?Did you miss it? Did you do it? What I am talking about is iPOP! NY 2006 held in July. If you missed it, then you missed talent, excitement, and celebration as over 1,200 talented children, teens, and young adults once again found themselves in the heart of New York City to be seen and heard by leading agents and talent scouts in the entertainment industry. iPOP! (International Presentation of Performers) has become “a must-attend event” for aspiring performers from all across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Created with the intent of merging the fashion/modeling world with the music/entertainment industries, iPOP! is one of the largest and most respected training programs for aspiring models, actors, singers and dancers.

Since its inception in New York in 2005 and its winter 2006 follow-up show in Los Angeles (Century City in the shadow of 20th Century Fox Studios), iPOP! has more than doubled the number of participants. Agencies from Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York sent representatives from Sony, BMG, Clear Channel Radio, Abrams Artists, DNA Models, Elite Models, WKTU Radio, Atlantic Records, IMG Models, MGM Casting, Handprint Talent Agency, Untitled Management, and Abrahams Artist Agency to attend the event at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square. To quote Joseph Beauchamp, Executive Director of iPOP!, “We are thrilled to once again be back in the heart of New York City. There is no other place in the world that better exemplifies today’s young acting, singing, dancing and modeling talent than being near Broadway. The group of talent that was assembled for this year was fantastic. We are pleased to say that many success stories have resulted from iPOP!’s past participants.”

PROJECT RUNWAYS: These aspiring models work on their techniques during iPOP!’s Summer 2006 convention in NYC, which also presented up-and-coming music groups with chances to be seen by agency representatives from throughout the U.S. and overseas.

Where to begin! Let’s start with Actress of the Year winner, Karli Barnett of Atlanta, who recalls her iPOP! experience as a “true validity that this is what I was born to do.” Karli recalls her training at her local John Robert Powers as an important tool that helped push her in the right direction. Before she took formal classes, Karli says she felt very inexperienced and didn’t really know much about different techniques needed for, as an example, stage versus camera. “My confidence in myself has grown tremendously, and the whole experience from my classes to attending iPOP! has been an opportunity I will never forget. iPOP! is about following your dreams and taking risks — to show the world that you have what it takes to become anyone you want to be.”

Then there’s 18-year-old Mark Couch of Northern Georgia, who won Actor of the Year honors. Ever since he was a preteen, Mark dreamed of becoming a performer. By working hard at various odd jobs to help pay the rent and support his father, Mark was able to pay his way through acting classes offered at his local John Robert Powers in Atlanta, where he learned the excitement of performing for others in classes and attending auditions. “Winning Actor of the Year is such an honor,” said Mark, “because so many people believed I could do this. I wanted to make my family proud and I did.”

Like Mark, Allie Tosch’s iPOP! “Cinderella story” resulted with the 19-year-old California native winning the Model of the Year award. Having formally trained only months before the competition, Allie found herself on a runway in New York and has since been approached by more than 18 agencies. Another California teen, Isham Hodges of Sacramento, received top honor in Swimwear and Commercial Print and plans on making the move to Los Angeles before the year is up.

As a veteran acting instructor and coach who has been involved with iPOP! from the beginning, let me end with a personal observation. First of all, if iPOP! were around when I was first getting my feet wet and pursuing the life of an actor, I would have climbed all over iPOP!. Without such training opportunities, it took a lot longer for me to learn my craft and to be seen by industry people. I had no idea what was to be expected of me and, maybe more importantly, I had no idea what kind of competition I was up against. In the long run, I came out okay, but it was a long run.

Whether you went to iPOP! or not this time around, you should strongly consider attending in the near future, because at iPOP!, there are award winners but no losers. How can you be a loser if you get up there in front of the audience, do your best, and show your talent, body and soul? We’re all winners.

Perren Page is a veteran stage and screen actor and educator who is an active member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). His most memorable work includes five years as a cast member of the all-time favorite TV comedy “M*A*S*H” from 1977-1981. Other TV appearances came on Norman Lear’s classic “All in the Family,” a recurring role on the soap “General Hospital,” and over 200 sit-coms, mostly with Norman Lear’s Tandem Productions. His extensive live-performance work includes numerous regional theater roles, most recently playing the part of one of the Ugly Stepsisters in a British farce of “Cinderella.” Page has taught acting at Barbizon in Stamford, CT, and New York City for five years, and began giving classes at John Robert Powers, of Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1991 after John Robert Powers’ offices in New York were destroyed in the terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center.