With the countless industry conventions, conferences, trade shows, symposiums, seminars and festivals being offered these days, there is little room in anyone's calendar. Ironically, this is the sentiment that inspired the launch of a new industry event, BrainCamp, which recently held its second edition, March 25-26 in New York City.

A Brief History
BrainCamp co-founder Howard Leib, a New York-based attorney, consultant and jack-of-all-trades, has been organizing a recurring event called Kids Entertainment Seminars (KES) for five years. "As the children's entertainment industry grew," he recalled, "I felt there was a need for a forum for the 'big guys' to play, to get together and exchange information and ideas." With input from industry players such as Tom arreca, and in partnership with animation industry executive Fred Seibert and event planner Lina Maini, BrainCamp was born, as an "informal, free-wheeling forum where ideas are exchanged, insights are gathered and new alliances are born." Seibert, who drew some of his inspiration for BrainCamp's format from the Monterey TED (Technology/Entertainment/Development) conference, said it is intended to be "the only thing in the kids business that people will `want' to go to rather than `have' to go to."

The first BrainCamp took place in New York in June, 1997. Presentations were given by John Kricfalusi of Spumco, Shelley Day of Humongous Entertainment, Joel Ehrlich of DC Comics, Amy Friedman of Nickelodeon's Creative Lab, Tom Corey and Scott Nash of design studio Big Blue Dot, Diana Huss Green of Parents' Choice, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's and Ron Dubren, co-creator of the top-selling toy, Tickle Me Elmo. "We have to get speakers who are interesting enough that a room full of corporate presidents and vice presidents want to hear what they have to say," said Leib, "BrainCamp is a place to really meet your peers and get to know them on a one to one basis."

From left: Nickelodeon's Angela Santomero, Herb Scannell and Brown Johnson at BrainCamp. New York, March 1998. Photo by Howard Leib.

A-List Attendees
Unlike other industry seminars aimed at offering "networking opportunities" to aspiring achievers, BrainCamp is a small, invitation-only event reserved for a limited number of high-caliber attendees. "BrainCamp is an exclusive event. We make no bones about it," explained Leib. "While we will probably grow a little larger over time, I never want us to become one of those 'cattle car' events with hundreds of people crowding a stage after each presentation hoping for 30 seconds of a speaker's personal attention." The high price tag for admission ($1,795. two months in advance, $1,995. afterward) insures that attendees are of serious rank.