Even at great B2B cannabis conventions, the second day is almost always slower and very often less productive. While exhibitors can’t do much about the first part (less traffic), there are many tried and true strategies that can be executed that actually use the slower pace of the floor to significantly improve event productivity and ROI. In no particular order, here are some best practices to make the second day of a trade show as productive as the first:

Turn it back inside

On Day One, ask your respective booth visitors if they’re only there for the day, or if they’ll be returning. At the end of day one (or early the next morning), reach out to candidates who will be attending day two and invite them to come visit you again (or meet for coffee, lunch, sesh, etc.) and what events they’ll be going to in the hours after the show. It’s a great chance to get that initial “nice to meet you/see you at the show” follow-up conversation out of the way BEFORE you get back to the office so you’re ready to talk business right out of the gate when you follow up. It definitely helps to have an incentive to bring them back—snacks, abundant product, giveaways, discounts at shows, etc.

Release the hounds

Categorize the day you lead and share it instantly with the team. This allows you to work on any problem, conversation strategy, etc. during every two days with slow/slow time so you can solve any problems while the team is all together. You can also double-check customer data, confirm whether you have data from every relevant exhibitor, eliminate redundancies and set new targets. Again, the idea here is to get as much progress as possible on the spot while it’s fresh and let everyone hit the run after the show. And since you gave away all the leads…

Encourage immediate follow-up

If there’s an overstaffing on that last day, designate a space (away from the booth, or at least in the back of it) for people to take turns sending their follow-up emails, making calls to prospects who might go on the floor, and anything else that can be done internally to move the sales process along. You can make it more interesting by running a contest, with prizes based on a metric in your CRM system.

Just rope ‘n tie and em brand: “Rawhide!”

Anyone who has walked the 2nd day convention floor knows that the line between an effective welcoming sales rep and an overzealous hungry dog ​​can get blurry, but as attendance gets easier, skilled aisle “brawlers” become even more important! If you have people on your team who excel at this, encourage them to lead and teach the skills. Also – Most booths have giveaways and giveaways on opening day, but a lot of people run out – beat the competition by saving some of your best lures and giveaways for the last day, when you really need them.

Visit and bring a friend!

Not enough 2 participants per day coming to you? Don’t make your booth less attractive by having 4-5 people staring longingly at passers-by. Go get them. If the last day is slow for you, chances are it is for your potential customers who are exhibiting and attending as well. On the exhibitor side, save most of your booth visits for the last day and make it a double team. Bringing in a product expert, company influencer, or another person who plays a role in the buying cycle can be a big help. Don’t forget the attendees – on a slower second day, people walking the floor tend to take more breaks and are more welcoming to casual conversation, creating an almost ‘after-party/mixer’ feel right at the show. Send staff people to visit and hang out in lounge areas, food courts, smoking sections, etc. Remember that it is important to know and respect these spaces: relax and engage in real company. Ask questions, listen. If a business conversation develops organically, great. If not, it’s better to move politely than to try to force it.

For more insights and information about B2B events in the cannabis industry, check out the Virtual Notes for Live Events newsletter on LinkedIn.

About NECANN: Since first launching in 2014, NECANN has taken a different path from traditional B2B conventions. Rather than focusing on what each new cannabis market can do for us, NECANN has taken a collaborative approach with local industries and communities for our events. This includes investing in and promoting local work being done before entering the market, and a commitment to donate 10% of our showroom space to social capital licensees and advocacy groups. The result has been consistently high returns for exhibitors, sponsors, attendees and the local cannabis market as a whole, allowing everyone to benefit and grow. To view our upcoming convention program and find out if attending or exhibiting is right for you, visit us at necann.com

When it comes to publicity and marketing, herbal medicine brands have always had to play by different rules. Restricted from mainstream advertising, penalized on social media and fighting stigma at every turn, getting the word out has never been easy. And while mainstream news provides wide distribution, it rarely gives meaningful attention: herbal medicine stories get lost in the noise, ignored by media that don’t understand or care about this space. That changes today.

Four of the most popular grassroots media platforms in the cannabis space: Ganjapreneur, CashColorCannabis, Beard Bros Pharms AND Fat Nugs magazine have officially joined forces to launch the cannabis industry’s first media co-op: Green Press Collective (GPC). Built by industry, operated within industry and designed to serve industry.

GPC was created with a simple mission: to build an effective media distribution solution that actually reaches the cannabis, psychedelic and herbal medicine audiences that brands and businesses are trying to connect with, while also encouraging industry participants to engage directly with the independent media platforms that have supported these communities for years.

For the first time ever, cannabis and herbal medicine companies now have a centralized media hub capable of delivering massive, targeted outreach directly to the community and the culture itself.

Built by Community and Culture

Major press distribution services have long positioned themselves as the default option for cannabis businesses looking to make announcements, launch products, secure visibility or build legitimacy. But the reality within the industry has often looked very different. Many companies have found themselves paying a price for press releases that disappear into the digital abyss, generating little meaningful engagement from consumers, operators, advocates or members of the actual cannabis community.

