Give them a story they'll retell on the drive home
Photo Credit: NASA
Book a speaker who does more than inform, one who changes how a room sees itself. Whether he's in front of students, a technical team, or a conference hall, Travis Davis makes the same case: the hands-on, unglamorous, roll-up-your-sleeves work most people overlook is the real foundation of engineering, and of the talent every organization is trying to find. Audiences leave seeing their own potential, their own people, and their own path differently. He went from a South Dakota ranch to testing rocket engines at NASA and Blue Origin, and every word comes from work he's done with his own hands.
Watch Travis
on Stage
WHERE I'M FROM IS WHY I'M HERE: THE STRAIGHT LINE FROM RANCH WORK TO ROCKET SCIENCE
Your audience leaves believing the work they already do is the beginning of a real engineering career, and knowing the concrete next step to take. Travis draws the line they've never seen drawn: the tractor's hydraulics and the rocket engine's control valves, the welding torch and aerospace metallurgy, a failed 4-H project he rebuilt from scratch, and the engine test he'd one day run. It's the story of a kid who almost missed the path, so that the next kid doesn't. Featured by Farm Progress and shared by National 4-H, it's the foundation of his book, Ranch Kid to Rocket Scientist.
Best For: Schools, FFA and 4-H, homeschool conventions, rural workforce and economic development, STEM programs, and any audience that cares where the next generation of engineers comes from.
"I equate my childhood to going to a vo-tech school to become a mechanical engineer." — Travis, in Farm Progress
FOR TECHNICAL & BUSINESS AUDIENCES
Same throughline, adapted so each room gets what it came for:
LESSONS FROM THE TEST STAND
Your team leaves with a sharper sense of how to make high-stakes decisions under pressure. Drawn from running rocket engine tests at Blue Origin's historic Test Stand 4670, real hardware, real propellant, no room for guessing, and what it teaches about risk, discipline, and leadership in any organization doing hard things.
FROM NASA ENGINEER TO MEDTECH FOUNDER
Your founders and innovators leave with a playbook for carrying engineering rigor into a venture. Travis left NASA propulsion to co-found Starling Surgical, raise over €1M, and patent a wound-closure device, crossing aerospace into biomedical, and pitching a room of investors after a career of pitching test-readiness reviews.
CUSTOM TOPICS
Have a specific audience or theme? Travis builds the talk around what your event needs. Let's talk.
IS TRAVIS RIGHT FOR YOUR EVENT?
He's a fit if your audience includes: Students and the educators who guide them; FFA, 4-H, and homeschool communities; rural workforce and economic development programs; universities and engineering programs; engineering conferences and technical societies; or medtech and manufacturing teams.