Chicago to host leading professional development and networking conference for inventors.
The Chicago Toy and Game Group has announced the 2019 schedule and speaker line-up for the annual CHITAG Inventor Conference, taking place 21st-24th. Kicking-off Chicago Toy and Game Week (CHITAG) at Chicago’s Navy Pier, CHITAG’s inventor conferences offer a professional development forum within the toy and game industry and inventor community, complete with opportunities for education, pitching ideas, collaboration, trend discovery and more.
Registration is now open for the following conference tracks: International New Inventors and New Business Track, International Professional Inventors Track, International Product Acquisition Executive Track, Design Student Track, and the Play in Education (PIE) Track, in partnership with the Illinois Institute of Technology. In addition to great content, participants will receive transferable continuing education credits.
Each conference track includes access to luminary keynote speakers. Attendees will also have the opportunity to hear Tips from the ToyBox where top professional inventors share their secrets of success in just one minute.
The 2019 keynote speakers include:
• Richard Dickson, president & COO, Mattel
• Joanne Domeniconi, co-founder & chief discover officer, The Grommet
• David Fuhrer, managing director, BlueSquare Innovations
• Robert Fuhrer, owner at Nextoy and KenKen Puzzle
Additional 2019 speakers include:
• Karri Bean, senior licensing manager, Disney Parks Experiences & Products
• Tracy Dudkiewicz, owner, Tap Marketing
• Robert Gehrke, owner, RPD Consulting
• Richard Gill, VP international, PlayMonster
• Megan Hinterman Kanous, national accounts manager, PSI
• Mike Hirtle, Paladin
• Michael Kohner, president, Michael Kohner Corporation
• Catherine McMillen-Gill, president, McGill Associates
• Matt Nuccio, co-owner and creative director, Design Edge
• Katherine Nguyen, owner of Building Blocks
• Wai Or, Managing Director, Longshore
• Gary Swisher, executive vice president of design, Spin Master
• Tanya Thompson, director, Global Product Acquisition and Inventor Relations for Gaming, Hasbro
Along with professional development, the CHITAG Inventor Conference offers both students and industry professionals the opportunity to pitch toy, game or app prototypes, products, ideas and capstone projects to dozens of top companies.
To find out more, click here.
