Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Kaya Cast podcast for cannabis businesses looking to launch, grow, and scale their operations.
Tommy Truong: So you, I know that you are a serial entrepreneur, particularly in the event space. Uh, you also co-founded Blunt and Brunch, right? Blunt Brunch.
Adelia Fakhri: Yep. Yeah. Yeah. That evolved actually a few years ago when I moved. I'm from California, when I moved from California to Arizona. You know, being in the cannabis industry, um. California is a huge market, so you tend to get in a bubble. You're, you're focused, you know, so I knew going to a whole nother state, it was gonna be all new.
And so I, I reached out to my friend who's my business partner now, Parisa Rad. And, uh, we both were chatting and we're like, let's do a brunch together. Um, not thinking anything about a business, you know, just like you bring some friends, I'll bring some friends and we all chat. It was coming outta COVID.
So we all wanted that connection. Um, and we left and we're like. We [00:01:00] need to do this again. And we started doing it again and again. And then people were like, well, you're putting the time and effort, you know, make, give yourself value too. So then it started to become an actual business. And now this too, like Event Hi is also, uh, nationwide and.
Tommy Truong: Wow. So what. What has that evolved to? Do you guys create your own events or are you creating events for other people?
Adelia Fakhri: So it's a little bit of both now. Um, you know, uh, just to be clear, because I know sometimes people get confused. So Event Hi is on this software ticketing side. Event Hi doesn't produce events. We work with event organizers with Blunt Brunch. We produce events so. We, um, produce our own events, and that's what it started off.
In the beginning. It was, you know, intimate events, 30 to 40 women. We'd either go to brunch or we'd go do an activity and have blunt conversations. Um, then we have a big national event during MJ Biz Con Week where we bring 350 or more industry professionals. It's definitely geared more towards women, but our allies are welcome to come and we kick off MJ [00:02:00] Biz Con Week, and then we started collaborating.
Collaborating with conferences to have like women's lounges or meetups again to providing a space for women. Um, and. There's kind of a mix. We do quite a few events within the Blunt Brunch name. We know how important it is to have our allies in the room. So then we started doing co-ed socials as well. Um, but as you know, you curate all these different experiences.
We started getting asked by brands that had product launches or we're doing company parties for their, um, employees, you know, if we could produce events for them. So that also became a new service that. Came outta nowhere again with Blunt brunch. Every day I look back and I'm amazed of this was not supposed to be a business.
And every day it becomes more and more a business. Um, and, um, yeah, so, so now we also produce events for those that are needing help with event production and planning.
Tommy Truong: Wow. That's, I, I love [00:03:00] hearing that. I love hearing
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah.
Tommy Truong: the spontaneity of how businesses start. So now with Blunt Brunch, do you start or do you help? own businesses or is that a mission still in, in working with companies that are women driven and creating events for them or just broad events that are in the industry?
Adelia Fakhri: When it's our own events, it's definitely geared more towards women. You know, the goal is, again, to have a space for women to come together, um, and be a part of these blunt conversations. Listen to them, see how we can make sure that women are still, um, a part of the conversation, having a seat at the table and, and getting access to management positions and above.
Um, when it comes to producing events for clients, it's. It's anything, you know, if again, Christmas party, holiday party, um, product launch party, a big award, whatever it might be, we, we were open to doing it as long as, [00:04:00] um, you know, it still doesn't impact the mission of Blunt Brunch. You know, we still gotta keep our own mission alive and we don't wanna get too distracted by producing all these other events that are not part of our brand.
Tommy Truong: Events. I, I've seen events, you know, we do a lot of events internally and I'm just thinking through about a, a, um, a successful event that we've launched versus events that, that were, that are not so successful. And it's such a neat tool to get to build a community. But also build your brand.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah.
Tommy Truong: There's, I, I'm sure that you get this.
I mean, you're, you're knees deep in it. It, it takes a lot of work. So if I were a brand in this industry or even a dispensary in this industry, and I'm le I'm planning on leveraging events as a vehicle for me to build a community where I am. Um, where do I start? What makes a successful event?
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah, I mean there's many thing different things that, uh, you know, [00:05:00] when it comes to, uh, looking at events, it's definitely what is your goal with it? And, and before even that I, you know, I wanna just state something that I think a lot of people kind of, uh, get nervous about or get, um, they lose interest, you know, they'll go through all this work and host an event and.
Your first event may only have 10 people. It may only have 25 people. You know, again, Lum wrench started with 10 women around a table like the size of your event does not, does not like lessen the value of the community you're building. The community will grow, the people will come. You just have to start from somewhere, you know?
Um, but with that, again,
Tommy Truong: I, I love that you say that because it's so
Adelia Fakhri: though.
Tommy Truong: and just like.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah.
Tommy Truong: Any business. It's a 20 mile march.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah. Yeah, for real. And I see a lot of, from Event Hi side, I do see a lot of event organizers who can kind kind of get, not lose interest, but like just get disen this [00:06:00] lose. Yeah. They're not encouraged because their first event, they expected so much of a bigger audience, you know, and, and again, this again will go into some of the tips that I'm gonna share.
