Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Randy Pausch was something else. He is very laid-back. His lecture was very informal. You can tell that he loved life by his lecture. Pausch went ahead and put everything on the table at the beginning of the lecture. He was open about his cancer and even made a few jokes about it. He did not want there to be an "elephant" in the room.

Most people summarize at the beginning of a lecture and let you know what they are going to talk about. Pausch explained what he was not going to talk about. It made his lecture unique. Throughout the whole lecture, Pausch included humor as a big part of his lecture and that made it easy to pay attention to. He also had powerpoints that had alot of pictures or short phrases. They were simple and not loaded with so much information that I was struggling to read it in time or overwhelmed by all the information.

Another thing that made his lecture really good was that he talked about his own personal experiences. He shared life lessons that he has learned. An example of a life lesson that he learned was, "When you are screwing up and nobody is saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up" on you. He was just explaining that those that love you continue to try and make you better.

Pausch gave credit where credit was due. He commemmorated the people in his life that he felt deserved it. He did not have a problem with saying he did not know something. He gave good advice. He had good morals and believed in honesty, humility, forgiveness, and thankfulness. He was a good motivator. Throughout the lecture, he talked about overcoming "brick walls." At the end of his lecture, on the very last slide, he told everybody that the lecture was not for anybody else, but his kids. That really touched me and ended his "last lecture" perfectly.