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People of Play (POP) has announced the second wave of speakers and keynotes for the Toy & Game International Innovation Conference, held on November 15-19. New and exciting this year, the Summit keynotes will feature POP Duos: Leaders, Legends and Celebrities, paired from different industries to talk about creativity, ideas and the toys and games that inspired them.
Sponsors include Mattel, Disney, Goliath, The Michael Kohner Corporation, Hasbro, Oxford Games Ltd, Longshore Ltd, Spin Master, Play Monster, Exploding Kittens, Radio Flyer, MEGO, New Key Pet L’chic, Crazy Aarons, Nextoy, Haba, Foxmind, Litzky Public Relations Inc, Andrews McMeel Universal, Pressman, Toys & Family Entertainment, Peggy Brown Creative, Kite and Rocket, The Game Aisle, Blue Plate Media Services, and Design Edge.
Attendees from around the world will enjoy numerous panels over five days, plus daily hosted networking with execs from Mattel, Hasbro, Goliath, Spin Master and more in the POP Pub room. Keynote speakers, POP Duos – Leaders and Legends include:
- *NEW Renowned Choreographer and Dancer, Randy Duncan
- *NEW Chief Funosopher, Nancy Zwiers
- *NEW Inventor, Speaker, Kedar Narayan
- *NEW Former CEO 4Kids Entertainment, Al Khan
- *NEW Founder & CEO The Nacelle Company, Creator of the Toys that Made Us, Brian Volk Weiss
- *NEW Father of the Modern Action Figure, Marty Abrams
- *NEW Founder & CEO Kid Group, Inventor or Bop-It and more, Dan Klitsner
- *NEW Surprise Guest – Voice of Bop It
- Mattel, President and COO, Richard Dickson
- Mattel Films, Academy Nominated Producer EVP Executive Producer, Robbie Brennan
- Exploding Kittens, Co-Founder Elan Lee
- Emmy Winning Host of Survivor and Executive Producer, Jeff Probst
- The New York Times Times Crossword Editor, and NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, Will Shortz
- Litzky PR, Founder Michelle Litzky
- Pressman Toy Company, Past President, Jim Pressman
- Mixed Dimensions, Executive Chairman, former CEO of Mattel, SEGA and LeapFrog, Tom Kalinske
- BlueSquare Innovations, Managing Director, David Fuhrer, Fuhrer has licensed more than 300 products with sales over $1 billion
- Major League Baseball, Former right-fielder for the Dodgers and Mets, Shawn Green, 1st round draft pick, two-time major league All-Star and holds or is tied for many major league records
- Pulitzer Prize Winning American Cartoonist, Garry Trudeau, best known Doonesbury and creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios series Alpha House
Closing the conference is the prestigious TAGIE Awards Show on November 19th, premiering on POP’s homepage, followed by socialising in the POP Pub rooms. The 2021 TAGIE Awards are presented by Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products with sponsors Mattel, Oxford Games, Hasbro, The Michael Kohner Corporation, Goliath, MEGO, Radio Flyer, Longshore, Exploding Kittens, PlayMonster, Nextoy, and Kite and Rocket.
More speakers and more panels are being added every day. For updated information and to register, visit https://www.chitag.com/2021-innovation-conference.