Um, but it's, it really goes back to everybody being a part of the event and making it a success. So, um, I'll save that tip for a minute, but again, you know, start with clear goals. You know, let's say the, um, going back to the dispensary, like they are wanting to reach maybe an older demo. So they're gonna start doing like, educational workshops, you know, bringing in a nurse to start talking about, um, utilizing medicinal cannabis as you get older or whatever that might look like.
You know, that's definitely an educational event. Um, you know, what does that look like? How many people can you fit in this venue or at, at your dispensary? You know, what local? Um. I don't know the proper word of it right now. Not retirement homes, but in a way, what kind of, you know, what are those local locations look like?
Where, where they hang [00:07:00] out and go partner with them. State we're gonna bring a shuttle bus, pick them up, bring them to the dispensary. 'cause a lot of them may not be able to drive right now, or, you know, it might be a little bit harder. They might take public transportation. Um, so there's just little things that you wanna make it so convenient for your audience.
To come to that event.
Tommy Truong: Oh, I love that.
Adelia Fakhri: them, yeah, it's, it's a little bit extra, you know, you're gonna have to
Tommy Truong: No, but you're, you're, you're finding it. My mind that you're finding a distribution channel really for your
Adelia Fakhri: yeah, yeah. Exactly. You want 'em to come, you gotta bring 'em to you sometimes. But that's where they are too, you know? Yes, you can promote it, but you know, I might. You know, I could be like, oh yes, my mom is a perfect candidate, but then you're waiting for me as somebody else that is a dis, like, goes to your dispensary to maybe send it to my mom, you know, or maybe bring it to my mom.
So yeah, you wanna go where they are, you know? Um, so, you know, again, start with clear goals. Know your audience. Um, build a strong production plan. Timelines are [00:08:00] everything, but also timelines have to be flexible. There's so many events and, and I'm very type A where I'm like. Timelines have to kind of be like this, but as soon as the event happens, things always change.
And half the time when something goes wrong, nobody else knows it but you. So you're stressing thinking everybody knows all the issues, but nobody sees it half the time. You know? Um, and you know, there's plenty more. But the only one other thing I wanted to tap into is, again, when I was saying, you know, you're gonna have a lot of different parties helping this event.
You're gonna, you might have sponsors, you're gonna have your event. You as the event host, you'll have sponsors, you'll have partners, maybe media partners, you know, creating custom marketing assets for them, creating copy, making it so easy that all they have to do is download, copy, put on, put on their social media, put on their newsletter, you know, making it so easy that they don't even have to think to get the word out because.
Again, [00:09:00] it's power in numbers. They have an audience that you don't, you have an audience that they don't, and the more audiences you can get in front of, the more ticket sales you're gonna sell.
Tommy Truong: I wanna dive into that just a little bit because I, I find that the first problem that people need to solve is getting. I mean, not a hundred people, but even 10 people to their event or, you know, we're starting the event. What does success look like? And so what are some of the strategies that you, that you and you've alluded to that go where the people are?
That's when, uh, have partners make sure that you get in front of, uh, the audience. If always planning, planning an event, say for 20 people to come. Is there a ratio of signups that I should have a goal? Say maybe 60 people sign up and 20 people come. Do you guys have a ratio that you guys go by?
Adelia Fakhri: Definitely, especially if it's a free event, you know, when it's a free event. And, and I, I, I hate to say it, but it's so true because I see it [00:10:00] happen all the time. When you have a free event, people will go in and they'll just automatically click the, you know, the most amount, or they'll think they're gonna bring a plus one, or, you know, so they'll maybe get five tickets and in reality it might just be one of them.
Or in reality, they don't have like any. Uh, it's kinda like skin in the game. They didn't pay for a ticket, so their chance of them going, if something else comes up or I'm getting called into a work late, like, I'm like, Ugh, I might have to miss that event. You know, you don't necessarily, there's nothing to get in return, you know?
So again, like definitely count for more, you know, get more tickets out there. Um, if it's a paid event, you know, you'll obviously know how many ticket sales that you have and. I think when it comes to, especially the first couple events, even now, you know, bump Wrench has been doing this for four years and, um, we still will work with collab partners, influencers, um, VIPs, where we will gift tickets because we want a certain, you know, we want some, you know, let's say dispensary owners in the room [00:11:00] so that we can make sure we're connecting them to our.
Brands that are in the room. So sometimes you are gonna have to budget in, which can be a loss of costs, but you make it up in other ways. Um, so again, count on giving some stuff for free, sometimes even. Vendor space. You know, it's again, to make, especially the first event a success. You want, you want the works, you want people to be wowed, so they'll come back to your next one and by then, you know, maybe the second, third or fourth is when you can start to finally break even.
It's, you know, I, I, by talking to a lot of event organizers and from experience, you don't necessarily break even on the first couple events. You know, you can get close. You know, you're, or be if you're very lucky and you, you know, maybe got a free venue there, there could be ways, but it's very hard. And so, um, you just have to kind of budget that in and, and realize it's okay that you're, you were a little negative, you know?
