SXSWedu wrapped up its seventh year with powerful keynote speakers

Four days of education-focused panel events, workshops and policy discussions culminated on a powerful note yesterday as SXSWedu hosted three keynote speakers who told stories of vulnerability, creativity and post-traumatic growth, and how these experiences can be applied to the classroom. With over 25 million views, professor Brene Brown's TED Talk on the power of vulnerability is one of the top five most-viewed talks in the world. Her SXSWedu speech centered around "daring schools," and how educators can teach courage, vulnerability and the ability of empathy to kill shame. Audience members took to the internet to share Brown's inspiring words.

Shame cannot survive empathy. #SXSWEdu @BreneBrown pic.twitter.com/LxuL5er4ms

— Nichole Aguirre (@nicholecaguirre) March 9, 2017

Amazing closing Keynote @SXSWedu by@BreneBrown on Daring Classrooms #SXSWEdu pic.twitter.com/pdyO406WYJ

Hands down- @BreneBrown is the best speaker I have ever seen! #Wow! THANK YOU @SXSWedu #SXSWEDU pic.twitter.com/FJCIdmnbox

— Glenn Robbins (@Glennr1809) March 9, 2017  

You are working on the hardest edges of love. @BreneBrown on the incredible work of teachers. #sxswedu

Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, a best-selling author and assistant professor at Harvard University, took to the stage to show the deep interconnection between creativity and social justice. According to Lewis, art transcends creative expression and can act as the driving force behind societal transformation. Lewis referenced Martin Luther King Jr., Louis Armstrong and Frederick Douglass, and how they used the arts to drive social change.

#sxswedu Sarah Elizabeth Lewis on Art and Social Justice highlighted transformational power of art. #madewithpaper pic.twitter.com/ChLvMzpdtb

— honoria starbuck (@honoria) March 9, 2017

The arts give us a vision for the future - Sarah Elizabeth Lewis #sxswedu pic.twitter.com/5m6MbU0mE5

"There is a blind spot around our privilege shaped just like us." ~Sarah Elizabeth Lewis #sxswedu pic.twitter.com/Oo4SN7kgpN

— Michael Hernandez (@cinehead) March 9, 2017

The conference concluded with inspirational speaker Roberto Rivera's speech on post-traumatic growth, or the idea that painful experiences can drive change. Roberto referenced his own past as a drug dealer, and his work in neighborhoods in Chicago with at-risk teens labeled as lost causes. Rivera uses hip-hop as a catalyst for demonstrating how unfortunate circumstances often lead to greatness.  

Keynote speaker Roberto Rivera talks turning pain into propane to fuel success #SXSWedu pic.twitter.com/HDOunWsMY5

"Groups who have experienced pain have clarity of purpose, a powerful voice that tends to get bad PR." Listen. #sxswedu #robertorivera pic.twitter.com/W6Voc9AafJ

— anna wydeven (@annawydeven) March 9, 2017

? 'Pain with the right context can be turned to propane' Use struggles in your life to fire you up to action Roberto Rivera #SXSWedu #SXSW pic.twitter.com/LiHU9OQ2J5