People of Play has shared a list of toy industry professionals who will be speaking at the upcoming Toy Industry Inventors and Innovators Conference, November 6-9. Sponsored by the Michael Kohner Corporation, TradeShowBooth.com, Moose Games, and Mattel, this year’s conference was held at the Embassy Suites in Rosemont, Illinois, and gave attendees the opportunity to network with some of the most well-known companies and companies in the United States.
This year’s host is Azhelle Wade, best known for her consulting, design and education company The Toy Coach. Keynote speakers at the conference include Sharon Price John, Chairman of the Toy Association (TA) Board of Directors (BOD), President and CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop; Geoffrey Greenberg, Vice Chairman of TA BOD and Co-CEO of Just Play; Anne Carrihill, TA BOD, Greg Ahearn, Director, General Manager, and Category Leader of Amazon Toys and Entertainment; and Greg Ahearn, CEO and Chairman of the Toy Association, will also serve as panel moderators.
Other speakers at the conference include, but are not limited to: Dougal Grimes, founder of EightyTwo; Leah Zalinski, operations consultant and growth strategist; Christopher Bryne, toy industry veteran and principal of Bryne Communications; and Jason Keener, intellectual property attorney at Irwin IP.
There will be a mentoring day during the conference, where budding inventors and design students can schedule sessions paired with industry professionals. Attendees can also choose from four tracks: New Inventor/Innovation Track, Professional Inventor Track, Product Sourcing Track and University Design Student Track.
Conference founder Mary Couzin shared her thoughts: “If you have a product idea, you need to attend this conference. We pride ourselves on creating the right environment so that new and professional inventors can learn from each other and build the right Connect and move forward, whether they have a winning idea or a stepping stone to the next idea.
Registration is now open and details can be found on the ChiTAG website.
