Randy Pausch
Pausch delivered his "Last Lecture", titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", at CMU on September 18, 2007. He gave an abridged version of his speech on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in October 2007. The talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk", with a topic such as "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?" Before speaking, Pausch received a long standing ovation from a large crowd of over 400 colleagues and students. When he motioned them to sit down, saying, "Make me earn it", someone in the audience shouted back, "You did!"
Brandan Robertson
Robertson created his first podcast, "Prayer Warriors Radio", at the age of 15 and through that medium was able to conduct interview with well-known national evangelical leaders such as James Merritt, the former President of the Southern Baptist Convention. Robertson attended Long Reach High School in Columbia, Maryland, where he frequently led campus bible studies and Christian programs. Robertson continued blogging and podcasting until 2010, when Robertson began attending college at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. At Moody that Robertson began a popular student radio show called "The Bridge" on Moody Campus Radio, which sought to expose the student body at Moody to leading Christian voices from outside of the evangelical tradition to spark ecumenical conversations throughout the campus. Through this radio show (and later podcast), Robertson began gaining a wide audience beyond Moody as he conducted interviews with internationally renowned Christian leaders such as N.T. Wright, Miroslav Volf, Timothy Keller , and Brian McLaren.