Listen to Past Content
Dive into curated cannabis education from licensed operators and industry leaders with MJ Unpacked conference recordings featuring insights across retail, brand, finance, and cultivation. *Access to event conference recordings are exclusive to registered attendees with a Conference, All-Access, or Budtender pass.
From Discovery to Loyalty: Winning with Women in Cannabis
Women are among the most influential decision-makers in cannabis, driving purchasing, repeat behavior, and brand advocacy. Yet the industry often misunderstands what motivates them. This session examines how female consumers engage with cannabis today – how they discover products, define quality, and build lasting brand relationships across wellness, retail, and lifestyle use cases. Panelists will unpack what meaningful engagement actually looks like and how brands and retailers can evolve their approach to better serve this audience.
Deal Ready or Deal Killer? What Buyers and Lenders Evaluate First
Many cannabis companies believe they are prepared for M&A or new capital, yet most deals stall before serious diligence even begins. This session reveals how buyers, lenders, and investors quickly assess opportunities in today’s market and why companies are often disqualified early. Panelists will unpack the most common data room red flags, the realities of EBITDA normalization in cannabis, and how cap table complexity and weak governance quietly derail transactions.
What's in the Cut? Genetics, Breeding, and Long-Term Cultivar Success
Genetics sit at the foundation of cannabis quality, performance, and innovation, yet the industry faces growing risks of genetic erosion as commercialization scales. In this session, experienced breeders and cultivation experts will examine strategies for preserving genetic diversity, stabilizing traits, and maintaining legacy cultivars while meeting modern production demands. The discussion will dive into phenotypic selection, trait heritability, and the challenges of breeding for consistency, resilience, and expression across environments.
Designing the Buy: How Cannabis Merchandising Drives Sales
Merchandising in cannabis goes far beyond product placement, it’s about shaping consumer behavior, guiding discovery, and maximizing sales while staying compliant. This session explores how leading retailers approach store design, product presentation, and category management to create an engaging shopping experience in-store and online.
Fewer SKUs, Bigger Wins: How Smart Brands Trim the Fat Without Killing Growth
With shelf space limited and consumer preferences constantly shifting, cannabis brands face growing pressure to optimize their SKU lineup without sacrificing growth. This session advances cannabis education by showing how leading operators use sales data, market insights, and buyer feedback to refine product offerings and eliminate underperformers. Learn how a data-driven approach to SKU management can guide product development, maximize retail impact, and ensure your lineup meets both consumer demand and operational efficiency.
Brand Awareness vs. Performance: Finding the Right Balance on a Budget
Cannabis brands face a tough balancing act: limited marketing budgets and the need to choose between performance spend and building brand equity. This session will explore how to prioritize high-impact channels and align marketing decisions with cash flow realities. Hear from operators finding creative ways to stretch their budgets while growing market share.
Navigating the Trade-Offs of Genetic Selection
As the cannabis industry pushes forward with breeding for specific traits – higher potency, faster flowering, etc.-there’s growing concern about what might be left behind. This session explores how intense trait selection may be reducing overall genetic variation, potentially sidelining rare but valuable traits like disease resistance, unique cannabinoid expressions, or environmental adaptability. We’ll break down the science, offering insights into the consequences of narrowing diversity and the importance of preserving landrace and heirloom varieties. Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on how to balance progress with long-term genetic resilience.
How Data and Technology Can Solve the $10B Inventory Management Problem
Poor inventory management is draining $10 billion in cash flow from the cannabis industry each year, primarily due to overstocked products that tie up capital and reduce profitability. This session contributes to cannabis education by examining how leading cannabis businesses utilize data and integrated technology to streamline inventory, enhance demand forecasting, and optimize pricing. Discover how enhanced tools and strategic approaches can unlock capital, enhance efficiency, and position your brand for sustainable growth.
Stronger Together: Innovative Retail & Brand Partnerships for Growth
Explore innovative strategies for retailers and brands to collaborate, boost visibility, drive product sell-through, and build lasting customer loyalty in a competitive market.
