SPRING/SUMMER 2020 Serving the Medical Meeting & Event Industry CORPORATE VS. MEDICAL MEETINGS: THREE CRITICAL SUB-INDUSTRY DIFFERENCES THE COMPLIANCE AND CONSEQUENCES: ‘GREEN THE IMPORTANCE OF OPEN PAYMENT REGULATIONS RUSH’: NEW CANNABIS TECH TALK: MARKET FOR AUGMENTED REALITY, FACIAL RECOGNITION, MEDICAL EVENTS AND HAPPY MAPS Missouri Meetings Spring.qxp_Layout 1 1/15/19 4:19 PM Page 1 PLAN THE PERFECT MEETING IN MANHATTAN Oh Manhaan! VISITMANHATTANKS.ORG 2 MEET MED Spring/Summer 2020 785-776-8829 MAXIMIZE YOUR MEDICAL Serving the Medical Meeting & Event Industry MEETING EXPERIENCE. SPRING/SUMMER 2020 Publisher/Editor Joseph W. Clote ADVERTISE IN Serving the Medical Meeting & Event Industry Graphic Designer Rosanna Cerutti Contributing Writers Stacy Ross Kaitlyn Wallace Technology Consultant Rooban Gopalakrishnan Account Managers Joseph W. Clote Michelle Hoog Victoria Matthews Financial Controller Karen Spain Office & Event Manager Olivia Orman Circulation Coordinator Jacqueline Ogina MeetMed™ MeetMed™ is published by Publishing Concepts, LLC Advertising Inquiries: Joseph Clote • [email protected] 6590 Scanlan Avenue • St. Louis, Missouri 63139 Phone 314-781-8880 • Fax 314-781-8848 www.MeetMags.com Editorial Office Editorial submissions & inquiries only: Christine Frank • [email protected] 6590 Scanlan Avenue • St. Louis, Missouri 63139 Postmaster: Send address changes to: MeetMed™ 6590 Scanlan Avenue St. Louis, Missouri 63139 Copyright 2020 Publishing Concepts LLC Printed in U.S.A. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission. Unsolicited manuscripts submitted to MeetMed™ will not be returned. Follow us on: www.MeetMags.com 3 ‘GREEN RUSH’ CREATES NEW MARKET FOR PLANNERS AND VENUES New Cannabis Culture Brings Need for Education and Expos By Stacy Ross Just a couple of years ago, most people had not heard of CBD, let alone tried it, and they certainly did not know where to buy it. Today, you can fi nd CBD gummies and body lotion and a roll-on for arthritis. You can buy it at Walmart, gas stations, or at any of the ubiquitous stores advertised on highway billboards. Advocates promise CBD will improve everything from anxiety to joint pain to PTSD. Th e FDA says not so fast. 4 MEET MED Spring/Summer 2020 FEATURE: ‘GREEN RUSH’ The skyrocketing popularity at both the state and federal of CBD is reflected in sales level. In most states, its legal- forecasts. Analysts predict ity depends on whether and CBD sales could grow to as how much THC the CBD much as $22 billion over the contains. This fact has tied next three to five years. And federal and state legislators in that’s just CBD. Those num- knots. bers do not include other can- The 2018 federal farm bill nabis products such as mari- made hemp legal in all 50 juana and hemp. The market states, and thus CBD oil, as projections exist to serve the long as it contains less that growing cannabis investment 0.3 percent THC. Still, some community. states and the FDA, disagree on this. For example, until I am a meeting planner, recently and despite the farm why do I care? bill, South Dakota Governor Along with the popularity Kristi Noem insisted all can- of CBD comes a lot of con- nabis-related products were fusion and misinformation illegal, including CBD. Last about what it is, what it does, year, a CBD store in Rapid and whether it is legal. Mean- City was raided and CBD while, an amazing array of ex- products worth $3,000 were isting businesses have figured confiscated. In a startling out how to repurpose their turn around, the governor in products to help the budding signed a bill in May legalizing entrepreneurs join the Green Rush, and those entrepreneurs hemp (and thus CBD). In addition, in November, South Da- need lots of education. It all adds up to a need for . confer- kota voters will decide on two state constitutional amendments ences, seminars, meetings, and trade shows. And there’s a lot which would legalize both medical and recreational marijuana. to learn. The Food and Drug Administration has steadfastly main- In most cases, these events cover the entire cannabis indus- tained that food or beverage products containing CBD (in- try – including marijuana, hemp and Cannabidiol (pronounced cluding those gummies) are not legal. But now Congress has ka·nuh·buh·dai·uhl), known as CBD. And that is where the stepped in. In January, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House confusion starts. that would classify CBD as a food supplement, legalizing those gelatinous little bears, and their brethren. But as of April, the What is the difference? legislation is in limbo as it waits for the FDA to draft regula- Marijuana and hemp are derived from different strains of same tions. plant: cannabis sativa. They look similar, but there’s an impor- tant difference: marijuana has higher levels of THC (tetrahy- Conferences, and Meetings and Expos, Oh My! drocannabinol), the stuff that gets you high, while hemp has The bottom line is that a new industry of independent meet- little to none. Components of hemp have been used for centu- ing planners, event companies and organizations solely focused ries to make rope, textiles, and paint. Like THC, CBD is one on cannabis is burgeoning and, back in the days of in-person of hundreds of compounds found in cannabis—both marijuana events, venues were welcoming them with open arms. and hemp varieties. Missouri hosted dozens of CBD and cannabis events, large and small, in 2019. The events’ audiences included suppliers, What can it do for me? growers, retailers, patients, consumers, and even artists and dog CBD has exploded in popularity because of claims that it can owners. Kansas City hosted a cannabis art show in November; improve or treat dozens of intractable maladies such as multiple The Pet CBD Wellness Expo in St. Louis suburb of St. Charles sclerosis, depression, insomnia and chronic pain, among others. scheduled for April was cancelled due to COVID-19. The pan- One CBD-based drug has been approved by the FDA to treat demic has caused the cancelation of many events scheduled for two rare seizure disorders. However, the FDA has warned com- 2020 and organizers are rescheduling them for next year. panies not to market CBD for therapeutic or medical purposes Like Missouri, medical marijuana became legal in Ohio in until more studies are conducted. 2018 and dozens of cannabis-related workshops and confer- ences were scheduled throughout the state. The second Ohio What is legal and where? Cannabis Health and Business Summit was scheduled for June The answer to this question changes on an almost daily basis in Cleveland but has been moved to August, 2021. About 500 www.MeetMags.com 5 FEATURE: ‘GREEN RUSH’ entrepreneurs, investors, potential patients, physicians and staff from dispensaries and clinics attended the 2019 educational event, put on by the Lakewood Medical Clinic, according to Administrator Erin Lesueur, but they hold smaller seminars As CBD Booms, throughout the year. Hotels Join the Party Education continues to be important. “Th ere is a lack of in- formation,” Lesueur said. “People are confused and (are being) misled.” According to an article in Travel + Open Arms Leisure Magazine, you can take a Okay, so all these events were being held somewhere, but where? One might think the stigma surrounding cannabis bath in CBD oil at the venerable Elms would make some venues shy away from hosting conferences and expos. Planners in St. Louis and Kansas City said that they Hotel and Spa near Kansas City. Up- were embraced with open arms. Jamie Lane was one of those doing the embracing. Lane is scale properties in Miami Beach, Seat- director of sales and marketing at the Gateway Center in Col- linsville, which hosted the Missouri Cannabis Marketplace, the tle, Denver and Philadelphia are off er- center’s fi rst cannabis-related show, in 2019. “Everything from the planning process to every invoice being ing CBD-laced coff ee, tea, and White paid on time, there were no concerns on our end,” Lane said. “Great vendors, great attendees. We would recommend them to Russians, massages and pedicures with other venues. We would welcome them back.” Lane said she and her staff followed the same process they CBD oil, and in states where it’s legal, would for any other potential client. “We did all our research on the front end, as we do with every client,” she said. “We reach full-strength pot. In October, Forbes out to their (previous) venues. We go through our qualifi cation process to see if we even want to have their event here. We felt magazine published a list of the best very confi dent they would be a great client to work with.” “If things would return to normal, you’d have a lot of vendor “cannabis–friendly” hotels in the interest for that kind of event and I think it would be well at- tended,” Lane said. “We defi nitely are interested in prospecting world, which included Th e Standard for that business. Th ere’s so many medical and recreational off shoots of that.” hotels in Hollywood and Miami, Th e Jen Wynn is vice president of expositions at Cannabis Indus- trial Marketplace, which put on the Collinsville show. CIMP Jupiter in Oregon and a La Quinta is a business-to-business website for growers and others in the industry. Th rough their website, the company watched the resort in Palm Springs. In January, cannabis market grow and decided to move into trade shows, Wynn said. Th e 2019 Collinsville show was their third ever. Hotel Business magazine profi led Th ey held a show in Phoenix in February, but several shows scheduled throughout the country for later this year were all Roger Bloss and his Alternative Hos- moved to 2021.