In short: In this short clip from one of his talks, Rod Machado recounts the time a gust of wind toppled the projection screen onto him while he was speaking at Oshkosh, right as the audience was laughing at one of his jokes. It is a lighthearted look at the unexpected hazards of the speaking business.
Video: “Attacked at Oshkosh” by Rod Machado, from his YouTube channel.
What you’ll learn
- The setting: Rod has spoken at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh for more than 30 years
- How a sudden gust brought the screen down during his presentation
- Why the timing, mid-punchline, made the moment so strange
- How Rod’s martial arts reflexes kicked in, sort of
- A reminder that even seasoned presenters get surprised
A gust, a joke and a falling screen
According to the video description, Rod has collected plenty of odd stories over three decades of speaking at the world’s largest general aviation fly-in, known officially as AirVenture and to most pilots simply as Oshkosh. This is one of them.
Rod tells it on stage, calling on an audience member named Ralph who was in the crowd that day. Rod had just delivered one of the few jokes he tells, and the audience was starting to laugh when a gust of wind swept through and the screen began to come down. Ralph saw it happening and, at Rod’s request, acts out his reaction in slow motion for the room.
Rod describes a moment of confusion in which the laughter turned to gasps, and he briefly wondered whether the audience had turned on him. In that instant he fell back on his karate training before the screen caught him from behind. His summary is that it was a great way to get attacked at Oshkosh.
Why pilots love these stories
Rod has long used humor as a teaching tool, and his stories from the forum stages at Oshkosh are part of what makes his seminars memorable. This one carries no technical lesson, but it captures the spirit of the event and the good-natured way Rod handles surprises.
The clip is about two minutes long and begins mid-talk, so expect to drop right into the action.
Go deeper with Rod Machado
If you enjoy Rod’s storytelling, his collection of aviation essays and humor is full of moments like this one. Learn more in Speaking of Flying.
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