Agenda

New Business Track: Getting Started, to producing at scale

DAY ONE:

Session 1: Moderated Panel: The Future of Extraction Processing for Edibles And Topicals

Session 2: Michael Jones, Cannabis Consultants, LLC, “Everything you need to know about…getting extraction started right”

Extracts are in everything: what starts as a plant ends as a manufactured product, whether an oil, concentrate, food product, or topical application. They’re the present and future of marijuana. This session will take a look at the types of extracted products available today, provide an overview of the different technologies and processes to make extractions, and offer guidance on what producers need to know about product, positioning, and right-sizing your skills, knowledge, and needs on how to start in this EXPLOSIVE market segment

Session 3: Craig Henderson, Extract Labs, “The Process of Processing: an outline of extraction, from flower to (pure) isolate”

This session will provide an overview of the complete extraction process (start to finish), and the various steps/equipment used in the extraction processes. The discussion will include pre-processing techniques such as drying and decarbing plant material. Three of the most common extraction methods (CO2, Alcohol, and Hydrocarbon extractions) will be discussed, with deep explanation of CO2 extractions, and the pros and cons associated with each method. Craig will also discuss the filtering and winterization process along with the various methods for further concentrating the extract, and isolating the various cannabinoids through distillation, isolation, or chromatography. Craig will also touch on terpene fractions and isolation that can take place throughout the extraction process.

Session 4: Budgeting for extraction: A realistic view of machinery needs and setup costs

DAY TWO:

Session 1: Dr. Jake F. Felice, Naturopathic Pain Clinic, “OPPORTUNITY is at the door: a look at topical cannabis, from bioavailability, to medical & cosmetic applications, to product formulation”

There’s a generation of (potential, untapped) customers that’s ageing in the US, who are looking for low-toxic solutions to aches, pain, and inflammation. Because they don’t cause a head high, topical applications might become the mainstream way that many Americans will encounter cannabis for the first time. Apart from a wider market looking for pain treatment solutions, no single product line is directed to the Senior market, addressing their needs.  Additionally, topicals heal skin and provide excellent relief for sore muscles, sunburns, and itching, making them ideal for athletes, and for the active lifestyle, outdoor products, and cosmetics markets.

This session overviews what makes topical products effective for pain, cosmetic, and other applications, and how topical cannabis synergizes with other herbs to improve effectiveness. Join Dr. Jake F. Felice as he discusses the most recent science on topical cannabis, and how this knowledge can be utilized to make better products. Learn common errors in product formulation, and discover why nearly every pain patient should be using topical cannabis products

Session 2: Chris Sayegh, The Herbal Chef : “From Private Edible Events into Food Manufacturing, and the journey to producing at scale: opportunities, challenges, and a Professional Chef’s adventure”

Chris Sayegh began his career in the marijuana industry by producing private (low-dose) edible dinners and events. The Herbal Chef continues these private events and catered food, but has also expanded into multiple product lines and offerings, including frozen CBD/THC-infused meals, with other products under development, and other projects in the works (including 2 TV shows!). In this session, Chris will take us along this journey, and discuss this transition from the service industry into manufacturing, highlighting successes, detailing the challenges he faced, and what lessons he’s learned along the way to becoming an edibles producer.

Session 3: Small product, expensive price: conveying brand value in Concentrates through branding and package design

Session 4: Dooma Wendschuh, Province Brands, “Cannabis sets target on the beer $1.2 Trillion alcohol industry. A look at product formulation: recipes, focus group testing, and brand marketing.”

