The past few months have been anything but quiet for the Australian Toy Association with planning of the first physical Toy Hobby & Licensing Fair since 2020 well underway. We also recently held our Annual General Meeting and final board meeting for the year.
On the Toy Fair front, the fair is close to selling out and at the time of writing this, we have only 2 x shell scheme and 5 x market alley stands left available. All of your favourite importers, distributors and brand owners will be showcasing their product, including LEGO, Moose, Headstart, Mattel, Modern Brands, Big Balloon, Artiwood and many more! So, if you haven’t booked, please ensure you do before there is no space remaining.
A full exhibitor list will be available in January so keep an eye out for this. We are confident that next years’ Fair will be a sell-out event and we cannot wait to see you all onsite in 2023!
The ATA will be introducing a few new elements to the Fair, including our presentations area which has The Retail Doctor, The NPD Group and Mumpower already locked in to provide you with insight and knowledge. We found the conference segment of our Digital Fairs so popular that we have decided to incorporate this into the Fair moving forward. Providing an extra component that will make you not want to miss out.
The ATA alongside LEGO Australia will also be hosting a Women in Toys event at 3.30pm on the Tuesday afternoon. We are excited to be bringing this back to the fair so make sure you save the date as it will include fantastic presenters set to inspire.
Other events on the agenda are the Gala Dinner to be held at Crown Palladium on Sunday 5th March, the 25-year club function (sponsored by Hasbro Pacific) on the Monday night and Exhibitor drinks (sponsored by LEGO Australia) on the Tuesday night.
It’s going to be a fun and magical event with so much more happening onsite. As mentioned above, we recently held our AGM where we presented the past year in review as well as held our board elections. This year three board members were nominated to take up the three positions vacant and these were Tim Clarke of Modern Brands, Chris Maggacis of Mr Toys Toyworld and Jacqui Webster of Spin Master. These Directors will spend another three years working alongside me on the sustainability of the Association and
I look forward to working with them on your behalf.
Following the AGM, the ATA held our last board meeting for the year. Here Tim Clarke confirmed that he would take up the President’s position for another year and he also welcomed to the Board, new director nominated members Anni Atkinson of Warner Bros and Jeff Keighran of Bensons Trading.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the new members to the board and thank the current and past directors who have supported me in my role at the ATA over the past 12 months. They are Tim Clarke, Jonathan Zimbler, Meagan Sanders, James Thurlow, Chris Loverso, David McNeil, Jacqui Webster, Troy Taylor, Scott O’Rafferty, Chris Maggacis, Jacinta Whitehead, Scott Ferguson and Tim Nolan.
The ATA staff look forward to working with the Board to continue strengthening the Association and ensuring the longevity of the industry here in Australia.
From an industry perspective, we are now in the most important retail period for your companies as we approach Christmas. With this in mind, the ATA would like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous Christmas trading period as we look forward to 2023.
Alice Sanderson
