Storytelling with Story Coach Rom Ploof
Author of The Proverb Effect and Read This First: The Executive’s Guide to New Media, Ron Ploof is an educator of story. Ron’s also the brains behind The StoryHow Pitch Deck, a story coach in your pocket.
Usually I’m digging into the personal story of storytellers I admire. On this episode I do that … but I also get into the HOW of storytelling with Ron. So it’s a little inspiration, a little education.
“He looks out and there are weeds. Its a marshy area. And [my grandfather] says to me, ‘That’s where my brother Kelsey drowned.’ He’s vulnerable, I want to know more. That one story changed my life.” - Ron Ploof’s life-changing story
What is a Story Statement (And How to Use it!)
As Ron explored how to tell a better story, he began to see larger stories in what he calls story statements. This research led him to look at the story format of proverbs.
One example, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” actually comes from the 1700s. Yet we still talk about it today. The fact that this story statement, or this proverb, has stuck with humans for nearly 300 years intrigued Ron. So he collected about 1500 proverbs.
Trying to figure out if proverbs have rules, Ron ran them through linguistics analysis.
Now he teaches others how to use them to put more questions in the reader’s mind, causing them to engage with the creator. That’s the goal of a story statement.
Narrative (a collection of facts): The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Story (a story statement): The quick brown fox wanted to jump over the lazy dog.
With story, you begin to ask why did he want to, did he make it and other question. That’s the beauty of a story statement.
“I tried to figure out if there are rules to these things that are the ultimate ‘long story short.’ I’m an engineer. I’m a geek. I love to take these things and explain them to people through story.” - Ron Ploof on studying proverbs
How to Implement Story in Your Business
If you’re thinking proverbs and story beat out narrative and just facts, then you’re ready for content marketing. It’s a popular movement in the modern business world.
But just giving facts doesn’t work. And in many companies, that’s the norm from the top down.
So how do you implement story into a business? You have to have believers. Find those who believe that we need to add story to messages in order to connect and engage.
“You need to have a believer that content marketing works… that we need to connect story to our messages. Without that, it’s an insurmountable problem.” - Ron Ploof on content marketing
Connect with Ron:
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The Storytellers Network with Dan Moyle publishes every Monday at 7 AM EST.
