People of Play has shared its list of toy industry professionals who will speak at its upcoming conferences for toy industry inventors and innovators, which will be held from Nov. 6-9. This year’s conferences, sponsored by The Michael Kohner Corporation, TradeShowBooth.com, Moose Games, and Mattel, are being held at the Embassy Suites in Rosemont, Illinois, and attendees have the opportunity to network with some of the biggest names and companies in the industry.
This year’s emcee will be Azhelle Wade, known for her consultation, design, and education firm, The Toy Coach. The keynote speakers for the conferences will be Sharon Price John, Chairperson, The Toy Association (TA) Board of Directors (BOD), President and CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop; Geoffrey Greenberg, Vice Chairperson, TA BOD, and Co-CEO of Just Play; Anne Carrihill, TA BOD, Director, GM, Category Leader of Toys and Entertainment at Amazon; and Greg Ahearn, CEO and President of The Toy Association, who will also act as a moderator of the panel.
Other speakers at the conferences include but are not limited to: Dougal Grimes, Founder of EightyTwo; Leah Zalinski, Operations Consultant and Growth Strategist; Christopher Bryne, longtime toy industry veteran and head of Bryne Communications; and Jason Keener, Intellectual Property Attorney with Irwin IP.
There will be a Mentoring Day during the conferences, where up-and-coming inventors and design students can schedule meetings to be paired with industry professionals. Attendees can also choose from four tracks: the New Inventor/Innovation Track, the Professional Inventor Track, the Product Acquisition Track, and the University Design Student Track.
Mary Couzin, Conference Founder, shares her thoughts: “If you have a product idea, you need to be at this conference. We pride ourselves in creating the right environment so that both new and professional inventors can learn from each other, make the right connections and move forward, whether they have a winning idea, or if it’s a stepping stone to the next one.”
Registration is currently open, and details can be found on the ChiTAG website.
