Renowned industry-wide as the best professional learning event of the year, Kidscreen Summit has unveiled its full 2012 conference agenda online at summit.kidscreen.com/2012/agenda.html.
Press Release from Kidscreen Summit
December 1, 2011: Renowned industry-wide as the best professional learning event of the year, Kidscreen Summit has unveiled its full 2012 conference agenda online at summit.kidscreen.com/2012/agenda.html. Running over three full days and leading into a Meetings-Only day that lets delegates max out on networking, the program offers more than 75 keynotes, panel discussions, presentations, debates and networking/pitching formats—all featuring respected thought leaders and business pioneers from kids entertainment circles and beyond. It’s designed to showcase new strategies, innovative ideas and relevant business solutions that delegates can apply to their own businesses to drive future growth. Here are just some of the highlights:
Popular TEDx speaker and trained ethnographer Simon Sinek will open the event with a fascinating keynote exploration of The Golden Circle—how the human brain absorbs information and makes decisions—and why smart business leaders communicate with their target audiences in a carefully constructed pattern to get through to this central processing hub.
The event’s popular Channel Team Spotlight series will focus on the industry’s most powerful public broadcasters this year, with core teams from BBC Children’s, PBS Kids, ABC Australia and Kids’ CBC set to take the stage and talk about their highest-priority strategic plans and content needs in the year ahead.
Talent Fair and Service Fair are two brand-new features designed to connect producers of kids content with the creative professionals and service companies they need to make their projects come to life and succeed in the market. Running over a half-day each, these casual, drop-by Fairs are one-stop opportunities to meet with and learn more about new potential partners.
Certain to once more draw the event’s biggest crowd is Pitch It!—Getting Past the Gatekeepers. This year’s edition of the Summit’s live pitch competition will showcase four projects vying to win over a focus group of parents, in addition to the usual panel of broadcasters. Projects are being accepted for consideration until Friday, December 16, and the application form is at http://summit.kidscreen.com/2012/pitch_it/index.cgi.
Back after a very successful intro in 2011, and doubling in scope this year, is the Summit’s Lunching With… format. These sessions give delegates a chance to lunch in small groups with broadcast execs and build relationships with these critical decision-makers beyond the confines of a pitch meeting.
The perennially popular Kid Insight Day research presentation showcase will kick off with a Tao of SpongeBob session in which Nickelodeon decodes the brand’s essence and IDs why it has transformed over the last 11 years into a multi-platform, multi-generational cultural icon. This track will also look at how social media and apps are affecting kids broadcasters in Split Screens; the tricky tween demo in Understanding the 9-12s; and infusing kids content with age-appropriate emotional intelligence themes in Feeling Smart.
Hot-button issue debates are front and center again this year. Does a Narrative Paradigm Shift Cometh? promises to provoke much thought and dialogue about the whether upstart digital platforms and traditional television broadcasters can live symbiotically in the kids entertainment space, or whether a new world order for our industry is on the horizon. And the contentious topic of VOD rights ownership and revenue takes center stage in a debate entitled Whose Right is it, Anyway?
Panel discussions exploring the health of the stereoscopic 3D market, the needs and processes of standards & practices departments at major kidnets, the ins and outs of producing live-action formats for kids, and how to use the creative power of an audience to improve your brand strategy round out the program.
Kidscreen Summit 2012, which takes place from February 7 to 10 at the Hilton New York, offers an unparalleled opportunity to keep abreast of important issues and trends in the fast-moving international kids entertainment industry, generate business and revenue opportunities, and network with leading decision-makers.
Last year, Kidscreen Summit welcomed nearly 1,600 attendees, representing 850+ companies from 42 countries around the world. And more than 350 kids TV buyers and investors were at the event looking for new content and partners.
More information about Kidscreen Summit 2012 is available at summit.kidscreen.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
