Conference Schedule

 

The Professional Inventor Conference Track is a 4 day event filled with presentations, workshops, private meetings and networking opportunities. Your registration includes all of the following:

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DAYS 1 & 2 (Thursday and Friday)

• Schedule Meetings in private meeting spaces with Product Acquisition Execs - contact information of registered inventors and product acquisition execs will be provided in advance to schedule meetings.

• Full access to New Inventor Track Sessions 

• Networking Breakfasts, Lunches, Coffee Breaks and Dinners

• Irish Pub Night - We take over an entire pub to enjoy great food, great ambiance and networking. (Thursday evening)

• Round-table Discussion (Friday) - Exchange of ideas and best practices. ​

• The Toy & Game Innovation Awards (TAGIEs) - An elegant, celebratory dinner gala event honoring the people from aroud the world behind the innovative and hot products of the year. (Friday evening)

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DAYS 3 & 4 (Saturday and Sunday)

• Scheduled meetings in private spaces between professional inventors and product acquisition execs continues.

• Full admission to the Chicago Toy & Game Fair. You and your family/colleagues are invited to enjoy the many activities available during the Fair. The Fair is the largest public toy and game fair in North America. Exhibitors promote, sell and focus-test new products to over 30,000 attendees. Positioned right before Black Friday, the Fair attracts hundreds of media guests and social influencers to discover what's hot for the holidays.

• You can mentor/judge in the Young Inventor Challenge. (Saturday morning)

• You can visit the Design Student Sunday Showcase. These students are looking for internships, jobs and have toy and game ideas to show!  (Sunday all day - visit anytime)

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"Chi​TAG​ has become one of the most important events of the year for me in the toy and game industry. The intimate setting and well organized format of the workshops promote a sense of community not found at other toy fairs and I have connected with many new toy companies and peers that have become invaluable to my network. ​" -Dan Klitsner, ​KID Interactive

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"ChiTAG is “THE” event for Inventors and Manufacturers within the Toy Industry, it is a who’s who of Toy & Game Inventors and Toy & Game Companies. The Conferences, Gala and Fair are unmatched for Educating, Celebrating and Playing in our industry. I’m very excited for this year’s event - it is timed perfectly for seeing the best of the best toys and games right in the heart of our biggest selling season!" 

- Gary Swisher, EVP Design, Spin Master

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"ChiTAG is a high point of the year as I am able to meet and speak with inventors from around the globe in an amazing, innovative and supportive environment.  It is the only toy and game fair that offers this combination of new and experienced inventors, learning and networking opportunities, and an event that is literally and figuratively built around an open-to-the-public Toy Fair set on Chicago’s historic Navy Pier.  It is a great place for me to experience every part of the toy industry, from the inventors, colleagues, and business partners, to watching the children’s reactions to the toys and games on the show floor to wrap up the week.  To experience all of this against the backdrop of the great city of Chicago makes this a much anticipated week on my calendar!”  - Rich Mazel – Head of Global Product Acquisitions, Hasbro

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"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

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