And how do you next time get out and make sure you, you get closer to not negative and start making an income, you know?
Tommy Truong: [00:12:00] So that's, you've alluded to, um, setting a goal and oftentimes. It's a really hard thing to set as a dispensary owner because you're thinking to yourself, okay, well I'm gonna create an event. I'm gonna create a community. I'm gonna give some free stuff away. Some of these individuals may be customers in the future, some may not.
What would be what? What should be the thought process of that 20 mile march where maybe what you've alluded to, your first event is gonna be small and you need multiple events to build a community, so. When I'm thinking about a goal, am I thinking about, Hey, what is my goal for 20 events? For example, what is my long-term goal and to work backwards for that event?
And if it's not a monetary goal, what are some examples of goals that are really good leading indicators that I'm marching towards the right direction?
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah. So again, I think there's, um, there and there's, again, it depends on who the event organizer is. 'cause um, let's say, you know, I see a lot more [00:13:00] brands hosting event. Um, and these are not, you know, large scale events. They are intimate, they, a lot of 'em are invite only. And it's because they wanna get in front of the consumer to see how they use their product to get them to give real feedback, to provide an experience where said, potential customer down the road, you know, can really understand how their product should be used.
You know, um. All the things about it. Um, it just building that like one-on-one connection. Um, brands will still go to conferences because they do see the value in those, but I have started to see them also create more smaller, intimate events. And again, for them, that goal is because they're, they're trying to build relationships with a, a con, a customer down the road who's gonna go and buy their product, find out where they are, or recommend their product to their own dispensary that they go shop at.
So that's more specific for that kind of, um, approach. You know, let's say, um, when it comes to more of a like service provider, or I've seen even [00:14:00] consultants, you know, they have started off hosting events and at the end of the day, um, it might, it, one of the biggest goals for them is, you know, by bringing people together, they, they saw a need, you know, for let's bring B2B entrepreneurs together in a room and it helps the industry, but.
I can also be the, their point of contact. They're gonna hire me for consulting. I'll get, I'll generate my own leads by hosting these events in person. They're coming to me, you know, I've seen some events like that for Blunt Brunch now. Again, this came out of just, ours was more of a need where we felt we needed a space to feel heard personally.
Like this was really parisa and I both felt like we just needed a space where we could have blunt, again, I'll, I'll go into it. Blunt conversations. You know, we talk about imposter syndrome, we talk about things that. Um, you know, we experience as women that we might not be able to share in front of like our male counterparts or let's say hardships are happening with our company that we may not be able to share with our team.
You know, there's certain things [00:15:00] as a, a founder, um, that you. May not always be able to share with them 'cause, you know, uh, for whatever reason. So again, for us it was more providing a space that we knew we needed and we knew other women were going to need. So it wasn't necessarily like monetary. Obviously.
Now that we built it, we've realized there's overhead costs. We, you know, this does take a lot of time. We have to now pay for our time to produce these things. Um, but like I said in the beginning, that specifically was more for finding us a space that we knew we needed.
Tommy Truong: That's so amazing. You guys started a mastermind group and you grew it to Nationwide.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah. Yeah. All over brunch.
Tommy Truong: I gotta tell my business partner, she's a woman, and, uh. Yeah, definitely. I know that a lot of people really, when when they think about an event, they think about this grandiose big thing like you alluded to, I'm gonna create this thing that that's huge. And although that's a [00:16:00] really great goal, the focus really is on that day,
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah.
Tommy Truong: but there's not a lot of work and not a lot of thought on what happens post event.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah.
Tommy Truong: Post event is oftentimes the work after an event is what makes the event successful. What are some strategies or what are some things that, uh, people should think about, maybe pre-event to make the event successful and post the event to make the event successful.
Adelia Fakhri: Um, so a couple things. You know, it is gonna definitely be in the communication, um, you know, one tip or one, one strategy that we've used at Blunt wrench. Um, and this is for pre-promotion, you know, as we did our first national event, so this was new. We were going to Vegas. We're like, we gotta make sure that everybody knows about it.
And I had this idea where. You know, we make graphics for every sponsor. Now, what if we made a graphic with every guest, making them feel, um, feel, feel honored, you know, that we wanna highlight them as a guest. They are gonna be in the room. That's [00:17:00] something that we shared, but it makes them feel valuable and it makes them share it.
So now you have not only your sponsors, not only your partners, but the guests that are gonna be in that room sharing something that you've built and. That honestly was such a great mark to start with. Four years ago at our national event, you know this, it's now something that all the ladies look forward to.
They're like, I can't wait to get my photo, my custom graphic. And you know, yes, it was a marketing thing, but it was also, again, going back to. You know, I would feel so special because you usually just see the speakers or the sponsors, which are valuable to highlighted, but now I'm being featured and I'm just attending the event.
Like, how cool is that? You know? So that that was one thing. It's like coming up with unique ways that you can have your guests also involved. Maybe it's not an image, maybe it's something else. Maybe it's like, um. I can't think of the word, but like a scavenger hunt. Like finding unique ways to get them excited about going to your event now after the event.
