using the emerging market to rally and
come together. Ancillary services have
put on strong educational programs. Even
Michigan’s LARA is being proactive in
reaching out to the community. And of
course, networking companies have formed
and drive community events. The founder
of Cannabiz Connection Michigan, Jamie
Copper, has a tagline that summarizes it all:
“It takes a village to build a business in the
cannabis industry.”
But as in most emerging markets, many
of these groups and activities are not
coordinated. It hurts the cause of setting up
the stage for everyone’s success.
First to address this challenge head-
on was a local company, Cannabis-Aid.
Its founder, Thomas Tong, comes from a
blended background of big business in
high compliance sectors, technology, and
government service. Mr. Tong preaches
“community before competition,” stating
that “to have a strong state market, we need
to build our community across business,
industry, and government. We need to
collaborate and collectively create a strong
state market. It will not happen by accident.”
His top person, David Brisbois, comes from
the music industry, where community and
networking is the anchor. “We all have our
responsibilities and contributions,” David
expressed with enthusiasm. “Whether it be
a local government ensuring a healthy local
presence; a licensee operating a proactive,
compliant, and transparent operation; a
state regulator establishing policies that
makes everyone win—patient, licensee, []
investor, or [even] an established winning
product or service from out of state—we all
must come together. We know this.”
Cannabis-Aid
(www.cannabis-aid.com)
has created Michigan’s first Commercial
Cannabis Conference & Expo as a state
initiative to help pull the community together
and to lead to a faster maturing of Michigan’s
emerging market. Strategically positioned
on October 30th & 31st, the conference
acts as the last major springboard before
the November 6th vote. As a cost-recovery
event, it’s designed to keep event prices
low so that all community members can
be involved, from “opt-in” government
employees and new and aspiring licensees
to patients and caregivers.
Given that the profit motive for the event
has been removed, the conference’s sole
focus is on creating relationships. “We are
proud of the state conference we designed,”
Thomas explained. “Our focus on profound
relationships and our stand for a healthy
and strong commercial cannabis industry in
Michigan is being received well.”
In fact, feedback is coming from other
states saying they need to do something
similar. Businesses love the conference
design, as it’s all about connecting. All
major sponsors are assigned their flagship
Conference Chaperones, each of whom
creates a relationship plan for everyone
you need to meet at the conference, then
virtually introduces you to this group a few
days before the conference, and finally,
when you are at the conference, physically
makes sure you meet these people.
Everything at this conference is designed
to cause connections, from the Expo and
Mixer to the speed-meeting session. Even
their rest area has a “relationship rule”—
if you sit, you must talk to someone. As
Brisbois states, “This is not a standard
industry conference. We have purpose. And
also has a related community program:
•
The first is Incubator for Opportunity.
This program brings together proven
products and services with real
customers who can use them. The
customers get a great deal, and the
company gets entry into Michigan’s
market.
•
Ordinance 2.0 is a collective
framework across “opt-in” local
governments to share, reuse,
and drive consistency across
participating local municipalities. It
makes it easier for local governments,
while helping companies expand to
other parts of Michigan and not have
a completely different set of local
ordinances to comply with.
•
Care Connect & Stay is a program
meant to offer hosting for out-of-
town guests who prefer to stay with
a local Michigander. Maybe a patient
needs to medicate privately, or a
local businessperson wishes to host
an incoming industry leader.
So why is the conference being held in
October? Simple: being local to Michigan
and having a pulse on the market, slow
EVERYTHING AT THIS CONFERENCE IS DESIGNED TO
CAUSE CONNECTIONS, FROM THE EXPO AND MIXER TO THE
SPEED-MEETING SESSION. EVEN THEIR REST AREA HAS
A “RELATIONSHIP RULE”—IF YOU SIT, YOU MUST TALK TO
SOMEONE. AS BRISBOIS STATES, “THIS IS NOT A STANDARD
INDUSTRY CONFERENCE. WE HAVE PURPOSE. AND PURPOSE
CAUSES COMMUNITY.” CANNABIS-AID DESCRIBES IT AS A
STATE-INDUSTRY COMMUNIT Y EVENT.
purpose causes community.” Cannabis-Aid
describes it as a state-industry community
event.
The conference is designed and being
implemented as a Class A event, with
organizers stopping at nothing to reflect the
promise of Michigan’s cannabis and hemp
markets. The conference theme is “We are
stronger together.” That theme pervades
everything, from the background to the way
the conference is set up to the end result. For
any serious player in the cannabis space, the
event is one that shouldn’t be missed.
As a community event, the conference
7
licensing processes were anticipated. Thus,
it made sense to have the conference
later in the year after more licenses had
been approved. Furthermore, many of the
stakeholders in the industry are just now
being identified, so it paid to wait for greater
market opportunity to become available.
Want to get involved? Remember—
your volunteering, tickets, sponsorship,
and booths make the event cost-
recovery possible. For more, visit
www.cannabis-aid.com or send an email to
[email protected].