The results are here! After receiving 46,943 community votes on this year’s PanelPicker® submissions, we are thrilled to announce 161 community-selected sessions for SXSW EDU 2027.

Spanning all 12 tracks, this year’s submissions were led by Teaching & Learning, Work Reimagined, and Health & Wellbeing. 

The trends within PanelPicker explored how education and workforce systems are evolving amid AI adoption, shifting economic realities, and calls to prepare students with durable human skills. Proposals highlighted strategies for navigating new technology policies and bans, including how edtech can respond to growing demands for measurable impact and how policymakers can craft policies that work for educators, students, and families. They also spotlight regional success stories and community-driven solutions that offer scalable models for addressing critical challenges, and building creative-industry talent pipelines.

Plus, explore two Special Programs highlighting innovative approaches to lifelong learning and the practical application of AI to solve challenges in education.

Dive into the full announcement and start bookmarking your favorites in the SXSW EDU Schedule.

Catch these speakers, as well as the recently announced Keynote and Featured speakers in Austin, Texas March 13-16, 2027. Buy your badge by 11:59pm PT on Thursday, October 29 to save $250 off the walk-up rate. 

SXSW EDU 2027 Speaker photos (left to right in order of appearance): Vanessa Bennett, Pedro Noguera, Christina Greer, Andy Brown, Frederic Bertley, Michelle Kang, Lori Shapiro

It’s not an exaggeration to say that, outside of March, the end of June is probably the most highly anticipated time of year for the SXSW EDU team. And it’s not because summer is in full swing here in Texas, with days spent at the beloved Barton Springs Pool, or evenings with a cool drink or sweet scoop of ice cream. For us, this time of year is always a cause for celebration as we kick off the launch of the new season and begin the road to March. 

A few months ago, we completely reimagined what SXSW EDU and SXSW could look like, and opened up the event into the streets of Austin. We experimented, we found successes as well as improvements, and most importantly, we were able to see the experience through the eyes of our attendees. We came, we saw, we learned – and now we’re so excited to begin planning for SXSW EDU 2027, bolder and better than ever!

We begin as ever by focusing on the heart of our community – the expertise, innovation, insight, and creativity that you bring to the table. Starting today, PanelPicker is open for session ideas through July 26, and the Launch Startup Competition is accepting applications for cutting-edge products and services from early-stage education startups through November 1. Take the leap and showcase your work and vision for the future of learning – you’ll never know who you’ll meet and collaborate with. 

We’ve been busy refining and building ways to amplify the incredible energy of the education community we have the privilege of convening each March. A few new things you’ll notice include the new International Exchange track, which builds upon the work of our Global Initiatives programming to hone in on the collaboration that is endemic to projects and initiatives that cross borders and cultural contexts. And for the eagle-eyed fans of our Conversation format, have no fear, Fireside Chats will grace the stage at SXSW EDU to continue to bring in-depth and hard-hitting discourse. 

We look forward to sharing even more developments with you soon, but know that our commitment to continuing to intentionally build out student-focused programming, connecting students to industries and beyond, and providing professional development opportunities has not changed. Adobe all, we’re making sure that SXSW EDU attendees are finding one another and connecting in new, impactful, and exciting ways. 

We can’t wait to see what’s in store!