Pre-Conference Oaksterdam University Education
An in-person professional development program taking place the day before MJ Unpacked Kansas City on Oct. 13, designed to deepen your understanding of plant science and products so you can make future-ready decisions and become Oaksterdam Certified.
What is Oaksterdam University?
Oaksterdam University is a dynamic, diverse, and responsive academic institute dedicated to educating the global cannabis community, industry, regulators, and government. Oaksterdam’s mission is to provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the evolving cannabis industry.
Pre-Conference Oaksterdam University Programming:
Retail Intensive for Management & Budtenders
Oct. 13, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Sheraton Crown Center Ballrooms
Margin compression, increasing competition, staff turnover, hemp-derived THC disruption, inconsistent customer experiences, compliance complexity, and the need for stronger retail differentiation are reshaping what success looks like for retail.
This interactive training blends Oaksterdam’s proven dispensary management and budtender certification curricula with the real challenges retail teams face today.
Training Includes:
- Product categories
- Cannabinoids and terpenes
- Responsible dosing guidance
- Compliance-minded communication
- Customer engagement and consultation
- Building trust with new and returning consumers
Participants will learn practical, immediately usable information and strategies to strengthen customer retention and loyalty, increase dollars per transaction, and build differentiated retail experiences in an increasingly competitive market.
- Compete beyond discounts. Move beyond price wars with smarter retail strategies that build customer loyalty by understanding experiential selling.
- Create differentiated dispensary experiences. Build stronger customer loyalty and engagement through hospitality, education, events, and authentic community connection.
- Gain product category knowledge, including cannabinoid literacy, dosage, and product guidance to increase average basket size and repeat visits.
- Improve team performance and consistency. Quality training improves team morale and performance and reduces friction, dropping turnover, training, and compliance costs.
Who Should Attend the Morning Session
- Dispensary owners and Delivery operators
- General managers, assistant managers, and HR Managers
- Retail leadership teams & trainers
- Budtenders and customer-facing staff
- Customer Service Representatives
- Brands seeking stronger retail execution
Earn Certification: Attend in person and work towards completing certification through Oaksterdam’s established online student portal to earn Retail Management or Budtender Certification.
Cultivar Selection: Navigating Cannabis Genetics for Cultivation, Manufacturing & Retail Success
Oct. 13, 2 - 5 pm
Sheraton Crown Center Ballrooms
$199 $99
As the cannabis market matures, businesses across cultivation, manufacturing, and retail face growing pressure to improve consistency, product quality, differentiation, and consumer confidence. In cannabis, better outcomes start with a better understanding of the source. Complementing Oaksterdam’s morning session on Retail Management and Budtender Excellence, this interactive afternoon intensive explores cannabis flower as both a finished consumer product and a foundational ingredient for manufactured goods.
Training Includes:
- Cannabis Genetics & Cultivar Navigation
- Cultivar naming conventions vs. plant traits and chemotypes
- Breeding fundamentals and the limitations of industry terminology
- Moving beyond indica/sativa/hybrid categories
- Translating plant science into real-world customer outcomes
- Flower as an Ingredient in Manufactured Goods
- Cultivar selection for extraction and manufacturing
- Inputs that support consistency and intended effects
Designed for cultivators, manufacturers, dispensary leadership, buyers, budtenders, processors, product developers, and operational teams, this session provides practical tools for navigating one of the industry’s greatest challenges: making informed decisions in a marketplace with inconsistent standards, evolving genetics, and limited scientific consensus around cultivar naming and predicted effects. Whether participants are growing flowers, sourcing biomass, manufacturing products, building retail assortments, or guiding consumer purchases, this workshop strengthens the ability to evaluate cannabis quality, make smarter cultivar selections, and improve product consistency and customer trust.
This session directly addresses critical operational challenges:
- Selecting the right cultivars for end-use products and manufacturing. Understand how cannabinoid expression, terpene profiles, plant morphology, and intended outcomes influence extraction, product consistency, and customer experience.
- Navigating cannabis genetics in a fragmented marketplace. Explore cultivation fundamentals, plant traits, chemotypes, and why cultivar names often fail to provide reliable predictions about effects, quality, or performance.
- Making effects-based decisions despite a lack of standardization. Learn practical frameworks for predicting likely outcomes and making informed cultivation, manufacturing, purchasing, and retail recommendations using available plant data.
- Moving beyond THC as the dominant decision metric. Better understand how growers, manufacturers, and retailers can improve product development, merchandising, and consumer education.
Who Should Attend the Afternoon Session
- Cultivators and cultivation managers
- Product manufacturers and processors
- Dispensary owners, buyers, and retail leadership
- Budtenders seeking advanced product expertise
- Brand and product development teams
- Operational leadership across the cannabis supply chain
Earn Certification: Attend in person and work towards completing certification through Oaksterdam’s established online student portal to earn Cannabis Business Management, Manufacturing or Horticulture Certification.
Schedule III Policy Summit Roundtable
Oct. 13, 6:30 - 8 pm
Sheraton Crown Center
Terrace - Mezzanine Level
Federal cannabis policy is shifting. Are you ready?
Join peers, policy, and thought leaders the evening before MJ Unpacked for an interactive executive roundtable on Schedule III, cannabis and hemp regulation, and emerging federal policy changes. Break down what’s happening, what it means for your business, and leave with practical insight on navigating and influencing what comes next as industry leaders. Moderated by Oaksterdam University’s Dale Sky Jones.
Stay Connected with MJ Unpacked
