From Advisory to Agency: Vote for Our SXSW EDU 2026 Panel

What if the program you’ve been working on for months finally gets green-lighted—not by your boss or your board—but by a group of teens?

For most organizations, that’s unthinkable. For us, it’s the goal.

Our proposed SXSW EDU 2026 panel, From Advisory to Agency: Youth Insights Into Decisions, is about what happens when youth move beyond advisory boards and into real decision-making roles. Alongside Sesame Workshop’s Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Owl Ventures, and Young Futures, we’ll share how youth co-design became a strategic advantage—directly shaping product features, program criteria, and even funding decisions.

You’ll hear the stories that don’t always make it into press releases:

• Where youth feedback led to dropping features mid-development
• How programs were reimagined to better meet young people’s needs
• What it took to pivot funding priorities when youth priorities came first

The result? Stronger products, programs, and strategies—because they’re shaped by the people they’re meant to serve.

We’ll also dig into the hard parts: how teams navigate privacy and consent, and the frameworks we use to build trust and safety into every step of the engagement process.

Attendees will leave with:

• Proof points from projects where youth shaped strategy and outcomes
• Practical tools for integrating youth voices in meaningful ways
• Trust and safety practices that make this work ethical, transparent, and sustainable
• This isn’t just a panel—it’s a set of live use cases and actionable tools you can take back to your own work.
  
  

From Advisory to Agency: Youth Insights Into Decisions

Community voting for SXSW EDU 2026 is open now through August 24. If you’d like to see this conversation come to life in Austin, follow the link below, create a free PanelPicker account, and tap the heart to cast your vote.