I [00:18:00] agree a hundred percent with you. The post communication is, is I think it needs work for a lot of event organizers. Um, you know, and I get it after an event. I'm exhausted. You know, I can understand if they're doing a huge festival or anything, but it is so important to have some sort of strategy. And there's a couple things, you know, you definitely wanna do a post-marketing campaign, again, highlighting all the sponsors, um, highlighting, you know, what happened, you know, so people can, I don't wanna say have fomo, but in a sense like, oh, you didn't make it.
Look at all these things that happened, and if you can. If you are doing more of a, uh, quarterly or monthly event, have that next date already in that first email marketing campaign where you are like, thank you. This was such a great event. Huge shout out to our sponsors. Here are some photos and here's the next date for our venue or, or our event.
You know, um, the other thing that's important is send a survey. Send a survey. Two different ones. One to [00:19:00] your sponsors and one to your guests. Feedback is great. We all can learn from it. And sometimes you, you might get like, you know, it might be sensitive, you might be like, oh, dang, they didn't like that.
But like, again, you're, you know, you don't necessarily have to change something because one person said it. But if you are getting a consensus where they are like, that was not good, or This needs to be changed, or there was too much. You know, there was too many speakers talking to us and not enough networking.
I would've loved more networking to be able to meet people in the room. Like, you know, you look at that advice and you, you kind of tweak, you know, tweak your timeline, tweak your schedule around, you know, maybe don't have as many speakers next time. Um, but those surveys are so valuable and it is hard to get people to do surveys.
So, again, have a little incentive. Maybe be like, you complete your survey, you're gonna get a 15% off. Uh, promo code to our next event. Something tangible that they can utilize that, um, you know, might incentive again, incentivize them to complete that survey and provide you with more [00:20:00] information.
Tommy Truong: I love that because I, we talk about all the time on understanding your customer, and if you don't understand your customer, you don't understand your business.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah, exactly.
Tommy Truong: the best way to understand your business is talk to your customers and, and get some feedback. And this. I never really thought of, of that from on the event side.
That's true. People that come to to the event are your customers.
Adelia Fakhri: exactly. Yeah. And next time they might bring a friend, you know, the first time they might have just been them. So if they. Even feel like, oh wow, they, I was, I felt heard. You know? I feel like they at least listened to me. Again, you don't have to change your, change it because one person said it. But again, just acknowledging like, I feel like a lot of people in this day and age, no matter what in business and not we, we wanna feel heard, you know, like you don't have to change everything.
But again, it's just okay, at least they listen and you know, maybe they're gonna work on it or. Um, you know, the same thing with Event Hi. We, uh, we produce all of our technology, and so we have like an open door policy [00:21:00] with all of our event organizers. If you don't like something, let us know. Like we have a, like a communication board online of.
Every feature or issue that somebody has shared with us and we tally it. You know, we see how many have complained about this feature because we don't know. We only know what we know, you know, and we don't know how you're gonna use our technology. Uh, and you know, so having all this information and, and seeing, oh wow, that has a lot of feedback.
Okay, next software launch. Like, we need to fix that, you know? Um.
Tommy Truong: I was gonna say that there's nothing worse when you're setting up an event and you're investing all of this attention and money in into the event, and your platform then kicks you off. Platform that you're using and now you have to go offline. So tell me a little bit about that problem that you were That's, that, that was the, the seed that started event.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah, that was, that. It was the exact seed, you know. Um, [00:22:00] we had a digital media company like I, uh, called Direct Cannabis Network. It was a, uh, online media platform that was focused around cannabis tech, entrepreneurship, and startup. I love Tech Crunch. I came from the consumer electronic industry, so I was like, oh, I could be like the tech crunch of cannabis.
Like that was my goal. So we started hosting B2B events. No consumption. It was just, you know, we're in San Diego and we were using a mainstream ticketing platform and they, they shut us down. They, they shut us down even though there was no consumption, no sales, it was that we were in cannabis and ticket sales were coming from people in cannabis or sponsors were paying in can, like, it just tied back to everything.
Cannabis, they froze our funds, so we produced that event. We had, we basically were in the negative after that event because. They held our money for months. But it was that moment of, if we're going through this, somebody else has to. And so we started reaching out, you know, just putting [00:23:00] it out there, Hey, you're an event organizer.
Have this ever happened? Have this ever happened? Or warning event organizers, this happened to us, you know? So be prepared. Like it could happen to you. 'cause. For some people that kind of hit will take 'em out. You know, they, they, you know, they, they take some time for them to recover for that. So, um, again, after we, we found a consensus that yes, this was a problem.
And for those that may not know why it's a problem, is they consider it a prohibited merchant, a prohibited transaction, and a prohibited event. Because again, it's coming from cannabis, um, cannabis. Industry essentially. Um, so, so we started looking at that and then, um, we were like, okay, well, where, how do we even fix that problem?
