How MJBizCon Became the Nation’s Largest B2B Cannabis Expo

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There’s no question this is an exciting time to be in the cannabis industry. Not since the start of the Dot Com Era have we seen such rapid growth in an emerging industry that pushed boundaries of what anyone thought could be possible like the tech or cannabis industries do.

Except for the most obvious difference between the two, mainly having to do with legal barriers or lack thereof, there have been a number of parallels between them. Like the beginning of the tech boom, the cannabis industry emerged from relative obscurity, which has necessitated a heavy reliance upon media to educate consumers and help industry stakeholders to overcome a steep learning curve.

While the media has played a significant role in raising awareness and driving consumer demand, trade shows, expos and educational conferences have been equally or even more important because they provide audiences with hands-on opportunities to learn about cannabis and explore new products. They also provide entrepreneurs with valuable opportunity to network with one another and introduce their offerings to new markets.

For media, events have been incredibly valuable when it comes to staying abreast of industry trends and connecting the trailblazers who are shaping the industry. For that reason, we not only relish the opportunity to partner with event producers as a media sponsor, we are eager to spread the word and encourage people to attend these events to learn why the cannabis industry is creating a healthier and more sustainable future.

One such event is MJBIZCON, produced by Marijuana Business Daily, which is one of the oldest and most respected industry trade publications. For four consecutive years, MJBizCon has been named as one of the Fastest 50 growing trade shows in North America by Trade Show Executive Magazine. This year, the event will feature roughly 13,000 exhibitors and attendance is expected to reach more than 35,000, making it one of the largest – if not the largest – cannabis events.

In this episode, Jess Tyler, the Vice President of Events for Marijuana Business Daily, shares insights about how their flagship event MJBizCon has made history in this industry.

We start the episode with a couple of announcements:

First, full disclosure, we’re very proud to be one of MJBizCon’s media partners and look forward to broadcasting interviews from “Radio Row” on site at the event in Las Vegas in December.

Also, we are thrilled to announce that Blue Mountain Energy has become our newest sponsor and I’d like to welcome them to The Cannabis Reporter family. We are grateful for their support of our educational platform! What we appreciate most about BME is that they are committed to helping cannabis growers drastically reduce their energy consumption and can save growers up to 80% on energy costs. And, by the way, they will be at MJBizCon showcasing their line of indoor climate control systems that are powered by natural gas and propane. So, if you’ll be at the event, be sure to check out their booth in the exhibition hall.

Jess Tyler hails from the hectic arena of exposition events and, in her capacity as Vice President of Events, she oversees the entire roster of Marijuana Business Daily’s major expos, which take place several times per year in various host cities throughout the year. Tyler’s love of tradeshows within the B2B space really began while working as a registration coordinator at Experient, a Maritz Global Events Company, where she supported some of the top tradeshows in the world, such as the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and MAGIC. As vice president at Access Intelligence LLC, she led event and editorial teams in the healthcare and media space. In her tenure there, she also forged a corporately centralized operations team and managed content creation for several conferences in the aerospace group, including the renowned SATELLITE show. Tyler is a proud member of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) having earned her Certified Exhibition Management (CEM) designation, and also supports the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO).

If not for the generosity of our supporters, we wouldn’t be here! We’d first like to express gratitude for our radio sponsors Blue Mountain Energy and Cannasphere Biotech. We are grateful! Many thanks go to Erik Godal for our theme “Evergreen.” We’d also like to shout out to XRQK Radio Network and Society Bytes Radio Network for broadcasting our show and Cannabis Radio for helping us spread the word online.