Some students camped out and many others lined up on the morning of Sept. 11 to get their tickets to attend alumnus David Letterman's conversation with Biz Stone.
It had been announced a week earlier that the "Late Show" host and the Twitter co-founder would be on campus to talk about the social media site and its implications.
Stone talked social media with Letterman in front of a packed Emens Auditorium on Sept. 17.
Letterman was a gracious, fun host, even if he did confuse tweets and "twits." Answering Letterman's questions, Stone discussed the impact of emerging media such as Twitter.
"There was this real push and this real idea that technology was the solution to all of our problems," Stone said. "It's ultimately about what people are going to do with the technology, not the technology itself."
Letterman and Stone's speech was also broadcast in Pruis Hall.
Usually students are asked to turn off their cell phones when they attend speeches, but for this event president Jo Ann Gora asked attendees to use their cell phones to tweet questions and reactions.
Stone was on campus earlier that day for a forum with about 30 students to discuss how the social networking site began and how he expects it to become even more helpful for its users.
"That's when Twitter starts to become, rather than yet another information overload, an answer to a tuneup because we get more relevant and timely and we don't show you stuff you don't need to look at," he said.
Viewers tweeted throughout the conversation, while some students tweeted that they were trying to piece together what they were missing. Students flooded the stage after the event, imploring Letterman to sign their notebooks and tickets. Several students handed Letterman their cell phones so family members could talk to the "Late Show" celebrity.
The conversation ended around 9:30 p.m. — not before Letterman told the audience he had forgotten his socks and that he borowed a pair from Gora's husband — but the discussion continued on Twitter for hours after.
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