And it goes to the banking. It goes straight to credit card processing and banking. And we wanted to make sure that we were as transparent as compliant as can be. So it took time. But we found a bank, a marijuana related business bank that would work with [00:24:00] us and a credit card company, um, that would work with us.
We basically had to speak to both ceo. Pitched them, convinced them to work with us, and then we had to convince them to work with each other because they both weren't, you know, um, technically working with any cannabis tech companies before. And so that was, then we became their Guinea pig. Uh, essentially, um, the cannabis bank that we worked with only worked with dispensaries, only worked with cash focused businesses.
Again, they weren't working online with credit card processing, so that took a while to, to evolve. And then we built our technology from the ground up. And again, ever since then, you know, we own a hundred percent of our code and we've been building it since, and now we're in 47 State.
Tommy Truong: Wow. When did you guys, uh, launch?
Adelia Fakhri: Um, so we came out with our private beta in 2017. Uh, we were working on Event Hi behind the scenes 2016, 2015. Um, but we had a private [00:25:00] beta with, uh, people that we knew. Um, you know, they're still people that we, we look back and we're like, oh, they're number two in Event Hi, or they're number 10. You know, they're event organizers that like.
Wanted to be, again, Guinea pigs wanted to work with us, tell us what was broken or what they needed fixed or what didn't make sense to them. Um, and then about, I would say two years after that is when we went public beta and, uh, really opened the doors to people produ publishing the events themselves on Event Hi.
Um, and, and then it, it went from there. You know, we, we, we obviously got hit during COVID and we pivoted for a little bit. Um, but we, we made it out alive.
Tommy Truong: That is the, I think that's the story of every entrepreneur, right?
Adelia Fakhri: For reals?
Tommy Truong: There's just so many, so many bumps along the way
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah.
Tommy Truong: you have to maneuver. What is the most, in your opinion, the most successful event that you hosted on event [00:26:00] high?
Adelia Fakhri: My gosh, there's so many. I, I, you know, and success looks so different in, in, in a couple different ways. So I'll give you like a small one and then I'll give you a big one. Um, there was an event producer. Um, she doesn't produce events anymore, but she would produce the most unique experiences ever. Um, and I remember this one.
To this day, and I always talk about it, it was called, uh, sushi and Doobie. And so this event series, you would go and you would learn how to roll a sushi roll and you would learn how to roll a joint and you would obviously consume the joint and enjoy the sushi roll. And then they would end it with like CB, D infused ice cream.
And it was just an experience that everybody, you know, all your senses were kind of. Being touched. You learned about the plant, you learned how to roll it. You, you also partaked in creating your own sushi roll and then you enjoyed it. You know, so it was everything that she created. It [00:27:00] was really, again, an experience.
It touched all senses. You learned about a product. So that, and, but those were small, those were intimate events that she would do. Um, and then, you know, there's a couple large scale, uh, festivals that we have worked with. Um, one, um, was, it's, it, it was, it, it's for, it's free, it's a free event. And, um, before regulation, um.
Or Yeah, before California, I went recreational, not regulation, uh, went recreational. It was a massive, uh, festival. It was huge. It was about, you know, they were reaching over 50,000, 65,000, um, event goers, and it was packed and it was so much fun. It was free. So that's, it was accessible to everyone. Um, and then the sponsors and the vendors got so much value because so many people were attending.
You know, they still do this event. Um, and, you know, and, and they're regrowing. It, it definitely changed once things in recreational went, you know, turned because we also lost a lot [00:28:00] of brands when, um, recreational hit so many companies closed or couldn't get a license and, and all these things. So it, it definitely affect the event sector, um, because.
You know, it was a lot harder to find brands that were, that understood the value of marketing or that, you know, had the budget. Um, but those, and the re I'm sorry. Going back to his event though, he had music, he had vendors, it was consumption friendly, he had food vendors. Um, every vendor was doing something very unique.
Um, and it was cool. It was, it was a really awesome event that we were able to work with and grow with the,
Tommy Truong: Wow, that's such, that's a pretty big operation.
Adelia Fakhri: It was, it was, and, and we were still in our infancy. So I'm like, they trusted, they trusted us at the time.
Tommy Truong: How, how did he leverage Event Hi? What, what were some of the things on Event Hi that he leveraged to either get the or or make that event successful?
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah. Um, so, uh, for us, um, if I recall correctly, 'cause this was in the very beginning when we first launched, um, [00:29:00] he actually did get shut down on I, I think Eventbrite. It was. And so he heard from us, he heard about us and. Um, he reached out to my business partner and they, we onboarded him and basically how he used Event Hi was, um, he put up his event page, he built out his event page.
Again, this was a free event. We didn't have our sponsorship feature yet, so we weren't helping with anything with sponsors at the time. It was just him utilizing our ticketing, uh, software for people to register. And at the time we would help and, and we still do this, um, we still market events to our community.
