2021 POP WEEK CONTENT AVAILABLE IN OUR POP WIKI
2022 Events TBA!
Thank you to our 2021 POP Week Sponsors
2020 rocked with 200+ speakers from 17 countries. Over 13,700 tuned in from 95 countries!
2021 is even more innovative!
We paired Legends and Leaders from different industries to talk about
creativity, ideas and the toys and games that inspired them!
Get Ready to be Inspired both Personally and Professionally!
2021 Virtual POP Duos Keynotes - Leaders & Legends!
Evening Networking with Engaging Co-Hosts!
POP Week Schedule
(timezone: is CT - Chicago - will be recorded - watch when you want)
Monday, November 15th
Keynotes
10:00am - 5:00pm Pitches (attendees with POP individual/company profiles/memberships registered for pitch tracks) and Office Hours (free consults by appt. see below).
4:00pm Tips for Your POP Profile with Mary Couzin. Click on POP Pub image below.
5:00 - 7:00pm Evening Networking - Join is the POP Pub! Click on image below
Tuesday, November 16th
Keynotes
10:00am - 5:00pm Pitches (attendees with POP individual/company profiles/memberships registered for pitch tracks) and Office Hours (free consults by appt. see below).
4:00pm Unleash the Power of POP with Mary Couzin. Click on POP Pub image below.
5:00 - 7:00pm Evening Networking - Join is the POP Pub! Click on image below
Wednesday, November 17th
Keynotes
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10:00am - 5:00pm Pitches (attendees with POP individual/company profiles/memberships registered for pitch tracks) and Office Hours (free consults by appt. see below).
4:00pm Maximizing the Search Capabilities of POP with Mary Couzin. Click on POP Pub image below.
5:00 - 7:00pm Evening Networking - Join is the POP Pub! Click on image below
Thursday, November 18th
Keynotes
10:00am - 5:00pm Pitches (attendees with POP individual/company profiles/memberships registered for pitch tracks) and Office Hours (free consults by appt. see below).
3:00 - 5:00pm New Inventor Pitches
4:00pm Maximize the Content on Your POP Profile with Mary Couzin. Click on POP Pub image below.
5:00 - 7:00pm Evening Networking - Join is the POP Pub! Click on image below
Friday, November 19th
Keynotes
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10:00am - 5:00pm Pitches (attendees with POP individual/company profiles/memberships registered for pitch tracks) and Office Hours (free consults by appt. see below).
3:00 - 5:00pm New Inventor Pitches
4:00pm POP watch parties include: UNO Room and TBA. Let us know your watch party and we will list you here!
Friday, November 19th
The Toy & Game International Excellence Awards!
The TAGIEs!
5:00 - 7:00pm Toy & Game International Excellence Awards – The TAGIEs!
Move over Oscars, Emmy's, CMA... the Toy and Game International Excellence Awards are taking the VIRTUAL center stage! This is a must attend event to celebrate your fellow toy industry colleagues at the 14th annual TAGIE Awards! Experience it from the comfort of your home and share the excitement with friends and family! It’s a must “tune in” event where Everyone is invited! Awards, funny stunts, and more!! Hosted by Karri Bean, Sr. Licensing Manager for LEGO at Disney Parks Experiences & Products.
Saturday, November 20th
Young Inventor Challenge Awards!
Chicago Toy & Game Fair POP Channels!
(Above video is the 2020 Young Inventor Challenge Award Show)
Saturday - Sunday November 20th-21st, 2021
Chicago Toy & Game Fair and The Young Inventor Challenge!
There is something for everyone at the virtual Fair! In addition to the Young Inventor Challenge, we have Stages of Entertainment and Experiences from your favorite toy and game companies!
Everyone is invited! Enjoy the Leaders & Legends, Evening Networking and TAGIEs as our guests!
If you have a PRO or Company Profile on our People of Play Platform, join our Pitch Event!
DO NOT MISS OUT AND DO NOT WAIT TO REGISTER!
Office Hours
Free 15 minutes Consultations.
Click on the calendar link to schedule your appt.
