Chart: Another record-setting year for MJBizCon mirrors massive marijuana business potential

Be at the forefront of cannabis and psychedelics science and innovation. Register by March 14 & Save $100 on tickets to The Emerald Conference by MJBiz Science, April 1-3 in San Diego.


(This story has been updated to clarify that Marijuana Business Daily hosts the conference referenced in this chart.)

MJBizCon, which is hosted by Marijuana Business Daily, continues to smash attendance records amid strong, ongoing growth in the cannabis industry, solidifying its position as one of the fastest-growing trade shows in the nation.

This year’s conference attracted more than 27,000 cannabis professionals to the Las Vegas Convention Center, a record for the event and the marijuana industry.

That represents a 52% increase from the 2017 show.

Here’s what you need to know about the conference:

  • More than 1,000 – 1,028 to be exact – companies exhibited at the event, a 38% increase from 2017’s show. To put that in perspective, more businesses were added to the 2018 show (350) than the total number of companies that exhibited at MJBizCon in 2016 (321).
  • Exhibiting companies spanned all sectors of the industry, from legal, technology, investing and marketing firms to consultants, extraction machinery manufacturers and cultivation equipment providers.
  • Roughly 13% of conference attendees were from outside the United States. Canada had the largest international presence at the show, accounting for just under 70% of the nondomestic audience.
  • In total, 70 different countries were represented at this year’s MJBizCon. In terms of total distance traveled, attendees from South Africa made the longest journey – trekking more than 10,000 miles to attend the show.
  • Exhibition floor space was up nearly 70% from last year’s conference, rising from 105,000 net square feet to 175,000 in 2018. That’s roughly 80 times more square feet of exhibition space than the inaugural MJBizCon in 2012.
  • Going through each aisle of the exhibition floor was just over a 3-mile walk – approximately 6,200 steps. A person of average height and weight would burn about 300 calories visiting each vendor on the show floor.

Eli McVey can be reached at elim@mjbizdaily.com