BRIAN HOLLER / THE ARCHIVE
Events & Industry
Reporting, observations, and practical ideas from business, cannabis, media, culture, and the places they meet.
Bill Levers Takes the IgniteIt Stage to Follow the Money in California Cannabis
Bill Levers’ IgniteIt supply-chain panel asks the question California cannabis keeps circling: if consumers are buying the product, why is so little money reaching operators? A useful event…
Cannabis Conferences Forgot the Plant: 19 Sessions, One About the Medicine
A cannabis conference with 19 sessions and only one centered on medicine reveals what the industry currently rewards: capital and operations dominate while the plant and patients risk…
Black Cannabis Week 2026: Philadelphia Is Asking Who Gets to Build Wealth in Cannabis
Black Cannabis Week treats equity as infrastructure rather than branding: capital access, expungement, workforce development, scholarships and ownership pathways that can be measured after the conference ends.
Cannabis at the California State Fair: What Normalization Actually Looks Like
Cannabis at the California State Fair is normalization made visible. Mainstream acceptance matters, but it should not require forgetting the people and communities that carried the plant there…
IgniteIt Chicago: Where the Cannabis Industry Is Actually Heading
IgniteIt Chicago surfaced where cannabis operators are feeling pressure, which conversations mattered offstage and why conferences are most useful when they reveal patterns—not merely when they generate contacts.
The Mendocino Cup Proves Regional Competitions Still Build Brands Better Than Ad Spend
The Mendocino Cup shows how regional cannabis events can build credibility through place, product, community and third-party recognition—without pretending a competition win or local identity can replace product…
What NECANN Boston Showed Me About the East Coast Cannabis Opportunity
NECANN Boston offers a useful view of East Coast cannabis: maturing markets, regional relationships and operators solving real problems. The opportunity looks different when the industry is not…
Hall of Flowers 2024: Two Years Later, Which of My 5 Takeaways Held Up
Two years after Hall of Flowers 2024, five takeaways get a scorecard against what happened next in California cannabis: price compression, consolidation, partnerships, authenticity and the industry’s unfinished…
The Beard Bros Pharms Guide to Cannabis Industry Events
A durable field guide to cannabis industry events: use the Beard Bros Green List for current discovery, choose the room for the objective, treat exhibiting as a tool…
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