Investor Mega Panel: Expert Cannabis Education
Due to popular demand, MJ Unpacked is bringing back the Investor Mega Panel in Atlantic City, featuring a diverse lineup of top investors from across the cannabis sector. This session will provide an inside look at where capital is flowing, what investors are prioritizing in today’s market, and how operators can position themselves for funding. Join us for this must-attend discussion to gain valuable insights from the investors shaping the future of the industry.
Is Weed Really Getting Stronger? What Data Shows about Potency and Inflation
As THC potency numbers continue to climb on dispensary shelves, questions arise about whether cannabis is truly getting stronger—or if lab shopping and market pressures are inflating results. This panel advances cannabis education by examining potency inflation, data manipulation, and the biological limits of THC production. Panelists will explore how consumer demand for high-THC products shapes lab practices, the role of regulatory oversight, and what potency data actually reveals about modern cannabis. The discussion will also unpack what is being traded off in pursuit of high THC levels.
Alternative Capital Resources
Explore innovative avenues for cash flow that’ll make your stash grow. Our panel will decode the mysteries of alternative financing, from seed funding to debt deals and even crowdfunding campaigns. We will be rolling with the greenbacks and learning how to cultivate your cannabis business in the ever-evolving landscape of finance in cannabis.
Be Mindful of Your Capital: How to Scale an Investment
In this session, we’ll explore the crucial elements and tactical approaches necessary to scale your capital thoughtfully and strategically. From identifying growth opportunities to mitigating risks, panelists will guide you through the intricate process of optimizing capital deployment.
Creating Successful Intra-Industry Partnerships
As new markets move from MSO-dominated medical markets to adult use, the need to foster successful partnerships across the industry is key for supply chain management. In this fireside chat, we will listen to 2 dominant New Jersey MSOs discuss how they are keen on supporting the market growth and independent licensed operator.
F*ck Winning Customers. Build a Rabid Fan Base Instead.
Dive into the world of customer acquisition and effective sales strategies in this session. Explore the retail landscape, striking a balance between attracting customers and avoiding the “race to the bottom.” Discover insights on developing tailored sales approaches, crafting irresistible promotions, and navigating discounting nuances to enhance customer engagement and foster loyalty.
Keynote with Dr. Dedi Meiri: Cannabis Education on the Complexity of Cannabis Profiling
More than 140 phytocannabinoids are found in the Cannabis plant, along with terpenoids, flavonoids, and other compounds. As part of advancing cannabis education and understanding the medicinal and pharmacological effects of the whole plant, Dr. Dedi Meiri and his team developed methods to identify and comprehensively profile the plant’s compounds and match the best combinations to specific diseases or indications.
The Future of Cannabis Research
As the legal landscape surrounding cannabis continues to evolve, the potential rescheduling of cannabis holds significant implications for the research community. Currently designated as a Schedule 1 substance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), cannabis faces significant barriers to research, hindering scientific exploration and understanding. This session aims to explore the multifaceted impacts that rescheduling could have on the research landscape, with a focus on federal funding accessibility, private investment, and product innovation.
The Rise of Minor Cannabinoids
In recent years, advancements in research have provided an understanding of how the diverse array of minor cannabinoids interact and contribute to the overall therapeutic potential of cannabis. This session will offer an exploration into the science behind these lesser-known compounds and provide insights into the market for these products as we enter a more nuanced era of consumption.
VC Mega Panel: Whose Got Money and Where It's Going
Growth industries only thrive when there is a steady flow of capital to fuel investment, cap ex spend, customer acquisition, and operating capital. For the first time ever at MJ Unpacked, we will host a VC Mega panel with some of the top venture funds in the industry to see who has the fat stack and what they are looking to buy into.
What Buyers Want: Cannabis Education and Market Insights
Explore the essential factors guiding buyers in their selection process for shelf-worthy products. Our panel of esteemed industry experts will unveil invaluable insights into the intricate dynamics of the cannabis buying process, shedding light on the variables and considerations that significantly influence their decisions.
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