KC Cannabis Week: Workshops, showcase, gala, and more

The week before Thanksgiving, Kansas City Cannabis Week is coming up this November 21-25, 2019, consisting of four informative, educational and powerful networking events packed into 5 days (2-Day Cannabis Industry Showcase, 3-Day Cannabis Community College Workshop Series, Thursday night Coltyn Turner Foundation Gala, and Sunday Highlite Staffing Job Fair).

Existing and future owners and employees in the cannabis industry, vendors who have products and services relevant to the industry, as well as patients and anyone looking to increase their knowledge in the industry, are great candidates to attend and engage with the KC Cannabis Week.

Christi McAdams, CEO of Highlite Staffing, is an area native bringing her legal market experience back to the metro. She is one of the founders of KC Cannabis Week and joins other event planners also from the area.

“Now that Missouri has passed Medical we are each excited to bring our experience and knowledge to help promote the efforts back home,” McAdams said.

McAdams founded Cannabis Community College after spending 6 years in the industry out west.

“Having owned a production license in California and Nevada, a premier distribution company that serviced over half the state and holding several marijuana support licenses, I know how difficult it can be to get a cannabis company not just off the ground but yielding revenues imperative to success,” McAdams said. “I have seen people lose millions and I have seen people make hundreds of millions and the difference is their network. Having been born and raised just outside of Kansas City, I was thrilled when Missouri passed Medical and was anxious to bring my knowledge and experience and that of my highly successful cannabis industry colleagues back home to aid in the success of the cannabis operations here. We have educators who are CEOs and CFOs from publicly-traded cannabis companies to owners who have sold an operation for over $100,000,000. All of our educators, speakers, and panelists have deep roots in the industry and proven themselves to be highly successful in the legal cannabis space. Depending on the turnout and feedback, we are heavily considering building a full-time cannabis campus in Kansas City for continued education, training and job placement. Between my company, Highlite Staffing, and Trim Ready, both of which will be hosting workshops in Kansas City Nov 23-25, we educated and trained 1/3 of the Nevada cannabis workforce and together we continue training, certifying and providing job placement. My goal is to provide the same service in Missouri.”

McAdams hopes attendees not only learn from their experienced educators, all of which are owners and operators from very successful facilities across the country but also take advantage of networking with the individuals so that they may call on them for advice.

“In this industry, more than most, your network reflects your net worth,” McAdams said. “I like to quote John Bogle, ‘Learn every day but especially from the experience of others. It’s cheaper.’”

During the workshops, Highlite Staffing is also sponsoring a free job fair for anyone looking to work in the industry. Free passes are available in advance online at cannabiscommunitycollege.com/register/. Vendors can attend and promote their companies and have access to job candidates for only $500.

If you would like to meet the Highlite team, they will be sponsoring the November meetups hosted by MoCannTrade Association November 11 in Springfield, November 12 in Kansas City, and Nov 13 in St. Louis. MoCannTrade focus for the November meetups is about getting jobs and hiring in the Missouri cannabis industry.

Other familiar names to the midwest cannabis industry, Curtis Stafford and Wendy Turner, are organizing The Cannabis Industry Showcase.

“I’m not excited – I’m ecstatic to be part of the group bringing the first major cannabis conference to KC,” Stafford said. “I’m humbled and not surprised at the enthusiasm and grit of the Kansas City cannabis industry. It’s the Show-Me State and frankly the city is saying ‘show me cannabis,’ ‘show me a responsible industry,’ and KC is also saying ‘we will show the industry KC.’ Growing up in KC, and working on legalization in DC, I fully believe that KC and the industry will bring out the best of each other. They both have a long path forward, but KC will be a shining example for the entire country.”

The Showcase will be November 21-22 at The Oliver in the West Bottoms.

The week will be kicked off by the End of Reefer Madness Gala for the Coltyn Turner Foundation. Coltyn is Turner’s son who overcame Chron’s through cannabis use.

“Coltyn’s experience as a patient and the journey he’s been on is remarkable,” Turner said. “Tired of doctors telling him there was no research to support the fact cannabis put and kept him in remission, the Coltyn Turner Foundation for Cannabis Research was born. Sponsoring the Inaugural End of Reefer Madness Gala is the Showcase’s way of introducing and supporting The Coltyn Turner Foundation. The Gala will be set in the 1930s, when cannabis prohibition was just beginning, with The Rick Mareski Jazz Band playing the original songs of the ‘Reefer,’ attendees will reminisce in the days before cannabis was the devil’s lettuce. Swing dancers and Reefer Madness, the movie and movie musical parody, will set the mood for an amazing evening of entertainment and fundraising!”

Tickets, sponsorships, and donation information can be found at cannabisindustryshowcase.com.

“Between the team of the Cannabis Industry showcase, there are decades of cannabis experience,” Turner said. “The showcase is a combination of all that history, bringing a new twist to cannabis conferences, where attendees have an opportunity for intimate conversations with some of the top leaders in the cannabis space. Attendees will not only learn the do’s of industry practice, but also the don’ts and the ‘whys,’ ‘hows,’ ‘why nots,’ and especially the ‘what’s.’ At The Cannabis Industry Showcase, you’re not getting your typical conference experience, we wanted to shake things up and give the attendees a mind-blowing experience. That’s why we asked the Trichome institute to bring their Interpening classes for workshops, Shawn Honaker from Yeti Farms to dive deep into cultivating beautiful sun-grown cannabis plants, Nikki Furrer to enlighten women to take a bigger role in the cannabis industry and former NFL player Marvin Washington to talk about how athletes benefit from correctly cultivated and extracted cannabis. Our vendors and sponsors are leaders in the cannabis space with innovations and technology that every new cannabis market needs. Our history is the experience we bring and the future we provide. Our team has done the typical conferences, this time we’re doing it with some pizazz. This is our first Showcase with this team. It’s definitely not our last. And it’s certainly something you don’t want to miss.”

McAdams said KC Cannabis Week could become an annual occurrence.