Windows in general is pretty good at warning before running updates, you usually get a few days before being forced to run the updates.

There is much to blame Windows for, but if it forces a reboot on you, it is because it was ignored it earlier.

You mention this being a "podium computer", so probably a shared machine that no one cares about updating.

For future reference, if you are using a shared computer for presentations, you can see the update status in the system tray, Windows will show the update icon with an orange or red dot if it is waiting for a reboot.

I am an IT guy and I often get tasked with preparing the presentation computer for large presentations, I will go down to the event room an hour before and boot up the computer to check the status of it so I have time to deal with the shit it might throw up.