The first education webinar for toy industry marketing and PR pros takes place today, followed by networking in the virtual POP Pub.  

People of Play (POP) is excited to share the speakers for its inaugural quarterly educational webinar series targeting industry marketing and PR pros.

Following success within the inventors’ community, POP founder Mary Couzin looked for a way to bring the same level of insight and education to the industry’s marketing executives and, along with Michele Litzky (LPR), asked other agency and brand representatives to form a committee that could identify speakers of interest to the group along with topics that could be important conversation starters.

After a survey asking marketing and PR pros about the need for a regular events where they could learn, share and network, the results were unanimous – there was a strong need for a regular event where marketing and pr pros could learn, share and network.

The event will take place later today, Thursday April 21st, from 1-4pm ET. Webinar topics have been vetted from both agency and brand viewpoint, and the session will end with networking in the virtual POP Pub.

The agenda is as follows:

1:00pmET – Welcome and Keynote​ Chat

Carly McGinnis – president at Exploding Kittens, Inc.

Michele Litzky – founder Litzky PR

Mary Couzin – founder Chicago Toy & Game Group, dba POP

2:00pmET  Influencers & Social (earned & paid)

Moderator: Rachel Griffin, co-founder, Playwise Partners

Panelists: Mindy Stumpf – Communication & PRlead, Radio Flyer; Amy Friedland – executive vice president, Freeman PR; Kelsey Wheeler – Litzky PR and Alexa Vogue – Brilliant PR and Marketing.

​2:30pmET  Traditional Media (earned & paid)

Moderator: Genna Rosenberg – CEO, GennComm

Panelists: Dr. Cheryl Robinson – Forbes Contributor, founder, Ready2Roar;Marisa LaScala – Senior Parenting and Relationship editor, Good  Housekeeping; Bridget Carey – senior editor, CNET and Ethan Alter – senior writer, Yahoo Movies/Yahoo TV​

3:00pmET  Broadcast: TV, Streaming, Radio, Podcast

Moderator: Kathleen Tomes – president of Brilliant PR & Marketing

Panelists: Kathi Sharpe-Ross – Reinvention Exchange Podcast; Christie Damato – Litzky PR; Beth Cochran, supervising producer, Tamron Hall Show and Eric Jones Jr. – senior producer: ABC News / Good Morning America, Race & Culture​

3:30pmET  Events and Activations

Moderator: Shawn Smith, global head of Communications, Osmo

Panelists: Kaylie Easton – VP, Litzky PR; London Detrick – global Public Relations manager, MGAE and Yelitsa Jean-Charles – CEO & Founder, Healthy Roots Dolls​.

4:00pmET Closing Inspirations Keynote

Dan Gingiss, Living at the Intersection of Marketing and Customer Experience​

4:10pmET – Networking in POP Pub

More details about the webinars can be found on the conference page here. The event is free to all marketing and PR professionals, but you need to register here. It would be beneficial for attendees to have a POP profile, but this is not required.