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The AGC Playbook: How to Show Up, Meet the Right Execs, and Leave with Meetings Booked

Sunrise over a Scottsdale Arizona golf course
THE PLAYBOOK · EXECUTIVE NETWORKING

The AGC Playbook

How to Show Up, Meet the Right Execs, and Leave with Meetings Booked

Most networking events leave you with a stack of business cards and nothing on the calendar. The Arizona Golf Classic is built differently — but only if you show up differently. No fluff, no “just be yourself” advice. Just what works when you’re spending a day on the course with 250+ cannabis executives and you want to leave with real meetings booked.
BEFORE THE EVENT

Do the Work

The execs who leave AGC with signed NDAs and follow-up calls on the books didn’t get lucky. They prepared.

Know Who's Coming

Once your registration is confirmed, watch the sponsor list, team registrations, and anyone AGC highlights on social. Build a short list — five to ten people you genuinely want to meet. Not fifty. Ten.

Have a Reason to Talk

“Nice to meet you” is not a reason. A specific question, a shared connection, a comment on something their company just did — that’s a reason. Fifteen minutes of LinkedIn homework per target exec.

Know Your Own Ask

If someone asks what you do, can you answer in one sentence? If they ask what you’re looking for, one more sentence? Most people can’t. The ones who can get meetings.
DAY-OF

The First Hour Matters Most

Registration opens at 6:30 AM. Shotgun start is at 8:15 AM. That ninety-minute window is the single highest-leverage time of the entire day.

Everyone is caffeinated, nobody is tired yet, and the range and putting green are where the real introductions happen — not on hole seven when you’re sweating through your polo. Get there at 6:45, not 7:45. Coffee in hand, warmed up, on the range by 7:15. You’ll have face time with people who will be pulled in four directions later.

Skip the group photo scramble. When everyone crowds the welcome table, that’s your window to catch someone at the putting green one-on-one.

“The first ninety minutes at AGC produce more real introductions than the next four hours combined.”
Executives teeing off at a golf tournament
ON THE COURSE

Play the Long Game

Eighteen holes with three other executives is roughly four and a half hours of uninterrupted access. That doesn’t happen anywhere else. Not at a conference. Not at a trade show. Not in a boardroom.

Don't Pitch on the Tee Box

Use the first nine to get to know the people in your cart. Business conversations happen naturally around hole eleven — and they land better because you’ve already earned them.

Ask About Their Operation First

Let them talk. You’ll learn more about the Arizona cannabis market in four hours than you’d learn in four months of cold outreach.

Play the Course, Not the People

If you’re good, don’t sandbag. If you’re not, don’t apologize every shot. Nobody cares about your handicap — they care whether you’re someone they want to do business with.
THE TURN, THE 19TH HOLE & BEYOND

The Post-Round Window

After the round, the event is not over. It’s actually where most of the deals get cemented.

Stay for the Awards and Reception

The people who leave right after their round miss the single best networking window of the day. Tired, relaxed, drink in hand, nothing else on the schedule — this is when people agree to follow-up calls.

Book the Meeting Before You Leave the Parking Lot

Don’t say “let’s connect next week.” Pull out your phone and put something on the calendar before you drive out of Westin Kierland. “Tuesday at 2?” Done. A meeting on the calendar is worth fifty “let’s keep in touch” exchanges.
THE FOLLOW-UP

The Window Is 48 Hours

Most people wait a week. By then, your new contact has played another round with someone else who followed up on Monday.

Send a one-paragraph follow-up by Thursday morning. Reference a specific thing from your conversation. Confirm the meeting you booked, or propose two concrete times. No “great to meet you!” templates. Real sentences.

LinkedIn, then email, in that order. Connection request with a short note referencing AGC within 24 hours. Email with a specific next step within 48. That’s the cadence.

“A meeting on the calendar is worth fifty ‘let’s keep in touch’ exchanges.”
Golfer completing swing follow through
WHAT SEPARATES THE TOP 10%

Three Things the Rest Don’t Do

The executives who consistently leave AGC with the most productive pipeline do three things the rest don’t:

They come with a specific goal — not “meet people” but “meet three cultivation operators scaling to a second facility.” They listen more than they talk on the course. And they follow up fast, with specifics, before the week is out.

That’s the whole playbook. AGC gives you the room. The door. The four hours of access you can’t buy anywhere else in Arizona cannabis. What you do with it is on you.

READY TO PUT IT TO WORK?

The 2026 Arizona Golf Classic

May 19 at Westin Kierland Golf Club in Scottsdale. 27 activated holes. 4-man scramble. 250+ cannabis executives. Register your team or explore sponsorship opportunities before spots close.

Play. Network. Be Seen.

Register Now →