Mega Sesh: The Good, Bad and The Ugly

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Over last weekend (Aug. 19 & 20) Team Compassesh held their first ever Mega Sesh at the National Orange Show in San Bernardino. With so many cannabis happenings all over the place and all the time, it’s a challenge to make your footprint in this industry and have your event stand out from others. So the last thing to do is be disappointing or not meet expectations. I understand that from the outside looking in, it’s easier said than done, but at the same time I can’t help but share a list of what I think they should do differently IF they decide to make a second attempt at Mega Sesh in the future.

Smaller Venue

The National Orange Show is a sick spot to host an event and maybe Jeremy Wen and his team had a vision of people just flooding the gates to get in, but unfortunately, there was no risk of drowning. Not only was the line almost nonexistent, I felt like it was a mistake to have all of the rooms open; they’re massive as it is and only made everything feel more empty without people to fill the space. I understand the importance of having the event accessible to those 18 and over even without a medical recommendation because of the educational talks and panels, so the need for separation is there. However, a smaller dome was dedicated to the VIP lounge and was practically unoccupied throughout the weekend. Moving the main stage to that room, closing the other one and filling the empty space in the exhibitor’s building with a VIP area would have made more sense. Next time, start small.

More Footwork

Ever since PotPlus took off, I have been filling my days going to as many cannabis events as possible and one thing I can always count on is a ton of fliers, which I treat like breadcrumbs leading me to next event. So when I first discovered Mega Sesh on Eventbrite, I was really surprised I hadn’t heard about it any of the events prior. I never seen any fliers at the dispensaries, on my car or anywhere for that matter. I also spoke with a huge player in the industry and he hadn’t heard of it either. For every 50 people you invite 30 won’t show and 10 will cancel, so my advice is to hit the ground running faster and hit up every spot you can think of. In order to be Mega, everyone has to know about it.

Preparation

The event was scheduled to start at 11 a.m. and I’ve learned the hard way not to show up on time. I mean these are stoners we’re talking about. So when I arrived at 12:30 p.m. I was surprised at the low attendance numbers as well as the fact that no one wearing a VIP lanyard was carrying a VIP bag, so I headed to the VIP lounge to see what was up. Turns out one guy was left to make a hundred and fifty bags without any help, so they weren’t ready. I was definitely surprised at the lack of preparation: the patients are always supposed to come first and let’s not forget they paid $200 for VIP status. However, the judges’ kit was prepped and loaded with flower, concentrate, edibles and other cannabis goodies. As for the VIP bags, I checked again after 4 p.m. and he was still working on them. I never did see the bags or what was inside, so who knows if it was worth it.

Promises

We all know the phrase, never make a promise you can’t keep, well not all of us. Mega Sesh was advertising to be American’s largest cannabis community carnival when it wasn’t even close. This is the first Mega Sesh- ever, so how can they make these claims without any previous information to support it? They stated there would be no disappointment, well I know I’m was and I imagine most were on one level or another. On the website they drew attention to performers by saying there would be thousands of people and in turn would have plenty of exposure, but there was probably no more than 25 attendees in front the main stage. Which didn’t stop the artist from doing their thing and vendors from throwing free product to the crowd.

Final Thought

Mega Sesh has great potential. I feel like it there was a little more thought into what it really takes to put on a successful event, let alone a cannabis event, the results would have been much different. Vendors wouldn’t have opted out of coming back Sunday, because of the poor experience on Saturday. The vendors though, were all as amazing as usual with all kinds of freebies and dope products for sweet deals. Obviously things are not going to be perfect, but the procrastination was obvious and hopefully they’ll be more prepared for their next one.