You know, granted back then. Again, we were in our infancy, so we helped, but it wasn't as much as now we are able to help event creators that are putting their events on Event Hi. Um, 'cause now we have a huge, uh, a larger audience. You know, we are at 175,000 registered event goers that are looking for events throughout the us
Tommy Truong: Wow. What has changed on Event Hi since then? And you mentioned you guys have these sponsored features. So as an event organizer, [00:30:00] now I can have sponsors organize on my page and transact.
Adelia Fakhri: So not they can't organize. But basically how that works is it kind of goes back to the payment processing. 'cause the second thing we started hearing from event organizers is. Great. My ticket problem is solved. You know, I know I'm not gonna get shut down. I can sell tickets easily on Event Hi, but now here I'm trying to close a sponsor and I can't collect their money.
I got shut down on X, Y, z, stripe, whatever we pay, whatever payment processor that they were using. And so, again, um, we had to connect with our bank and um, payment processor to see like. How we could get this approved, how it would be compliant. And so again, on our end, we just have some protocols. We just have to make sure we're reviewing all the events, making sure that somebody's not saying it's an event and quote, it's like really selling weed on our platform.
So that was things that we had to do. But, [00:31:00] um, anyways, I digress. Um, so yeah, so then we built out the sponsorship feature. Um, and so now you create your event page and then you'll create your sponsorship page, and now you'll have two different links. You can send this link out to any brand. They can look at your deck in there and then literally buy without any other, you know, steps.
They can just buy right there. You'll get an email, you contact them, Hey, see that you purchased your sponsorship. Now here's X, Y, Z information. Um, we also promote that to brands, so. With Event Hi, we have a weekly newsletter we promote on all of our social media platforms about events that are happening.
Then we have a social me, uh, sorry, a newsletter that goes specifically to brands that have expressed interest to learn or who have purchased sponsorships from us in the, from Event Hi in the past. And they get to learn about these other sponsorship opportunities. Um, so again, it's become its own marketplace in a way.
It's still in development. Um, it's in its phase one. Uh, we are gonna make [00:32:00] it more, um. We're gonna have it be more front facing eventually, uh, but right now it's just more connected to the event organizer's ticket page, so you see it all together.
Tommy Truong: Dalia, what other features have you come up with or you're coming out with that are tackling the unique problems of, of setting up an event, a general event, or, or an event in our industry?
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah. So, um, you know, we've listened to what our community needs and so we're gonna be adding a lot more data and analytics. Right now it's, it's, it's very general. Um, so that was one thing that we've realized. Uh, we also realized that event hosts would like. To have more access when it comes to advertising.
So right now we do have advertising packages, but what I'm talking about is more on the actual platform where they could go in and be like, you know what? This week I want extra exposure. And so for them to be able to just go to, go to the website, go to their event page, and then say, push my my event for [00:33:00] this many days, and it'll move them to the homepage.
So that'll, you know, so now it's just. There's no back and forth between me and, and and them. They can just go do it for that week, for that, for, for those two days. Really. Whatever their budget can do. You know, that's something that will come out in the future. But we've heard that and we, we know how valuable that is.
Um, 'cause again, you, you know, you might be doing well, really well on ticket sales, but that last week it slowed down. So you wanna gain some more traction. Um. You know, there's also some things that we don't necessarily have yet that we're developing that, again, mainstream, bigger companies that have been around for a lot longer than us have already built.
Um, we're, we're gonna be looking at building more of a, um. Like emailing system directly from our platform. We don't necessarily have that yet. Um, but we have everything that they dec they definitely need, you know, they have discount codes that they can use and give people discounts. Again, the sponsorship feature, um, they get access to our mar, our general marketing.
Um, and [00:34:00] so again, these are just the unique things that we've kind of start, like continue to add onto our, uh, platform to better it and enhance it as we go.
Tommy Truong: That's awesome. And guys, if you're listening, it's very difficult to to build in our industry because when you're talking about, even say texting, well Twilio's not in the industry. So you have to find a vendor that is in the industry to leverage. So it's a little bit more tricky.
Adelia Fakhri: yeah, yeah. It's not, not as easy as if I was just doing, if we were all just doing a business outside, you know, we'd have access to not getting shut down on Instagram or Facebook or even
Tommy Truong: So if somebody wanted to, um, host, reach out to you and, and not only use the platform, but also use your help on creating an event
Adelia Fakhri: Mm-hmm.
Tommy Truong: that would be possible given that you're in both in industries.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah, and I, and two, I just love masterminding. So, you know, I'm always down to mastermind on an [00:35:00] event. I'm happy to share some of the things we've seen that, you know, were mistakes or wins. Um, but yeah. Uh, from Event Hi side, I can help, we, we can help with the ticketing and from Lum brunches aside with event production.
So it's really a one stop shop with two different businesses.
Tommy Truong: Are you, are you guys uh, active in the emerging states today?
Adelia Fakhri: Um, we with a vent high or a bump w brunch.
Tommy Truong: Uh, Event Hi.
Adelia Fakhri: Okay. Event Hi. Yes and no. So, you know, when we say we're in 47 states, the ones that are not act like that don't have anything yet for cannabis per se. Um, those markets are really just educational events that we're seeing, um, you know, so, or a lot of like. How to get in the business.
