What I learned in Chicago

I am on my way home from a great three days in Chicago. While there, I attended the Toy and Game Inventor’s Conference and the Chicago Toy and Game Fair, a direct to consumer show.
I am very pleased to report that the signs were promising for the present and future of Toy Nation.

There were four major groups represented at these events:  Budding inventors and industry professionals attended the Toy and Game Inventor’s Conference and  consumers and manufacturers attended the Chicago Toy and Game Fair.
I think you can best measure any groups outlook by their actions more than their words. Take the inventors group as an example. These industrious people flew in from places as far away as western Canada and the U.S. northwest. The cost of the event was a challenge for many of them and when you add in their hotel and airfare it really ate in to thier pocket books.  Yet, they came and their very presence was a strong positive signal as to how they saw their own and the industry’s future.

Industry professionals were positive as well. They came from as far away as Europe.There were representatives from the inventor, design, packaging, marketing, and retail buying and manufacturer product acquisition communities. Their very presence spoke to their belief that interacting with the future of the industry (new inventors) was a great use of their time.

Consumers expressed a positive outlook through their very presence at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair and, more importantly, by their willingness to buy. I had a chance to walk the show floor and was told by a number of manufacturers that traffic was way up from previous years as were sales.  

How indicative is this information? I would of course not make too much of it. After all it is one city on one occasion. On the other hand, when I tie it in with other information I am getting, I am beginning to feel positive.

Consider these tidbits: 

The latest NPD data reports that toy sales were even with last year for the first seven months of 2008.

Gerrick Johnson’s latest Toy Scout report sees store traffic as starting to tick up,

I recently spoke with a major buyer who reported their company’s toy sales as up by double digits year to date. 

I spoke with a major manufacturer whose fortunes have changed in the last couple of weeks with sales starting to creep up.

Are we out of the woods yet? Hell no! Can we see some light starting to shine though the trees? Hell yes!