Creating Tiny Experiments with Anne-Laure Le Cunff | SXSW EDU 2025 Rewind

There were so many opportunities for us to venture into the unknown at SXSW EDU 2025. From meeting new people to learning a new skill, the opportunities to reach out of your comfort zone were endless. Our opening Keynote’s overarching message was to approach new pathways such as these, which can be overwhelming, in a manageable way, by creating tiny experiments.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist and founder of Ness Labs, discussed the experimental cycle, finding success in productive failure, and rediscovering curiosity in her Keynote, Rewiring How We Learn: The Power of an Experimental Mindset. The session explored strategies to turn uncertainty into curiosity, working with our brain’s natural mechanisms to transform the way we teach and learn.

Living In A Non-Linear World

Starting off her talk, Anne-Laure set the tone for the world around us and challenged the entire notion of success.

“We live in a non-linear world… When you focus on linear goals in a non-linear world, the only possible result is overwhelm and burnout. You know who has a completely different approach to success? Scientists. For a scientist, success is not reaching a desired outcome. Success is learning something new.”

Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Neuroscientist & Founder, Ness Labs

Productive Failure

Diving into the battle between curiosity and certainty, Anne-Laure argues in favor of failure. In a world that solely focuses on and praises success, who is asking to learn more about your most recent failures? Le Cunff asserts that failure is an integral and natural part of the learning process and that reframing failure as a road to a higher quality of learning is important.

The Experimental Cycle

Le Cunff broke down the experimental cycle, used commonly in scientific environments, and repurposed it for use in finding new ways to take action and reflect. The steps - hypothesis, data collection, post-experiment data analysis, and observation - help to embrace the fear of failure and uncertainty with a systematic approach to curiosity that allows for more practical goals.

Tiny Experiments

Anne-Laure ended her presentation with a challenge to create your own tiny experiment. By deciding on an action and setting a duration, she assesses that you can take on goals you never have before. Start small, but with clear and quantifiable goals to change something overwhelming into an opportunity to learn and grow.

Watch the full Keynote here to learn more about running your own tiny experiments:

Watch SXSW EDU 2025 On-Demand Content

Take a look back at SXSW EDU 2025 and relive exciting Keynotes, Featured Sessions, and more, now available to watch on our official YouTube channel, plus listen to hundreds of audio recordings in the schedule.

Stay tuned for more information about registration and participation opportunities for SXSW EDU 2026 coming later this summer.

Photo by Chris Saucedo