Thousands pack convention in Kissimmee to learn how to cash in on marijuana industry

ORLANDO, Fla. — Thousands of people packed the Gaylord Palms convention floor Tuesday to check out a showcasing of a multibillion-dollar industry: marijuana.

Since 2011, the Marijuana Business Conference has connected the industry’s biggest hitters.

Danny Monticelli walked the convention floor and shook hands with more people than he expected.

“I am impressed. I was thinking this is going to be something smaller, but it’s very big,” he said.

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The Florida local works in the automotive industry, but now he’s thinking about trading in cars for cannabis.

“I want to learn if I am going to go in the business or not,” he said.

About 3,000 other people are either thinking the same thing or they are already in the $4.5 billion industry and wanted to learn how to improve their business.

“We have gone far beyond just the, ‘I’m going to pop up a storefront and start selling some weed,’ to some really sophisticated business models,” said Cassandra Farrington, the CEO of Marijuana Business Daily.

Neil Yorio worked with NASA and now works for a Brevard County company that sells lights to grow plants, such as cannabis.

“We can do it with 40 percent less electricity to create the same amount of life for plants,” Yorio said.

Monticelli got his idea to get into the pot business a few months ago in Colorado.

He wants in before it hits Florida.

“I see that this is a business that is growing very fast, and I am interested to learn hot it is going to be,” Monticelli said.

The expo ends at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Cox Media Group