{"id":1930,"date":"2021-10-22T19:26:43","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T19:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabisnow.com\/?p=57428"},"modified":"2021-10-22T19:26:43","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T19:26:43","slug":"mjbizcon-ceo-chris-walsh-talks-success-after-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=1930","title":{"rendered":"MJBizCon CEO Chris Walsh Talks Success After Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

As CEO of MJBizCon, the largest cannabis industry trade show in the world, Chris Walsh sure looks like a happy man past the halfway mark of this year\u2019s iteration of the must-attend expo. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited,\u201d he said, looking around at the more than 1,000 exhibitors spread out over the cavernous 250,000 square-foot Las Vegas Convention Center. Just as he says this, boxing icon and cannabis super entrepreneur Mike Tyson walks by with a small army of security guards and handlers en route to the Futurola<\/a> booth (the former heavyweight champ signed the first international cannabis co-branding deal for Tyson Farms with the Dutch company in 2019).<\/p>\n

In 2021, for the first time in its history, the city of Las Vegas designated \u201cMJBizCon Week<\/a>\u201d as the conference continues to earn its reputation as a best-in-class expo. In fact, many continue to refer to MJBizCon as the \u201cComic Con of weed\u201d for its scope and importance to the cannabis industry.<\/p>\n

As for this year\u2019s conference, the first in two years due to the global pandemic, Walsh is clearly pleased.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enthusiasm at this year\u2019s event is off the charts,\u201d he said. \u201cNot only is excitement a couple of levels higher than ever before, but so many of the attendees this year are the true decision makers in the industry. More than ever, the leaders of these companies are here in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Crowd<\/a><\/figure>\n

When asked about any lingering misconceptions about MJBizCon out there, Walsh shrugs his shoulders and said, \u201cSome people believe that MJBizCon is a stereotypical stoner event or festival \u2014 and that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

As evidenced by Tyson\u2019s entrance moments earlier, Walsh says that a few years ago when rock legend Gene Simmons attended the award-winning conference that, too, created quite the stir. \u201cHe was something else,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n

Walsh, who\u2019s also the founding editor of the conference\u2019s publication, \u201cMJ Biz Daily<\/a>,\u201d says he\u2019s very happy the conference is Las Vegas-based, but there may be a chance of expansion outside the U.S. \u201cRight before the pandemic, we held events in Bogot\u00e1, Copenhagen and Canada. We\u2019ll see what happens in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked for something he hasn\u2019t told anyone yet about this year\u2019s conference, the executive laughs and says, \u201cWell, let me think about that for a moment. I\u2019ve had 17 Red Bulls since the event started, and I should hit 19 by the end making it approximately a 27% increase from the number I had in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Walsh concludes the conversation, the glint in the executive\u2019s eye can\u2019t be denied: MJBizCon is back\u2014and how.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As CEO of MJBizCon, the largest cannabis industry trade show in the world, Chris Walsh sure looks like a happy man past the halfway mark of this year\u2019s iteration of the must-attend expo. \u201cI\u2019m excited,\u201d he said, looking around at the more than 1,000 exhibitors spread out over the cavernous 250,000 square-foot Las Vegas Convention Center. Just as he says this, boxing icon and cannabis super entrepreneur Mike Tyson walks by with a small army of security guards and handlers en route to the Futurola booth (the former heavyweight champ signed the first international cannabis co-branding deal for Tyson Farms… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}