Like a lot of workshops, you know, um, obviously they don't have like consumption yet and things like that. Um, but you know, that's how we're seeing we're getting into the market. There is all through education and workshops, that's our beginning foot in, into a lot of these states that we're not [00:36:00] in, or that just launched into medical or recreational or whatnot. Yeah.
Tommy Truong: That's, would you have ever thought that you would be in this space? I mean, it, it, it kind of fell in your lap ish, right?
Adelia Fakhri: it did. And the thing is, with that, like it really did because my, my dad, um, my dad is a retired sheriff. My mom is a, used to work for the district attorney investigators. She was a specialist. So that was obviously a big no-no, you know, and being Latina, that's another big no-no. So yeah, there's no way I.
I had a corporate job, you know, I did not think I would be here at all building a bus, building any business in this industry. Um, but like you said, you, you find your way. I found my way. I had to be, I was a patient, I had some health issues, and it brought me to cannabis. And that's when I was like, I wanna do something for this industry.
And here we are, almost 12 years later, and I'm still here. I, I think I'm crazy sometimes, but I'm still here.
Tommy Truong: What are [00:37:00] some of the, what's the next event that you guys are hosting for? Uh, blunt Punch.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah. Um, I'm gonna mention two because they're two different ones. So Halloween is coming up. We're having our Halloween, uh, co-ed, social, so it's a big, uh, we don't normally necessarily have consumption, uh, events. Our most. See, like, uh, B2B at restaurants, things like that. So we have a couple throughout the year which are more fun, consumption friendly.
Um, this is one of 'em. And that one is gonna be in Phoenix, Arizona on October 15th. But the big one that's coming up is December 2nd in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's lum brunch Nationals curled up and powerful. Empowered by MJ Biz Con. Um, and this is gonna be a night to kick off MJ Biz Con and it, it's our formal event.
Men and women dress up, you know, they, they play on theme and they get to network. We have vendor activations, light appetizers, a dj. It's just a night to really. You know, kind of set the mood for, I'm in Vegas now without it being too late. [00:38:00] You know, we know the next day's the conference, so we like to get the networking in, have everybody feel beautiful for a minute, and then they go to their hotel and the next day we see them at the show floor.
Tommy Truong: so you probably started planning for the MJ National show probably like a month after the last one, right?
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah, literally.
Tommy Truong: it's it's pretty massive.
Adelia Fakhri: And now it's here. I was just telling my business partner, I'm like, it doesn't feel like, you know, it's, it's coming. I'm like, it feels like we just started it and I know it's been months that, you know, it was literally January, our last event was December. We started January.
Tommy Truong: So when you're planning, and this is how many years have you, have you been doing this?
Adelia Fakhri: um, so. You know, events, actually, I, um, and, and it was like a little mom and pop business I launched when I was in the consumer electronic industry. I ended up launching a company called Lillian Rose. It was a side passion. It was like my real step into entrepreneurship. And, um, I was doing event planning and floral design.
So I would, I would produce events for, for weddings, um, for the [00:39:00] casinos. Things like that. I would do more like kind of corporate events and, and again, weddings and things. Um, uh, and, but again, like I didn't, it was just for fun. It was, you know, the con uh, corporate world. It was just very stressful. And I wanted something for myself, but I didn't fully, I wasn't fully ready to become an entrepreneur, you know?
Um, so that was like my step into event planning. Um, but now it's like kind of full circle to now have these two companies that are fully about events and, you know. And, and planning. 'cause we talk with a lot of event organizers who are using Event Hi that are planning their events and then I'm producing events.
So, um, yeah, it's interesting.
Tommy Truong: That's a So MJ biz con, what? I, I can't, I just can't imagine the num the work that's involved in this. The time, what is, when you're planning and you're thinking about, okay, this is, this will be a successful event if this happens. What, what is that? ROI that, that you guys are measuring?
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah. Um, you know, so this is our fourth year [00:40:00] hosting it, and each year it's really the takeaways that we learn. So, um, you know. The beginning of Blunt brunch nationals. It was a sit down. It was, we would have like brunch or like lunch together and we would have everybody talk to the ladies. We learned after the second that, you know, it was hard to wrangle the women 'cause they were out in the hallway talking, you know, and they're like, they're being so loud we can't hear the speakers that what the following year we're like, we're nixing it.
They don't wanna listen. They want to network with each other. So we stopped, we, we removed the brunch, we moved it tonight, and we said, okay, this is gonna be a night out for you all to network and have fun. Um. And so again, it's just learning each time, like what do they want? Um, and so that's really what been, has been the success so far.
I mean, obviously attendance wise is, is, is a goal. Um, you know, we started with 50 women. The year after was 250, then three 50, uh, or 300 and then three [00:41:00] 50. And this year we wanna reach about three 50 to 400 because it's still, we don't. W that's kind of our sweet spot. We don't wanna get any bigger because it's too much and we could always go lesser, so it's more intimate.
