This paper analyzes Dr. Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. Dr. Randy Pausch was a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design at the Carnegie Mellon University. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006 and delivered his last lecture on September 18, 2007 in front of his colleagues and students in the McConomy Auditorium at the university. In his presentation, he gave advice to students on how to achieve their own goals based on his lessons learned. He spoke of his past experiences and was upbeat and humorous during the presentation. He gained his audience’s attention in the best way possible i.e. by relieving stress. He opened with a joke about the title of the lecture series and later did a series of pushups. This technique was effective as it diverted his audience’s attention from his illness to the gist of his talk.
Dr. Pausch then used the classic speech outline technique to establish the boundaries and starting point of his presentation. First, he outlined the topics that he was going to avoid, which were his illness, family and spirituality & religion. Next, he clearly stated the purpose of his lecture before getting into the heart of his talk. During the lecture, he alternated between offering inspirational life
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Pausch received at the end of his lecture, it would be fair to conclude that it had a great impact on his audience. This lecture portrays how the effective use of basic presentation techniques can create a spellbinding effect on an audience. Dr. Pausch’s lecture gave me a new perspective on life and my career goals. One of his quotes that stood out for me was: “Wait long enough and people will surprise you”. I completely agree with this based on the experiences that I have had as a student at Michigan Tech. All in all, this video has inspired me not only to work harder towards my goals, but also enable others achieve