Really Achieving Your Childhood

Dreams

Randy PauschCarnegie Mellon University

Sept 18, 2007

The elephant in the room…

I’m not in denial…

And I’m in good health now

Cancer Things more important than childhood

dreams: my wife and kids Spirituality & Religion

My deathbed conversion

What we’re not talking about

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

My Childhood Dreams

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

Being in zero gravity

The “vomit comet”

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

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

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”)

Being an author in theWorld Book Encyclopedia

Being like Captain KirkMeeting

Dream

Being Captain Kirk

It’s cool to meet your boyhood idol.

Winning Stuffed Animals

I can hear the cynics…

Being an Imagineer

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

1991: VR on Five Dollars a Day

CHI ‘91, and TomFurness asks a question…

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.”

Our Villain; but all’s well that ends well

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

Aladdin

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Working on Aladdin VR

a once in five careers opportunity Forever changed me

real people, real HCI issues how to put engineers & artists

together

Really being an Imagineer…

and I said “no.”

Virtual Jungle Cruise

Enabling the ChildhoodDreams of Others

… or, “Boy, am I glad I became a professor!”

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

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

Campus-wide Exhibition

BVW was a pioneering course

And as they say…

Don Marinelli (Drama) Randy Pausch (CS)

The Dream Fulfillment Factory

Entertainment Technology Center (ETC)

Artists + Technologists workingin small teams to make things

2 year professional degree: Mastersof Entertainment Technology

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.

Right Brain / Left Brain

Don & I shared an office for six years

Co-Director Credit for the ETC’s Success

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

ETC Curriculum: First Draft

Project Course

First Year Fall

Optional Internship

First Year Spring

Second Year Fall Second Year Spring

Project Course

Project CourseProject Course

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

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!

Edutainment

Developed with FDNY Networked simulation

to train 1st responders to chemical spills and terrorist attacks

Companies guaranteed hiring our students

Don has taken the ETC global:Australia, Korea, Singapore

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

Alice

The Infinitely Scalable Dream Factory

And I guess this makes me the mad hatter…

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

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

Lessons Learned

The Roles of Parents, Mentors, and Students

My Dad, age 80

My Mom

The theory qualifier

My son, the doctor…

Other people who help us

Teachers

Mentors

Friends

Colleagues

Andy van Dam

Mythical creature

Dutch uncle-d me my sophomore year

Made me go to graduate school

My “Bosses”: Respect authority while questioning it

We learn from our students

The best “head fake” of all time – Caitlin’s idea about storytelling in Alice

More Lessons Learned

President Cohon’s Advice

Tell them about having FUN

Like a fish giving a talk about the importance of water

Decide if you’re Tigger or Eeyore

Never Lose the Child-like Wonder

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”

Loyalty is a two-way street

Never Give Up

Brown University – didn’t get in.

Carnegie Mellon for Graduate School – didn’t get in. Meeting with Nico

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…)

Brick walls let us show our dedication

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

Get a feedback loop; and listen to it!

Show Gratitude

ETC admissions…How can you do this?

Don’t complain; just work harder.

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

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

How to achieve your dreams

Have you figured out the head fake?

How to achieve your dreams

Have you figured out the head fake?

How to lead your life

Have you figured out the second head fake?

Have you figured out the second head fake?

This talk wasn’t for you guys.

It was for Dylan, Logan, and Chloe.

Really Achieving Your Childhood

Dreams

Randy PauschCarnegie Mellon University

Sept 18, 2007