An Overview of PsyCon Denver 2023
Maybe size does matter
PsyCon Denver 2023 was a well-put-together two-day conference to learn about the latest news and developments in the psychedelic space and network with other industry folks. I met some wonderful people and made some great connections, and I’m excited to see what will come of them in the future. It was the second psychedelic conference I’ve attended, with Psychedelic Science 2023 being my first earlier in the year. If I had to choose one over the other as far as which one is more worth your time and money, I’d choose PsyCon without a doubt.
Why?
Psychedelic Science 2023 was the most talked about and highest-attended psychedelic conference in history. Over 12,000 people, ranging from doctors, scientists, celebrities, mycologists, and more came to Denver for a week in June and basically took over the city. While it was incredible to witness and be a part of, it was also very overwhelming.
I wasn’t able to attend all of the sessions I wanted to see because so many of them were going on at the same time, the exhibition hall was massive – I could spend an entire day in there and still not get to every booth, and there were so many other events and activities going on around the city at the same time that it just felt chaotic.
PsyCon was much more manageable – fewer days, fewer people, fewer sessions, fewer vendors – but because of that, it was easier to make higher quality connections and have more meaningful conversations with less hustle and bustle going on. I’ll take you through each day and what my takeaways were.
Conference breakdown
The conference officially started on Friday, but there were workshops I could have paid extra to attend on Thursday. I opted out of any of these, so I can’t really speak on them. On Thursday night, however, one of the sponsors, Shroomski Magazine, threw an impromptu kickoff party in downtown Denver at a psychedelic art gallery called Ant Life. It was pretty lowkey for the most part: there was cool art to look at, free drinks, a food vendor outside, as well as some live painters. It was a good opportunity to meet some people before the conference without being overwhelmed.
The conference itself followed the same schedule each day with sessions starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m., and it included an hour break at 12 p.m. There were three different rooms for speakers going on simultaneously with each session being about an hour long.
There was also an exhibition hall, which had around 30 booths that included companies ranging from mycology supplies, mushroom genetics, artists, an infrared sauna, a fully immersive mediation bed, functional coffee, a couple of psilocybin mushroom product companies, as well as one company selling everything from nicotine vapes to DMT carts. It was pretty wild to see because even though we’re at a psychedelic conference, anytime I see people openly selling drugs that are still illegal in the US out in the open without a care in the world, I still find it odd, but hey, that’s just me. I ended up just buying some hemp tea that day from a woman who came all the way from New York to be there.
Sessions
I kicked Friday off by attending a panel about using ibogaine for addiction at 10 a.m., and after that attended a meditation session that used gummies made with caapi vine, one of the ingredients in ayahuasca, to go deeper into the heart space. It felt a little bit like using Kanna if you’re familiar with that at all. I enjoyed it very much.
At 1 p.m. the sessions started up again and I saw Derek Duchense and Megan Hawkins from BetterUCare tell their story about how they each used ketamine to treat depression and heal from trauma. The next session for me was Dr. Douglass Wingate and Dr. Rachel Turetzky speaking about the 8-circuit model of consciousness in the brain: wild stuff. By the time that ended at 3 p.m., I was starting to feel pretty lethargic as I had barely eaten a single thing that day, so I grabbed some food near the convention center to soothe my stomach and mind. The last session I attended was a panel discussing the latest updates on psychedelic policy in the state of Colorado, which, as a resident, I found interesting.
Next came the highlight of the conference for me, which was the official conference happy hour at 14er Brewing in RiNo district. During the conference, ai found it difficult to talk to people because the sessions were pretty non-stop and back-to-back, so I’m really happy this event took place because it gave us a great opportunity to meet fellow conference attendees and relax in a wide-open space..I met so many incredible people, many of whom I’m going to collaborate with for future projects that I’m excited about. The vibes were intimate and spectacular.
Saturday followed pretty much the same schedule as Friday, minus the happy hour. I attended a session on microdosing, a session about the future of psychedelics with Zappy Zapolin, another panel on microdosing, a session about reframing ego death, and finished off with a panel titled “Destigmatizing the Sexless and timeless World of Psychedelics” which featured a friend of mine, Cesar Marin, from Cultivating Wisdom.
Criticisms
My only real criticism would be to change how they do the sessions. Not every session needs to be a whole hour long, nor do I think all three rooms should have new sessions start at the exact same time. This could open up an opportunity to catch more speakers without awkwardly leaving or arriving in the middle of a session. Maybe not everyone cares, but I think it would flow smoother this way.
Overall…
I had a great time at the conference, learned a lot of new information about what’s happening in the space, and networked with new and amazing people. The length of the conference, two days, was a great length to not get burnt out towards the end, yet still long enough to make it worth your time. Not to mention the ticket price was only $199, which I believe makes it an incredible value (Disclaimer: I attended with a press pass so I didn’t actually pay for my ticket).
If you’ve been considering attending a psychedelic conference and haven’t gotten around to it yet, Psycon Las Vegas 2024 happens in May, and assuming they do the same type of job they did with this one, I would highly suggest attending.
Cam Leids is an entrepreneur and a psychonaut through and through. He’s the host of The TripSitting Podcast and the founder of Conscious Retreats, a company that helps people find the best retreat center for their psychedelic journeys. He loves all things psychedelics-related, from the mental health and spiritual aspects to the downright crazy and nonsensical trips. He’s always down to hear and talk about it all.