I love attending cannabis events in Illinois. It’s something I never thought I’d be able to do in my twenties. So I try to attend every event I can. The problem is that when I attend these events, I’m not writing or working on the publication, and I get behind.

Even though we don’t sell a product at our booth, cannabis events, including Cannifest Chicago in which we partnered with for last weekend’s conference, are well worth attending for several reasons.

1. You can’t be a part of an industry if you don’t take part in that industry. That includes at least trying to be a good “Cannabis Citizen” who is in the industry for the right reason and is willing to help others in the industry who deserve it. That also includes patronizing or supporting other business in the industry you believe in. Good Cannabis Citizens also positively represent and support the legalization and normalization of the plant in the best way they know how. If you don’t love the plant, people who care about the cannabis community take notice. Do it for the plant, if not for the person.
2. I believe in what Illinois News Joint does and the content and services we provide, and there is no better way to let people know we care about the Illinois cannabis industry than attending cannabis events.
3. I enjoy talking to people in the industry, people who want to join the industry, growers, non-growers, and anyone else who comes up to me. In fact, I am often so passionate about what I do that when I talk to people who are outside the cannabis industry I overwhelm them. The Illinois cannabis industry is new and wide open for creative spaces that we don’t even know exist yet, and for me, that is exciting and something to reach for. We pride ourselves in producing original content that is becoming a small part of this newly created space, and we want to share it with as many readers and followers as possible.
4. Attending cannabis events allows me become more personal by allowing our readers and followers to place a face with the name. I have no urge to blast out my face on social media or use my image or likeness in graphics and logos. I’m not against it. It’s just not the way my vanity is built. So when at these events, people do not recognize me, though I often recognized them. The problem is that I usually know them by their social media profile name and have no idea of their real names.
5. It’s also important for us to get out in the public and talk to the average person who partakes in the cannabis community. Ultimately, the people are the touchstone to the content and services Illinois News Joint provides. To provide the best content, we have to be able to connect with regular folks who are just trying to live their lives one day at a time.
6. At these events, every connection is a potential friendship opportunity that did not exist before, and if you attend enough events, odds are, you’re going to run into folks you vibe with on one level or another.

Attending Cannifest Chicago was a little different in that I had to travel, stay in a hotel, and attend the conference for two days. Most events I have been attending have lasted for a full day or for a few hours. I attended Cannifest Chicago Saturday and Sunday, where I mostly stayed behind my booth and talked to passersby or hung out on the smoking deck.

I walked around the Ravenswood Event Center and visited other vendors, including several of our collaborators and sponsors. In addition, Saturday, I was one of three panelist discussing Federal and State legalization laws. At one point, I went on a big enough rant that I leaned back and said inside my head, “What the fuck, dude? Chill out.” It’s been almost three years since I have been a panelist or hosted a live event, and I can’t believe how much I enjoyed just being at a public event where a live audience participated. Zoom cannot and will never duplicate that.

Highlights of the event included, of course, meeting friends and new people, as well as all the new business owners grinding it out one day at a time, like everyone else in the industry. I enjoy the affirmation that it’s not a waste of time busting our ass trying to help build a bigger, better, and normalized cannabis community.

My favorite highlight was when I was able to give a ride from the hotel to the Ravenswood Event Center to an out-of-state attendee. We drove down Lake Shore Drive on a sunny beautiful late Sunday morning. Even my grumpy-old ass bitching about Chicago’s parking garage prices took a moment to enjoy a classic landscape with the shoreline to our right and the skyscrapers to the left. It didn’t make me want to live in Chicago, but, as Chicago does, it made me want to come back and visit more often than I do.

To learn about cannabis-friendly events in Illinois, click here.

For more Illinois cannabis industry news, click here.

For Illinois News Joint reviews, click here.