Toy Fair is chaotic—buyers are rushing from booth to booth, seeing hundreds of products. If you want them to stop and actually care about your toy or game, your pitch needs to demand attention.

In this episode, I’m sharing 3 simple strategies to help you:
✨ Grab buyer attention in seconds (without feeling salesy)
🎉 Make your pitch an experience they won’t forget
👀 Spot buyer body cues so you know when to pivot or close

These tips come straight from Barry McLaughlin & Jason Lautenschleger, game inventors who turned quirky pitches into real shelf space.

If you’re heading to Toy Fair and serious about landing deals, this episode is a must-listen. 🎧 Hit play now!

New York Toy Fair is just around the corner and if you’re preparing to launch your toy or game at this event, learn this lesson: it WON’T sell itself! Buyers see hundreds of pitches, and even the best ideas can get lost in the noise.

The real secret? It’s not just what you pitch, but HOW you pitch it. So, how do you make buyers stop, pay attention, and want to play? 

In this episode of Making It In The Toy Industry, Barry & Jason share their wildest Toy Fair pitch stories, including the time Jason literally proposed with Game Night in a Can—and walked away with a deal!

In this episode, learn how to grab attention, keep buyers engaged, and turn a pitch into an unforgettable experience. Put your headphones on and get ready to SELL MORE TOYS!

Maya Angelou once said, “At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”

So tell me this, at your last pitch meeting, how did you make your guest feel?

In today’s podcast episode I sat down for a hilarious and informative chat with Barry and Jason. During this call, Barry and Jason share their journey inventing and ultimately licensing the TOTY nominate, Game Night In A Can. In between jokes and chuckles you’ll get invaluable tid-bits on pitching with pizzazz, reading body language of those you’re pitching to, and where this duo finds their inspiration.

A strong takeaway in this episode is the lesson to focus on the experience of the end user before you focus on the marketability of a product. Wondering why you should you do that? Well, you’ll have to dive into today’s episode to find out.

MESH is NOT the new STEAM. MESH is a solution that utilizes toys as an answer to the mental health crisis among children and teens today.  The development of MESH skills is important to help kids learn how to navigate strong emotions and difficult experiences. So what is MESH?  MESH is an acronym for Mental, Emotional and Social Health. Developing MESH skills can help protect kids from the risky behaviors and self-harm that are too often the result of their mental distress.

Today’s podcast episode is a Masterclass on MESH with Rachel Harmuth, the Head of ThinkFun. MESH products are products that build skills like problem solving, perseverance, adaptation, conflict resolution, self-regulation, self-advocacy, cognitive skills, and communication strategies.

If you have a toy or game product that could potentially fit into the MESH category, this is an episode you can’t afford to miss. In this episode you’ll learn all about the MESH movement, who is behind it, and you’ll uncover how you can get involved.

This episode is packed with valuable, actionable advice featuring Marie Nastasi’s 5 Keys to a Successful Buyer Presentation. She brings a wealth of experience to you from her roles as both a buyer and a manufacturers’ representative. 

On September 19th 2022, the WiT Empowerment Day made it possible for over 100 inventors and creators to pitch their ideas and products in 1:1 meeting with the major retailer Walmart and dozens of toy companies including Spinmaster, Jazwares, Hasbro, Educational Insights, and many more! In today’s podcast episode get a play by play of what happened at the 2022 WiT Empowerment Day and learn why you should seriously plan on attending the next event.