2016. “Both shows are growing very
quickly,” Farrington said. “Our spring
show, we had 22-percent attendee
growth year over year and 30-percent
exhibitor growth year over year. In the
fall, we see 50-percent attendee growth
year over year consistently, and 40-per-
cent exhibitor growth is what we’re
expecting for this coming fall.”
That exhibitor growth will more than
double the square footage of the show
floor from last year, from 45,640 net
square feet to 105,000. Fall is growing a
little more quickly than spring, which
Farrington attributes to the election
cycle. “There’s a lot of discussion in
the media about the cannabis question
leading up to those events,” she said. “So,
it’s a good tie-in.” While the larger fall
expo is great for attendees to make a
lot of contacts within the industry, the
smaller spring show provides a space to
“really engage and take time for mean-
ingful conversations, to explore those
potential business relationships.”
MJ Biz Con is also seeing a boom in
women entrepreneurs and executives
in the burgeoning marijuana industry.
“The cannabis industry has proven to
be a really good home for high-quality
female professionals who have hit the
glass ceiling or are burned out at their
corporate job, and they’re looking for a
new adventure in a new industry, in a
place where they can slot directly in at
a founding level, at an executive level,”
Farrington said. “They bring all those
skills and abilities to the table, but
they’re now not fighting an ingrained,
inherent hierarchy in an industry that
has been built over decades largely by
white males.”
