Hello Rod
If some of your audience are considering engineering as a career, it might be interesting to explain that aviation only became practical when the Wright Brothers analysed the problem scientifically, and that approach remains completely true in all flying today, and in Apollo, and in the Mars trip when we get there. All the earlier experimenters were just that - empirisists who essentially jumped off a cliff to see what happened (highly worthy as many of them were). The Wrights were the first to understand flying theoretically, which is why Kitty Hawk was no accident, and they set the course upon which all of modern engineering is based.
There's nothing quite as moving, in my opinion, as standing on that hill in N Carolina and imagining that you are trying to replicate the Wright's achievement. Even with all of our vast hindsight, it would be extremely difficult for any of us to build an aeroplane (and engine) that could fly, and remain under control, for 100yds with 12HP in a 30kt wind and be able to be used again. It's the measure of just how powerful the analytical approach to engineering problems is, and always will be. I think it's an interesting observation for young people who've grown up with all our technology around them to take for granted. The problem of flight was and remains too difficult to be solved by trial and error.
Sorry if this getting a bit heavy!!!