This year, Innovation Women members submitted more than 30 applications to the SXSW PanelPicker!
PanelPicker applications are a rite of passage for speakers. The annual festival of festivals in Austin, Texas, has a unique system for speaker selection that allows the SXSW community to vote on the event’s programming. Reviewers use the votes to indicate how enthusiastic the audience is about a specific topic or speaker.
We can’t take all the credit, but we saw so many Innovation Women speaker members applying to SXSW this year in part because of the way we empower speakers. Our speaker education helps speakers prepare their talks, materials and mindsets for big-deal events like SXSW. Speakers also find inspiration and confidence in our supportive community – speaking opportunities, especially those at high profile events like SXSW, are a frequent topic of conversation at Innovation Women Speaker Friend Friday sessions and in our online community.
A few years ago, as part of our “Ask an Event Manager” webinar series, we invited Katie Perera, one of the senior managers at SXSW (at the time, she’s now director of conference strategy there!) to share with us her insights on what makes a successful SXSW PanelPicker submission. This year, we reshared those insights and directed our members to the SXSW team’s office hours, an incredible resource that many speakers hadn’t noticed were available. Many of our members said that the insights shared there were so helpful!
PanelPicker voting started this week and concludes Sunday, August 23, 2026. Then it is up to the programming team at SXSW. Check out what some of our members have on offer! Help support getting more women on stages*!
Solos
- Emily Boss A Surgeon’s Case for Trusting Your Mom Gut
- Shenandoah Chefalo: From Burnout to Belonging: Change How Schools Work (EDU)
- Sheana Hamill: The New Career Readiness: Build Proof Early (EDU)
- Dr. Donna Vallese: From Hidden Systems to Synergistic Coherence
Fireside Chats
- Marie-Ange Tagne: AI, Purpose & Identity: A Memoir from the Margins.
- Theresa Cantley: The Loneliness Economy: Why Main Street is the Bridge Back
Core Conversations
- Bobbie Carlton: Credibility Economy: How Experts Earn Trust in our AI World
- Megan Fuciarelli: The Workplace Culture Shock No One Is Naming
Presentations (1-2 speakers)
- Elizabeth Sherman Biohacking Is Just Dieting in a Lab Coat
- Christine Carron: Shall We Dance? A New Pattern of Productivity
- Lindsey Garito: Becoming CEO of Your Career: Own Your Professional Success
- Gehan “G” Haridy-Ardanowski: The Cost of Fitting in: How Distinction Creates an Advantage
- Michelle B Griffin: Who Gets to Build? AI Vibe Coding Unlocks Women Builders
- Misty Lackie: AI Agents As Employees Doubled My Revenue in One Year
- Deborah Stine: AI Data Centers: Who Wins, Who Pays, Who Decides?
- Dr. Tajah M. Gross: Who does your AI Call for Help?
- Terry “Teresa” Beltran: The Multicultural Advantage: Culture Drives Growth
- Sheana Hamill: The New Job Security: Build Visibility Before You Need it
- Dr. Lauran Star: Culture Isn’t Broken. It’s Performing Exactly as Designed
Workshops
- Christine Carron Bridging Burnout: The Path to Sustainable Progress
- Genein Letford: Using music and musical lyrics to teach leadership!
- Carolina Caro: Identity Inertia: Why Your Org Can’t Outrun Its Identity (EDU)
- Deborah Stine: Restore Civic Trust by Bridging Skills, Stories, and Spaces
- Lisa Rothstein: Draw Out Your Genius: Your Brand Storytelling Edge
Podcasts
- Monica M Smith: Collaborative Culture is Everyone’s Job
Meetups
- Sheana Hamill: Every Expert has a Story Worth Speaking
Performances
- Dr. Lauran Star: The Lottery of Birth: A Live Experience in Educational Equity
*Note. SXSW generally does a pretty darn good job at gender equity and diversity, unlike the world at large where we generally see two-thirds of all conference speakers being male.
