"Ron Popeil: inventor, innovator, instructor"

For anyone who spent the late nights and Sunday afternoons of their youth flipping between the five TV channels available free (via antenna) like me, learning how to make homemade beef jerky and banana chips was part of life.

For me, however, inventor Ron Popeil offered more than my Ronco Electric Food Dehydrator. In his own quirky way, Popeil taught me how to work with audiences long before my high school public speaking class. Popeil captivated me as a teacher.

At first it was just because I've always had a thing for fairly useless gadgets: "It slices, it dices, it makes julienne fries!" (The original Chop-o-matic).

Or maybe it was just because innately, I've always had an affinity for things that promote laziness: "Set it, and forget it!" (The Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ).

Either way, when I was growing up, somehow I could watch the same half-hour commercials week after week - even though I was too young and broke to order the products. My appreciation for the "Einstein of the infomercial" goes far beyond the impressive powers of the Automatic Pasta Maker. Studying his charisma and wit week after week, I consider Popeil's ability to understand his demographic and his product nothing less than educational.

For example, look at the overall sales pitch for the Ronco Electric Food Dehydrator. "Instead of giving kids candy, give them apple snacks or banana chips. And it's great if you're a hunter, fisherman, backpacker, or camper. (It) makes beef jerky for around $3 a pound, and you know what went in it, because you made it yourself!" Popeil said to a TV audience of millions, repeated thousands of times in media markets across the country.

Now whom did Popeil just target?

Health-conscious moms. Outdoorsy manly-men. Men who like to think they're outdoorsy manly men. And, of course, with visual spreads of delicious snacks every water-removed color of the rainbow, every child stuck inside because of rain or snow.

Did it matter that, in the end, the machine and included-free cookbook, instructional video, and directions printed in seven languages were bulky and impractical?

Not at all - sales for the homemade Fruit Roll-Up-making machine went through the roof; including the one my family bought in an effort to become healthier snackers.

Our Ronco Electric Food Dehydrator is still in pristine condition, new in box, in our attic. Perhaps one day I can sell it as a relic of the convenience consumer craze Popeil created when he invented the infomercial.

Although I didn't know it at the time, Popeil's ability to carry himself a culinary (or health, or economic) expert was his was his way of establishing his ethos: what people think of him as a speaker, beyond just what he says.

By using children, oftentimes his own daughter, in his commercials and focusing on health-consciousness, Popeil was appealing to his possible customers' emotions - a fundamental referred to as pathos.

"The Greatest Salesman of the Century," according to the title of his autobiography, finishes the trinity of basic public speaking modes or persuasion by appealing to the public's logos with his memorable and simple sales pitches. No matter how ultimately useless one of his products might be, Popeil always has a one-line slogan of logic that's inherently true.

Popeil's understanding of what people liked to hear and general magnetism on the small screen is more than enough for me to personally praise him as a role model...

"But wait, there's more!"

In true infomercial fashion, investing in Ron Popeil as an educator comes with some added life lessons, thrown in free-of-charge.

Popeil was a self-starter, and his success was purely a result of his own dedication and effort. With almost no guidance or support from his family or anyone else, he started out his career hawking kitchen products in the front door of the flagship Woolworth's in Chicago, and only originally saw videotaping his demonstrations as a matter of efficiency. His continued successes have been because of his own inventions and marketing innovations.

Although unintentionally and somewhat subconsciously so, TV gadget-guru Ron Popeil instilled in me a lot more than great recipes for spinach pasta and rotisserie chicken - he showed me the fundamentals of holding the interest of an audience. As my food dehydrator collects perpetual dust, I still use my early-founded public speaking skills every day.