ArcView is hosting its first conference in Barcelona Spain in March 7-9. Chris Drissen likes Spannabis in Spain and Cannafest in Prague.
Aharon Lutzky, Chief Executive Officer of Tikum Olam in Israel is happy to travel to the U.S. “We have had good experiences with these events and just recently brought our team of world-renowned cannabinoid researchers from Israel for a panel at the Marijuana Business Conference in Las Vegas to help share our expertise with the American industry.”
Leslie Bocskor, Managing Partner of Electrum Partners is a frequent conference speaker. He said, “We’re about to see the breadth and depth of these conferences increase dramatically.” But he warned, “If these conferences are not able to deliver cutting edge speaker programs and an experience that is on par with the best of the best in other areas, you’ll see cannabis business conferences disappear rather quickly.