Click on the logo in their 'office' for your meeting. It is their zoom room! Simple!
Blue Plate Media, the globally recognized media planning & buying agency, reaches & engages with kids & families across screens and devices.
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Longshore Toy & Game Ltd. Since 1978, manufacturing
games & puzzles, educational toys, preschool, infant toys, electronic toys and bath toys.
Creditntel is a full service agency analyzing the fiancial publicly and privately held retailers
Blue Plate Media Services
Southard Communications functions as a partner with clients to build businesses quickly in an impactful and measurable manner.
List Your Business HERE!
Contact us for details if you want your business to be part of Office Hours!
PITCH YOUR IDEAS!
You Need a PRO or Company Profile on our People of Play Platform.
Included is networking in the Pub, the TAGIEs, Office Hours, Mentoring
DO NOT MISS OUT AND DO NOT WAIT TO REGISTER!
These companies wanted inventor ideas in 2020. We expect more this year!
Pro Inventors & Product Acquisition Execs:
If you haven't received an invitation, apply HERE!
New Inventors & Design Students:
In addition to the above, you receive one 30 minute mentoring session with a product acquisition executive, a how-to-pitch package, speed pitches with companies part of the inventor track.
Register HERE!
What Past Attendees had to Say...
“It’s an annual rite of passage for our industry. Keep doing a great job bringing the community together and promoting the spirit of play.”
– John Bell, Director of Product Design & Development,
Buffalo Games
"I attended CHITAG for the first time, and thought it was a fantastic event. It was great to connect with peers and learn from the quality talks. Look forward to attending next time!"
– Gabby Toniolo, Inventor, Bella Products, Australia
The Innovation Conferences are a must for anyone - inventors or company people - in the toy and game industry. The information you'll learn, the pitching and the networking is incredible. Mary and her team are to be congratulated; there is nothing else like it in the world!"
– Tanya Thompson, Hasbro
We are not mere creators of trinkets and insignificant baubles and playthings. we are the toymakers, the shamans, the wizards, the blacksmiths, the court jesters and sometimes even the town fool, and what we do – the toys that we create, contribute to the ever-evolving ever-advancing forward motion of the civilized world.”
– Bruce Lund
"This event makes me fall in love with the Toy & Game Industry each year!"
– Megan Hinterman Kanous, PSI, Inc.
"I don't think I have learned more about the Toy Biz since?... ever. I didn't want it to end."
– Carle Wunderlich, Best of Best Toys, Inc.
Thank you for putting on such an informative and comprehensive conference and show. ChiTAG is an excellent way to meet fellow inventors. Our company, 1015 Creative, grew out of it. Michael Adams and I met each other three years ago and within a year we were working together. In October of last year we formed 1015 Creative, LLC with Damon Brown, bringing together a combined history of over 25 licensed games and 80 years of experience in game design, illustration and product development. Our new company of successful inventors collaborating together debuted at the 2016 ChiTAG show. We owe our success to the event and environment you have created."
– Eric Foster, Principal at 1015 Creative, LLC.
Chicago Toy & Game Week’s Professional Inventors Track is not just fertile ground for making the connections necessary to do business, it’s the annual gathering of the inventor tribe. In the whole wide world, there’s not a better place for independent toy and game inventors to go to catch up with each other, build friendships and strategic alliances, and spend quality time engaged with others who truly understand the nuances of the toy and game invention industry and share the common goal of expanding and improving our business opportunities. No other convention compares in personal warmth, richness of content, generosity of information sharing, and glorious un-rushed bubbles of quiet time to meet in depth and set a well-considered course right before the show season swings into hyper-warp mode and calm clarity morphs into frazzle."
– Peggy Brown of Peggy Brown Creative
"CHITAG’s Inventor Conferences are timed optimally.
There is no better time of year for inventors to pitch ideas to us!"
– Ben Dermer, SVP Creative Development and Innovation. Deputy Creative Officer, Spin Master Ltd.
"I love the CHITAG events!
They're extremely well run with a great amount of thought put into them."
– Carly McGinnis, Chief Operating Officer at Exploding Kittens