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Antonia Dixey

Your students already have the answers. Antonia's just here to hand them the mic.

Antonia Dixey is the Founder and CEO of Participation People, the UK's leading youth engagement consultancy, and a keynote speaker who brings students into the heart of the conversation rather than talking at them from a stage.

For over twenty years, Antonia has worked at the meeting point between young people and the adults who make decisions about their lives — in businesses, government, and charities. Her core belief, and the one she brings into every assembly hall and classroom, is simple: young people shouldn't have to wait until they're older to have a say. They belong in the room right now, whether that room is a corporate boardroom or a school hall — and when they're invited in properly, remarkable things happen.

Antonia set up Participation People in 2010. Today her team is 35-strong, working alongside a national roster of 20 paid Young Consultants who help shape everything the organisation does. Last year alone, she engaged over 1,250 young people and 8,000 professionals directly, and travelled more than 17,500 miles delivering her message — roughly the distance from London to Sydney and most of the way back. Wherever she goes, she brings the same energy: participants regularly describe her as having an "infectious sense of fun," and she has a reputation for going well beyond what's expected of her.

For a school audience, Antonia's talks are built to do one thing above all: help young people see their own voice as something with real, immediate power — not something they'll grow into one day. She doesn't just tell students their ideas matter. She shows them, with honest stories from twenty years of watching young people change the systems that were built without them — from workplaces to digital platforms to public policy — and she leaves audiences with practical ways to start making themselves heard, starting the moment she leaves the stage.

Interactive, energetic, and rooted in two decades of real-world evidence, Antonia's talks are less "listen to me" and more "here's what happens when someone finally listens to you."

Testimonials from Teachers

"Two lines in, and I was completely drawn in by her energy. It wasn't just the message she delivered, it was how she delivered it. Fun, memorable, engaging, but never losing sight of how serious the message actually was... It was so much more than a keynote. It was a feeling, and there was a visible shift in energy."

– Janvi Mahtani Balani, Engagement Manager, Early Career Talent, University of Bath

"The Youth Panel was the high point of the Future of Youth Work conference. The young consultants on the panel were insightful, passionate and articulate in explaining to the audience of youth work professionals why young people need to be equal partners - not just consultees - in developing services and support for the future. The audience were left wowed by the confidence and clarity of messaging from the young consultants and left with a clear call to action on how they can support young people to amplify the message. They were brilliantly supported by Participation People, who put together a compelling session to end the day."

– Derren Hayes, Conference Chair and Editor, Children & Young People Now

Following a session with Magna Housing's board of trustees on engaging young people as customers, co-designers, and advocates for the brand:

"I feel that everything they set out to do, and everything that they're about, lives and breathes in the approach that they take... To be able to hold and grab the attention of a board and to bring insight and discussion in a way that within 2 hours, every single board member was brought in, I think it is tremendous. They have been partners alongside us, really helping us to think about how we build our capability around ethical participation — providing guidance, advice, a friendly hand, and some really good challenge. It feels very linked with the work that we want to do, which is part of Magna's Better Futures strategy. We know that hearing from more of our customers in a more representative way and co-creating and designing services with them is the future of social housing and it's really, really important.

Participation People are different from other similar products or services... I haven't ever worked with an organisation that specialises in this way, but what I would say is that as a partner, Participation People are brilliant and really generous with their time and insight. There's a real feeling of wanting you to be successful for the greater good of young people... they have your best interest at heart, want you to do well and encourage you along the way, which isn't something that always happens when you partner with other suppliers. It feels genuinely like a partnership."

– Ami Davis, Director of Organisation Capability, Magna Housing