MJBizCon 2023 took place November 28 – December 1 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It is the largest B2B cannabis event in the world. The 12^th annual MJBizCon event welcomed tens of thousands of cannabis professionals to an industry that has grown to over $34 billion. With nearly 1,500 booths and 280K sq. ft. of coverage, this was the largest expo to date.

The conference takes up multiple wings of the Convention Center. This year, the North Hall provided all Cultivation Services, and the Central Hall supplied attendees with Packaging / Processing / Lab solutions. With several new states legalizing recreational cannabis: NY, NJ, and OH, to name a few, there was a very large number of first-time attendees eager to consume all this must-attend show had to offer.

The Montel mobile vertical growing system booth was front and center when attendees entered the North Hall. The 30’ x 30’ booth included multi-tier growing racks, drying systems, dry carts and more! The ‘joint’ Happy Hour party with Fohse Lighting on Wednesday brought a massive number of prospects, colleagues, and other industry professionals to the booth. It has become an annual experience that we all look forward to hosting.

Industry challenges

Aside from discussing facility design throughout the week, many industry folks were focused on the prospect of federal marijuana rescheduling and accompanying tax reform. Pairing these topics with the possibility of long-awaited cannabis banking reform offers hope on the national level as many cannabis companies continue to fold. As a long-tenured member of the cannabis business community, I, like most of my constituents, am all too familiar with the challenges and obstacles the industry continues to face. The scarcity of funding, slumping equity pricing and global economic trends are legitimate issues that do not seem to be changing anytime soon. This event allows a highly diverse group of industry professionals to join together and discuss strategies for the future.

Looking ahead

The positives are that new markets have been launched since the last MJBizCon, and more states approved recreational legalization this year. Women, veterans, and minority representation continue to increase in this ever-evolving market.

MJBizCon continues to be the industry leader for B2B development. It is always a grueling three days, but I always emerge feeling the juice is always worth the squeeze. We’ll be ready to run it back again in 2024!

Download Abel Womack’s free cannabis growing solutions brochure.