Hall of Flowers, a two-day cannabis trade show, kicks off on Wednesday in Santa Rosa, where it all began with the debut event in 2018.
This post originally published on Words Never Said, Danté Jordan’s weekly newsletter about the intersections of personal growth, travel, cannabis, and all things life.
Every year, there are a bunch of cannabis conventions, conferences, and trade shows that industry professionals flock to in hopes of obtaining life-changing connections and securing life-changing deals. Many of them may not be worth the time and effort, but Hall of Flowers is a can’t-miss opportunity for many brands and dispensary buyers.
If you’re unfamiliar with cannabis’ premier trade show, let’s talk about what it is and why it’s important.
What is Hall of Flowers?
As stated by its website, Hall of Flowers is a “licensed, industry-only, highly curated B2B show designed to facilitate commerce between our vast network of premium licensed cannabis brands and retailers.” Their range of product categories spans flower, concentrates, edibles, topicals, accessories, and technology.
Dani Diamantstein (Dani Diamond) and Aaron Levant of Project, Agenda, and Liberty trade shows, founded the event in partnership with Green Street, an LA-based creative/marketing firm that owns Green Street Los Angeles. Green Street Los Angeles is a building of cannabis brands co-owned by Gary Vaynerchuk.
The first Hall of Flowers was hosted in Santa Rosa, Calif., in September 2018 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Since then, it has expanded to events in Palm Springs, Toronto, and Las Vegas (in conjunction with MJBizCon).
This upcoming Hall of Flowers will be taking place in Santa Rosa from Oct. 5-6. Day 1 attendees will be for Buyers Only. Day 2 attendees will be for Buyers, plus the rest of the industry.
Hall of Flowers Santa Rosa has nearly 400 confirmed exhibitors already. This includes well-known brands like Alien Labs, Fig Farms, Kiva, WYLD, and Zig Zag. Among the confirmed retailers are Apothecary, Blunts + Moore, Sixty Four and Hope, Stiiizy, and multiple Cookies and Lemonnade stores. So yeah, it’s a huge deal and potential money-making opportunity for plenty of people dealing with this wild California cannabis market.
What happens at Hall of Flowers?
If you’ve never been to a trade show, just know you’ll need comfortable shoes for the occasion. It’s an all-day walk-around that will have your steps counter breaking records.
At Hall of Flowers, brands purchase and design booth spaces to showcase all of their fire products, both new and already established. The goal is to attract buyers over, then dazzle them with some of the best and most innovative cannabis products their store shelves and consumers have ever seen. Some gifts do get exchanged, but for the most part, buyers receive tickets that are meant to be used at an on-sight dispensary and scoop samples.
In addition to product showcases, there is a speaker series called Core Conversations, where panels of industry experts and insiders discuss topics surrounding both plant and non-plant-touching businesses.
At HoF Santa Rosa 2022, one of the most important Core Conversations will be Equity in Action, a discussion on how grassroots and corporate companies can better work together to create change and opportunity for minorities in cannabis. Tess Taylor, founder of Dose of Saucy, will moderate the discussion. It will also feature Chimaobi Enyia, executive vice president at Cresco Labs, and Hilary Yu, founder of Our Academy / This is Our Dream as speakers. The conversation takes place on Day 1 at 12 p.m. local time.
Another exciting conversation called Create Outdoor Demand from a Shopper’s Perspective will be on Day 2, also at noon. It will be a discussion on how retailers can shift away from THC potency as the benchmark for quality/sales, and instead, educate consumers on different growing practices and the experiential benefits of each. Vik Singh, co-founder of Nike SNKRS and advisor to Kanye West & Yeezy, will be the moderator, and features Michael Katz, executive director of Mendocino Cannabis Alliance/MendocinoCannabis.shop, and Tim Blake, founder and producer at The Emerald Cup, as speakers.
Why is it so important?
There are plenty of reasons why Hall of Flowers holds such significance.
For one, Hall of Flowers is somewhat of a business incubator in that it puts all of these brands, buyers, and industry heads under one roof for two days. This allows the room to have discussions and do work that might otherwise take months, or even years. The immediate on-site availability helps all sides get things done in a fast-paced and efficient manner.
For two, the networking is second-to-none. All of sudden, people who have only known each other via email, social media, and random phone calls are brought together to finally say, “Yo, it’s nice to finally meet in person. I’ve been rocking with you from a distance for quite some time.” You’re under one roof with some of the insutry’s biggest brands, and the faces/names behind them are right there for one to just walk up and say hello. It makes for a much more natural way of connecting.
The third reason that Hall of Flowers is important is the culture. Those HoF grounds aren’t just a place to exchange cards, emails, and products; it’s also a place to have big smoke-outs and catch up with homies that you wouldn’t otherwise see because they live all over the country. It’s a reminder of what’s really important around this plant: It’s not the money, it’s the people who spread its gospel.
All in all, Hall of Flowers is an excellent time and if you’ve never been to one, you should check it out at least once.
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