Notions surrounding empathy and kindness have never been more relevant to the kids entertainment biz, especially as researchers continue to explore the development of tolerance in today’s children. Among them are Dr. Richard Weissbourd, director of the Human Development and Psychology program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, who will open Kidscreen Summit 2017 with a fact-driven keynote.

Weissbourd will present a new research study exploring why and how we are unconsciously undermining the development of empathy and caring in today’s kids, and how TV producers and media platforms can help children and parents learn to care for others. He will also detail the types of messages and content strategies that are important for counteracting nastiness, scapegoating and incivility.

The full conference program for Kidscreen Summit 2017—set to run from February 13 to 16 at the InterContinental Miami—is now available online. Highlights of the featured panel discussions, presentations, debates and networking/pitching formats include:

Emotional scheduling: How kids are organizing their own media lives

Kids today are accustomed to having access to what they want, whenever they want it. But programming schedules still make sense to them, and they organize their media lives around factors like where they are, who they’re with and what they are about to do. Dubit’s David Kleeman discusses this new concept of “emotional scheduling,” which is critical to driving discovery and retention for anyone creating media for children.

From toys-to-life to life on Netflix: A Skylanders Academy case study

Activision Blizzard’s Skylanders franchise almost single-handedly created the US$4-billion toys-to-life category. And tasked with bringing the bestselling video game franchise to TVs around the globe, content arm Activision Blizzard Studios scored a global deal with Netflix for Skylanders Academy, created by showrunner Eric Rogers (Futurama). This session will see the creative team behind the show delve into its adaptation process and what we can expect to see next.

Little big kids: Preschoolers ready for life

Viacom recently undertook a large global study of preschoolers—spanning 12 countries, 6,500 families, social media diaries and in-depth ethnographies—to find out what it means to be under six years old today. Christian Kurz, the company’s SVP of Research, Insight and Reporting, will for the first time unveil these latest findings on this generation. Real preschoolers—equipped with GoPro cameras—will offer a glimpse into their worlds.

Surviving, scaling and making money in the kids digital space

Jeff Imberman, CRO of kids ad platform SuperAwesome—and former SVP of Sales and Marketing at Nickelodeon—will show how the kids digital ecosystem is something to be embraced, not feared. He’ll also divulge how the under-13 audience is already telling brands and content creators what they want.

Last year, Kidscreen Summit welcomed nearly 1,800 attendees from more than 50 countries, including more than 450 kids programming buyers and investors looking for new content and partners. Its positioning as a conference and a market lets delegates customize their Summit experience to suit their goals and priorities. Registration for this year’s event is still open.