“That’s the kind of no-nonsense approach that operators in our industry don’t have time for. Throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks is not really a winning strategy,” said Dustin Hoxworth, Founder of Fat Nugs Magazine.

“I’ve been telling brands and businesses within the cannabis industry for years now that their press release that they’re spending thousands of dollars with PR Newswire and others is like setting fire to your money. No one really cares and you won’t get the eyeballs that matter to you. Meanwhile, the mainstream media has become notorious for controlling a number of known and unknown control massive portions of what people see, hear and believe every day. That kind of narrative control is dangerous and one of the only ways to counter that is by supporting grassroots media instead of giant corporate machines watching us from the outside.

The Green Press Collective completely changes the equation by combining the audience, influence, reach, editorial infrastructure and cultural credibility of four independent cannabis media companies with deep roots into one coordinated publishing network.

Together, the collective represents over half a million social media followers, 110,000+ email subscribers and 80,000+ monthly website visitors. Most importantly, the people behind GPC are not outsiders looking in. They come from the community and culture themselves and have covered the space for years, so their combined audience is extremely important to anyone looking to reach business owners, professionals and connoisseurs of the space.

“This is much bigger than media coverage,” said Mehka King, Founder of CashColorCannabis. “For years, we’ve each told important stories, built trust with our audiences, and documented this industry from the inside. By coming together, we’re creating opportunities to help give those stories more reach and ensure culture remains part of the conversation as the industry continues to evolve.”

A new era for independent cannabis media

Green Press Collective has already spent months quietly operating behind the scenes, testing systems, refining operations, improving publishing workflows and working directly with selected brands and partners to ensure the structure is fully prepared before its official launch. According to the founding members, the early response has proven that a broader distribution infrastructure built specifically for the cannabis and herbal medicine audience has been sorely needed for years.

“I think offering brands an option to publish announcements directly is the most transparent and effective way for publishers to monetize distributions,” said Noel Abbott, Co-Founder and CEO of Ganjapreneur. “We get so many press releases sent to us every day, there’s no way we can read them all and still do our policy coverage, and it always confused me to think that these brands were basically paying a corporate middleman to send me a hundred emails a day. Why not give people a way to share their company news directly with their target audience? Once we all got a call to talk, the idea it was obvious.”

The formation of GPC also represents a deliberate shift toward collaboration, bringing independent publishers together to build a collective infrastructure strong enough to compete with major advertising and media networks. Instead of sending marketing dollars out of the ecosystem chasing hypothetical results, GPC gives brands an opportunity to get guaranteed exposure while directly supporting the selling points that emerge for this industry every day.

“This industry was built by people who understood the power of community long before anyone outside of cannabis saw the opportunity. That same spirit is what makes the Green Press Collective so important. By connecting four independent cannabis publications, we’re creating a stronger, more unified platform for brands that want real visibility with the audience that actually cares. GPC gives the industry a way to invest in the cannabis market, making the support of the media, making her believe through voices that have earned their credibility.” Bill Levers, Co-Founder of Beard Bros Pharms & Media.

The future of mainstream media starts now

The collective’s long-term vision extends beyond the distribution of press releases. Future plans already being explored include expansion to include additional publishing channels, additional multimedia offerings, cross-platform content collaborations, event integration, and new forms of audience amplification in the cannabis, psychedelic, and herbal medicine sectors.

Right now, founding organizations are focused on providing notification delivery and building the infrastructure to deliver meaningful results. Brands, operators and organizations interested in submitting notices can review the guidelines and learn more about the process via the GPC website:

https://www.greenpresscollective.com

A class action suit filed in federal court on Monday alleges that three Chicago, Illinois-based cannabis operators made false medical claims about their products, Chicago Tribune reports. The suit, filed on behalf of 42 customers in a dozen states, alleges that Cresco Labs, Inc., Green Thumb Industries, Inc. and Verano Holdings Corp. are causing “human tragedy and misery” by making unsubstantiated claims about the medical efficacy of their products.

A similar lawsuit was also filed in Marion County, Illinois and in Connecticut against Curaleaf Holdings, Inc.

The lawsuit alleges that the companies knew, or should have known, about the dangers of their products and the lack of evidence for medical benefits.

In a statement, Verano called the lawsuit “part of a broader litigation campaign that plaintiffs’ counsel has brought against several multi-state cannabis operators and mirrors claims that were rejected by courts in similar legal actions against multi-state operators in the industry earlier this year.”

“The medical use and benefits of cannabis have long been recognized by the states themselves, as reflected in the comprehensive medical marijuana programs that state legislatures and regulators have created and overseen for years. Recently, the federal government—through both the President’s December 2025 Executive Order and the Department of Justice’s April 2026 order—has similarly embraced the medical of April 2026. We strongly disagree with the allegations and intend to defend the case vigorously.” – Verano in a statement to the Tribune

Cresco did not comment on the lawsuit.

The suit also accuses the defendants of a “conspiracy” to operate an illegal and fraudulent industry.