Humans have been consuming cannabis for 5,000 years – but due to the plant’s difficulty in processing and complex legal status, it’s only been productized in the past 10 years or so.  Put another way – we’re at the same stage in the development of cannabis products as the alcohol industry was in the Sumerian times.  If you walked into a bar in Mesopotamia, you certainly weren’t getting a Grey Goose Martini.  You were getting whatever they had. It would be different from one day to the next – and there’s really no guarantee that it wouldn’t kill you.  Cannabis isn’t going to kill anyone but we have a long way to go to develop consistent, well-branded, products consumers have grown accustomed to in the 21^st century.  Learn how to ensure predictability and reliability for your products.  Learn about creating a product which is shelf-stable, and will hold up over time.  Learn how to create a brand which truly speaks to your target demographic. Learn the importance of A-B testing in brand building, focus groups, research and development, and all the really hard science that goes into making a modern consumer product.  Making a great branded cannabis product is not as easy as some think. But since there aren’t a lot of people doing it right, there’s an opportunity for those who do to stand out.

Processor Track: taking your extraction business to the next level

DAY ONE:

Session 1: Nancy Whiteman, Wana Brands, “Taking Your Cannabusiness to the Next Level: Protecting Your Brand and Maintaining Quality and Consistency Through Multi-State Expansion”

As the marijuana industry grows, infused products brands are increasingly looking to new markets for expansion. Throughout the expansion process, business owners who are interested in building a national brand must be prepared to take the right steps to protect their brand – from spending the time to understand market nuances, to finding the right partners, and implementing a robust QA system. Not only must business be prepared from a brand protection standpoint, but they must also have well developed Standard Operating Procedures set in place to ensure that all products are consistently produced according to quality standards, across all markets. In this session, we will discuss overall brand protection, from visual branding to production and quality to sales and marketing, The session will also provide insight on developing and maintaining quality and consistency across all markets to ensure quality assurance.

Session 2: Applying Models from Pharmaceutical and Food Science to Cannabis”

The widespread acceptance of cannabis as medicine and recreation requires that the industry provide a safe, clean, consistent product meeting stringent quality standards. Cannabis products, including extracts and concentrates, can be made with processes borrowed from the natural food coloring, flavoring and dietary supplement industries, including solvent extraction and quality systems such as HACCP, Quality by Design, and GMP.  This session will provide an overview of regulations and processes from other industries that inform cannabis, list some of the common pitfalls in botanical processing and testing, and provide some solutions and ‘tricks of the trade’ for industrial-scale botanical extraction.

Session 3: A page from Compound Pharmacies: Customized Medications, Terpene Profiling

Session 4: Simone Cimiluca-Radzins, LIV Consulting, “Maximizing ROI on expensive machinery & assets: a CPA’s advice on recovering capital expenditures, operational efficiency, and inventory management”

Companies can save time and money by improving just a few small areas in how they manage inventory, supply chain, and accounting. In this session, you’ll learn how to maximize your cash flow by implementing inventory, procurement, and business best practices into your business. You’ll also get an overview of the inventory management and seed to sale tracking systems available for your business and tips to maximize depreciation of your capital expenditures.  Operational excellence is what sets great companies apart, is your company operating at its full potential?

DAY TWO:

Session 1: Automation in oil production: eliminating waste and increasing efficiency with filling and packaging solutions

Session 2: Andrew Samann, “Quality By Design: Standards and Good-Manufacturing Practices (GMP)”

Quality by Design is the dogma of Good Manufacturing Practices. GMP is a standard applied in the pharmaceutical and industrial food manufacturing industries, and this standard is coming to the cannabis industry: pharmaceutical engineering applies to cannabis process development, and facility buildouts.

Quality is not an end-result that’s validated by a test: it’s built in. Engineering a process and then building facilities around the process minimizes risks to consumer safety, and business KPIs. Asking the right questions on the front end, formulating strategy, and execution, in the right sequence, makes the difference between a successful business and a bankrupt business. Answering those questions yield insights necessary to consistently manufacture high quality cannabis products that brands can be built upon.

Andrew Samann, from Orion GMP, will provide an overview of GMP, offer insight into what the cannabis industry needs to know about getting started right, what makes great facilities great, and the dangers and risk associated with unplanned manufacturing and processing.

Session 3: Topicals: Bioavailability, Delivery Methods, Market Opportunities and Product line gaps

Session 4: What the jewelry and cosmetic industries can teach us: conveying value through branding and package design