Ron Ploof: Creator, StoryHow® PitchDeck

Upon hearing that he was a storyteller with a degree in electrical engineering, someone once asked Ron Ploof if he was a modern Renaissance man. “No,” he responded. “I’m just a socially well-balanced geek.”

During his career in the high-tech electronics industry, he’s designed control systems, provided pre-sales support as an EDA applications engineer and AE manager, and was responsible for over $87 million in chip-design services and semiconductor IP sales.

He launched one of the world’s first indie storytelling podcasts in 2005 called, Griddlecakes Radio: Exploring the Lost Art of Audio Storytelling. He founded a social media consulting firm in 2008, wrote a book, Read This First: The Executive’s Guide to Social Media in 2009, and was the manager of social media for Epson America from 2012 to 2015.

But his first love has always been to communicate through storytelling. He once used a Hula Hoop to demonstrate a hemispherical resonating gyroscope to a large audience, explained mixed-signal simulation techniques using Lego® bricks and Velcro®, and sold professional services by telling stories rather than riddling customers with bullet points.

Ron has produced an audio book about the American Revolution, written a job-skills book as a novel, and is the creator of The StoryHow® PitchDeck, a deck of playing cards that helps business people convert their ideas, messages, and presentations into memorable narratives.

In 2018, he released a book called The Proverb Effect: Secrets to creating tiny phrases to change the world. In 2020, he encapsulated the book’s rules for Proverb Construction into The Proverb Construction Kit™, another deck of cards that helps convert ideas into statements that are interesting, memorable, and repeatable.

He’s @ronploof on Twitter, blogs at storyhow.com, and if you ever meet him in person, make sure to ask him about “The Bionic Girl.”

Ron is a great storyteller! He made the topic relevant, he was engaging and funny and he knows his stuff. His storytelling structure is a practical takeaway tool and his starter kit of storytelling really wrapped the main points we need to start telling great stories. He’s also honest and tells it like it is, so he doesn’t sugar-coat or try to gloss over issues, he offered his advice and explained why he didn’t like something or isn’t a fan of a particular marketing strategy. I liked that honest, straightforward approach.

Hear Ron Speak about Storytelling

Ron has spoken about business storytelling at:

 What attendees are saying:

Ron Ploof was a dynamic speaker, who held my attention from start to finish.

Very engaging, lots of new ideas based on examples shared.

Ron has a strong understanding of how storytelling works, both the structure of a story and how it can be used strategically. He is simple and straightforward, so his principles are easy to understand and use.

Very impressed with Ron and would recommend anyone to listen to him speak about anything. 🙂

Good speaker – great, applicable content.

What Griddlecakes Radio Listeners are saying:
“…able to make a point in a succinct manner…In today’s world this is very refreshing…”
Ed

“…a lot of heart, in addition to being clever, funny, well-written…”
Julie

 “…serious — which is not the same as lacking in humor.”–Jan

“…entertaining and thought-provoking on many levels…”
Linda

“…witty, fresh, and very touching…all the while retaining your integrity…”
Matthew

“…style, cleverness…honest humor, genuine funny and some lessons learned.”
Harley

Let’s slay some dragons together.