But we feel like this still allows for people, a lot of people, to have a lot of fun.
we also, we, we've used the, the same venue for the past three years, so that's the other thing. We don't have to learn something new. We, we, it's like state stamp and repeat, but we just make it better.
We enhance the stamp, basically.
Tommy Truong: I was gonna ask you that. hosting a Christmas party, a company Christmas party could be a nightmare, right? Because how many people are going, how big's the venue? All of these things. And I was gonna ask you that. How do you select the venue and, and anticipate the people coming to it?
'cause you have to pick the venue so far in advance and like, you know, what does that math look like?
Adelia Fakhri: Honestly this one, we, we, we jumped because this venue that we pick is, is, is large. It's very [00:42:00] big. Um, but we can move people from space to space. So for us, what we've learned about, and that's why we still stay with the same venue. We know how they work. We know the venue space, but we can. I hate the word corral, but we can move the audience where we want them to in the venue.
And I think that's important. You don't need to have it fully open the whole time. You know, you can have spaces like again, guide them into the experience and that helps, especially if it is a large venue. Um, and yeah, I, once we found this venue, we. We again, we're like, no, we're, we're, we're settling. We're, we're gonna stay within this, um, attendance size, and we know how they work.
We know our budget for food each year. You know, it just, it just becomes a little bit easier. And like I said, now we just work on the enhancing of the event. Like what can we do to change it up?
Tommy Truong: So you've gotten to a point where are you turning away people that, that want to go because you've gotten so successful in the, the, you're capping the [00:43:00] number.
Adelia Fakhri: Um, I would say the first two years when we weren't too sure. Now there's wiggle room in those numbers, so we don't necessarily turn anybody away. But the first year we had to launch two other events because we sold out that 50 seated, uh, brunch for women within like a couple hours. So then we ended up posting, we.
Impromptu producing a bowling event where we sold more tickets and people could join us to go bowling. And then we did a meet and greet at the conference. So it was all about pivoting, um, because it did, we did hear, you know, women felt that they didn't get the opportunity because we sold out so quick.
So.
Tommy Truong: all entrepreneurs.
Adelia Fakhri: They're all entrepreneurs. They're all in some sort of capacity. Either a business owner for a small business, they're growing, or an executive to a big MSO, they're, they're all ranging, or they're an employee, you know, they work for someone or they're a consultant. So it ranges and, and [00:44:00] again, Vegas brings so many people from all over.
The world really. Um, you know, our, our farthest guest, uh, she came from, I don't know which, um, which city, but she's from China and she came, she found our event online, I think on LinkedIn, and she contacted us and was like, I wanna go. I'm going to MJ Biz Con. And she was our farthest guest that we've ever had in, in, in our second event.
And she still comes every year, you know? So now we're kind of like. Who traveled here and how far did you travel? You know, so we can get an a consensus of where they're coming from. 'cause now it's just not in the local cities or markets. It, it's from everywhere.
Tommy Truong: Wow, that's so amazing. So as an entrepreneur, how does it feel to have built such a strong community? Because that's every entrepreneur's dream.
Adelia Fakhri: It, it's really cool. Um, you know, on both sides, you know, from Blunt Brunches side, we now have a, a virtual community where we [00:45:00] bring the women together, um, when we're not in person. So that has, that change has brought the community together even more. We have virtual events. We have a B2B directory. You know, we're, we're still trying to find ways to connect because again.
Producing events are hard and you can only produce so many events a year. And you know, when the industry is getting bootstrapped, it's harder to raise money for sponsorship. So we had to kind of change things up as the industry was going through its ups and downs. Um, so that has been amazing to see it grow and flourish.
And then from Event Hi standpoint, it's just really cool to just see like. The different experiences that we may we know are bringing other people together. You know, it's not just the event organizer that we're excited to have part of the community. It's now somebody found again, maybe sushi and doobie and they're, they're like, wow, I found my tribe.
Or you know, another one was a jazz. A jazz and [00:46:00] rolling stage, rolling event. So like, not like, like rolling cigars or not so rolling blunts, rolling, things like that. But it was with jazz music. And you like, I look at that and I'm like, whoever likes jazz just found their tribe and who also loves to consume, you know, like best of both worlds for that person.
So it's just cool to see both of these businesses be bigger than us in reality. Be bigger than me, you know, and, and do something. To bring people together.
Tommy Truong: That's amazing.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah.
Tommy Truong: That's amazing. I, you know, I can talk about this all day and I know that you have to run Before I let you go, uh, how can our listeners find you?
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah. Um, so you can find me on Instagram or LinkedIn. On LinkedIn. It's Adelia Fakhri. Um, and so is that, it's also adelida_fakhri_ on Instagram. Um, if you wanna learn more about event hi, you can go to www event hi.io and it's like HII. [00:47:00] Um, and then Blunt Brunch is BluntBrunch.com. Okay.
Tommy Truong: Thank you so much for joining me today.
Adelia Fakhri: Yeah.
Thank you.
Outro: Thanks for listening to the Kaya Cast Podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast in your favorite podcast or visit our website.
