In the SIPA webinar a couple weeks ago on managing remote working with Heather Farley, COO of Access Intelligence, and Dan Fink, managing director of Money-Media—see the whole SIPA webinar library here—they spoke about the importance of keeping employees engaged in meetings.

One of the first things Anne Holland and Cassandra Farrington of Marijuana Business Daily did in their new venture was conduct a survey of businesses in the field—their audience. What did people really want from an information company?

I attended the Annapolis (Md.) Film Festival over the weekend and besides the impressive films—I still recall Itzhak Perlman talking about not making live events feel too rehearsed in a documentary about his extraordinary life—I was really impressed by their survey method.

Lesley Norins, vice president of Medvostat, offered a prize at the end of his session on Finding and Seizing New Topics at June's SIPA Annual 2017 Conference: a fruitful new topic. He even had a name for the newsletter: Police Video Update.

"We believe in a purpose-led company," said Anne Holland, president, Anne Holland Ventures, describing her initial thought in a stirring, opening keynote address this morning at the 41st SIPA Annual 2017 Conference here in Washington, D.C. "We wanted to be in business to help people—kind of a cataclysm of the conscience. Companies that have a purpose also tend to be more profitable. People stick with them."

"We have a specific way of putting together our events, a branding way we do it," Anne Holland, co-founder of Anne Holland Ventures Inc., told me a couple weeks ago. She and co-founder Cassandra Farrington—they both also run Marijuana Business Daily (MBD)—will be keynote speakers at the SIPA 2017 Annual Conference, June 5-7, in Washington, D.C.

Marijuana Business Daily, a division of Anne Holland Ventures Inc., debuted at #302 on Inc.'s fastest-growing private companies in America list last year. It also ranks #4 in the category of "Top Media Companies" on the list and #11 in "Top Colorado Companies." Founded in 2011, MBD has posted a 3-year growth of 1,288.2%—that's no mistake—reaching $7 million in revenue in 2015. Their fall and spring conferences appeared on Trade Show Executive's Fastest [Growing] 50 list in more than one category.