Every year, there’s 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. While many of them may not be worth the time and effort, Hall of Flowers is often positioned as a can’t-miss opportunity for many brands and dispensary buyers.
If you’re unfamiliar with cannabis’ premiere trade show, let’s talk about what it is and why it’s important.
What is Hall of Flowers?
Stated by their website, Hall of Flowers is a licensed, industry-only, highly curated B2B (business to business) show designed to facilitate commerce between our vast network of premium licensed cannabis brands and retailers. Their product categories span across flower, concentrates, edibles, topicals, accessories and technology.
The event was founded by Dani Diamantstein (Dani Diamond) and Aaron Levant of Project, Agenda, and Liberty trade shows, 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, CA in September 2018 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, and since then, they have expanded to events in Palm Springs, Toronto, and also Las Vegas (in conjunction with MJBizCon).
This upcoming Hall of Flowers will be taking place in Santa Rosa, California from October 5-6, 2022. 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, including well-known brands like Alien Labs, Fig Farms, Kiva, WYLD, and Zig Zag. Amongst the 600 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 walkaround that will have your steps counter breaking records.
At Hall of Flowers, brands purchase and design booth spaces to showcase all of the 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. While some gifts do get exchanged, for the most part, buyers are handed tickets that go to 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. It is moderated by Tess Taylor, Founder of Dose of Saucy; and features Chimaobi Enyia, Executive Vice President at Cresco Labs, and Hilary Yu, Founder of Our Academy / This is Our Dream as speakers. The discussion takes place on Day 1, Oct 5, at 12pm.
Another exciting conversation called Create Outdoor Demand from a Shopper’s Perspective will be on Day 2, Oct 6 at 12pm. 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. This panel is moderated by Vik Singh, co-founder of Nike SNKRS and Advisor to Kanye West & Yeezy, 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 Hall of Flowers important?
There are plenty of reasons why Hall of Flowers holds such significance.
For one, Hall of Flowers is somewhat a business incubator in that it puts all of these brands, buyers, and industry heads under one roof for two days, allowing them to have discussions and do work that might otherwise take months, even years. Being on sight with immediate 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 through email, social media, and random phone calls are brought face to face 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 a roof with some of the biggest brands, and the faces/names behind them are right there for you 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 reminds 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.