Randy Pausch gave a talk about achieving his childhood dreams and enabling the dreams of others. Some of his dreams included being in zero gravity, playing in the NFL, being an author and Captain Kirk. Through hard work and perseverance, he was able to fulfill some dreams and learn lessons from others. He helped create programs like the Entertainment Technology Center and Alice to help students pursue their dreams. Some key lessons included finding mentors, working hard, being grateful and helping others achieve their dreams.

1. Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams Randy Pausch Carnegie Mellon University Sept 18, 2007

2. The elephant in the room…

3. I’m not in denial… And I’m in good health now

4. Cancer Things more important than childhood dreams: my wife and kids Spirituality & Religion My deathbed conversion What we’re not talking about

5. Today’s Talk My childhood dreams Enabling the dreams of others Lessons learned: how you can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others

6. My Childhood Dreams

13. My Childhood Dreams Being in zero gravity Playing in the NFL Authoring an article in the World Book encyclopedia Being Captain Kirk Winning stuffed animals Being a Disney Imagineer

14. Being in zero gravity

16. The “vomit comet”

17. Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things

20. Football Dream: play in the NFL Coach Graham practice with no football fundamentals him riding me all practice Coach Setliff Power of enthusiasm To this day, I am most comfortable on a football field

21. I Never Made it to the NFL But football got me where I am today Fundamentals & Hard Work “ Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted” Most of what we learn, we learn indirectly (or by “head fake”)

22. Being an author in the World Book Encyclopedia

25. Being like Captain Kirk Meeting

26. Dream Being Captain Kirk

30. It’s cool to meet your boyhood idol.

31. Winning Stuffed Animals

40. I can hear the cynics…

41. Being an Imagineer

45. Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things

46. 1991: VR on Five Dollars a Day CHI ‘91, and Tom Furness asks a question…

49. Jon Snoddy I had to brief the Secretary of Defense Disney’s Aladdin project Lunch with Jon… “ But you're in the business of telling stuff, and we're in the business of keeping secrets” He taught me: “wait, and people will surprise you.”

50. Our Villain; but all’s well that ends well

51. Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things

52. Aladdin

57. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

58. Working on Aladdin VR a once in five careers opportunity Forever changed me real people, real HCI issues how to put engineers & artists together

60. Really being an Imagineer… and I said “no.”

61. Virtual Jungle Cruise

63. Enabling the Childhood Dreams of Others … or, “ Boy , am I glad I became a professor!”

66. Building Virtual Worlds 50 students from art, design, drama, and CS Randomly chosen teams, change per project Two weeks to design, implement, and test Five projects during the semester

67. The First Year Listed in Five Departments (I love CMU!) Content: Anything you want No shooting violence No pornography They blew me away w/first assignment I called Andy van Dam The first show In McConomy for its A/V President Cohon’s reaction

68. Campus-wide Exhibition

85. BVW was a pioneering course And as they say…

87. Don Marinelli (Drama) Randy Pausch (CS) The Dream Fulfillment Factory

88. Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) Artists + Technologists working in small teams to make things 2 year professional degree : M asters of E ntertainment T echnology Two kindred spirits: try things a new way; we’re both a little uncomfortable in academia CMU is the only place I know where this could happen.

89. Right Brain / Left Brain

90. Don & I shared an office for six years

91. Co-Director Credit for the ETC’s Success

92. The ETC is to “masters degrees” as Cirque Du Soleil is to “circus”

93. ETC Curriculum: First Draft Project Course First Year Fall Optional Internship First Year Spring Second Year Fall Second Year Spring Project Course Project Course Project Course

94. ETC Curriculum The Visual Story Improvisational Acting Intro to Entertainment Technology Building Virtual Worlds ETC Interdisciplinary Project Course II Elective First Year Fall Optional Internship First Year Spring ETC Interdisciplinary Project Course III Elective ETC Interdisciplinary Project Course IV Elective Second Year Fall Second Year Spring

95. Key to the ETC’s Success: Freedom No deans to report to License to “Break the mold” Project-based curriculum Intense, fun student experience Field trips!

96. Edutainment Developed with FDNY Networked simulation to train 1 st responders to chemical spills and terrorist attacks

97. Companies guaranteed hiring our students Don has taken the ETC global: Australia, Korea, Singapore

98. Keys to the ETC’s Success: Focus on People and Learning to work in Groups

99. Alice The Infinitely Scalable Dream Factory And I guess this makes me the mad hatter…

100. Alice Novel way to teach Computer Programming Kids make movies and games; the “head fake” is that they are learning to program Over 1 million downloads, 8 textbooks, 10% of US colleges using right now

101. Alice is my Professional Legacy Helping millions of kids have fun while learning something hard v3.0 will release in 2008, in Java, with characters from the best-selling PC game in history: The Sims Can’t mention everyone, but… Dennis Cosgrove is building it Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater are developing the pedagogy Caitlin Kelleher is going to hit the home run with middle schoolers

102. Lessons Learned

103. The Roles of Parents, Mentors, and Students

105. My Dad, age 80

111. My Mom The theory qualifier My son, the doctor…

116. Other people who help us Teachers Mentors Friends Colleagues

117. Andy van Dam Mythical creature Dutch uncle-d me my sophomore year Made me go to graduate school

118. My “Bosses”: Respect authority while questioning it

119. We learn from our students The best “head fake” of all time – Caitlin’s idea about storytelling in Alice

120. More Lessons Learned

121. President Cohon’s Advice Tell them about having FUN Like a fish giving a talk about the importance of water

122. Decide if you’re Tigger or Eeyore

123. Never Lose the Child-like Wonder

124. Help others Jessica Hodgins: The best gift ever Denny Proffitt: Forgotten more than I’ll ever know MK Haley: Limit case of my large family theory “ It’s kind of fun to do the impossible” “ Professor boy”

125. Loyalty is a two-way street

127. Never Give Up Brown University – didn’t get in. Carnegie Mellon for Graduate School – didn’t get in. Meeting with Nico

128. How to Get People to Help You You can’t get there alone, and I believe in Karma Tell the truth Be earnest Apologize when you screw up Focus on others, not yourself (an example…)

129. Brick walls let us show our dedication

130. Don’t bail; the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap

131. Get a feedback loop; and listen to it!

132. Show Gratitude ETC admissions… How can you do this?

133. Don’t complain; just work harder.

134. Important Advice Be good at something: it makes you valuable Work hard … “what’s your secret ?” Find the best in everybody; no matter how you have to wait for them to show it Be prepared: “luck” is where preparation meets opportunity

135. Today’s Talk My childhood dreams Enabling the dreams of others Lessons learned: how you can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others

136. How to achieve your dreams Have you figured out the head fake?

137. How to achieve your dreams Have you figured out the head fake? How to lead your life

138. Have you figured out the second head fake?

139. Have you figured out the second head fake? This talk wasn’t for you guys. It was for Dylan, Logan, and Chloe.

140. Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams Randy Pausch Carnegie Mellon University Sept 18, 2007