It’s February the 13th!
You know what we are raising greater awareness for on the 13th of February?

Yes, The “World Radio Day”
It may seem lame to you but that’s because you don’t know the full history of this significant device.

But first let’s know more about the world radio day.

Pluralism, Representation, Diversity

Radio is a powerful medium for celebrating humanity in all its diversity and shapes a platform for democratic discourse. At the global level, radio remains the most widely used medium.
Its unique ability to reach out the widest audience means radio can shape a society’s experience of diversity, stand as an arena for all voices to speak out, be represented and heard.
Radio stations should serve different communities, offering a wide variety of programs, viewpoints and content, and reflect the diversity of audiences in their organizations and operations.

Radio is a low-cost medium specifically suited to reaching remote communities, offering a platform to intervene in the public debate, no matter what is people’s educational level. It also plays a definitive role in emergency communication and disaster relief.

Radio is positioned to bring communities together and foster positive dialogue for change. By carefully listening to its audiences and responding to their needs, radio services provide the diversity of views and voices needed to address the challenges we all face.

The objectives of the Day

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The day is raised greater awareness among the public and the media of the importance of radio, to encourage decision makers to establish and provide access to information through radio, as well as to enhance networking and international cooperation among broadcasters.

UNESCO’s General Conference, at its 36th session, proclaimed 13 February as World Radio Day.

“On 14 January 2013, the United Nations General Assembly formally endorsed UNESCO’s proclamation of World Radio Day. During its 67th Session, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 13 February as World Radio Day.
For World Radio Day 2020, UNESCO calls on radio stations to uphold diversity, both in their newsroom and on the airwaves.”

Now, the full history Radio.

By: https://dribbble.com/shots/5994150-Radio

In the early 1960s, as Germany was emerging from the chaos of World War II, the T1000 radio enabled access to the world with its phenomenal bandwidth and mobility, while its physical form offered order, harmony and economy. The T1000 stands out for its engineering the radio was capable of scanning all available broadcasting frequencies and its limited physical appearance

What purpose or function does the radio perform?
Then in 1895, a young Italian named Guglielmo Marconi invented what he called “the wireless telegraph” while experimenting on his parents. He used radio waves to transmit Morse code and the instrument he used became known as the radio.

Reginald Fessenden— He developed a way to combine sound and radio carrier waves. His first effort to transmit this mixed signal to a receiver has failed.
However, in 1906, using Alexanderson’s Alternator, Fessenden made the first long range transmission of voice from Brant Rock, Massachusetts.

Henirich Hertz, the German physicist, was the first to prove that you could transmit and receive electric waves wirelessly. Although Hertz originally thought his work had no practical use, today it is recognized as the fundamental building block of radio and every frequency measurement is named after him “the Hertz”.

There are hundreds of uses of radio spectrum and technology. Everything as baby monitors and broadcasting to radar and radio beacons are applications of radio.

Then Guglielmo Marcon introduced many of the first uses of wireless telegraphy to European navies. His radio apparatus is widely considered to be the reason that over 700 people survived the Titanic disaster in 1912 instead of dying as they likely would have if ships at sea were still using carrier pigeons to communicate over great distances.

Ernst Alexanderson was born in Sweden, this remarkable inventor developed the first alternator to make transmission of speech instead of the dots and dashes of telegraphs possible. It is said that this holder of 344 patents “virtually invented everything General Electric did in the field of AM, FM, and TV.”

Radio Development

The period between the late 1920s and the early 1950s is considered the Golden Age of Radio, in which comedies, dramas, variety shows, game shows, and popular music shows drew millions of listeners across America. But in the 1950s, with the introduction of television, the Golden Age faded.
But, radio remained a popular culture force. Developments like stereophonic broadcasting, which began in the 1960s, helped radio maintain its popularity.
Already more than 100 years old, radio is still a powerful force in our life.
Edwin Armstrong, Columbia University engineering professor, and creator of FM radio invented the regenerative circuit, the first amplifying receiver and reliable continuous-wave transmitter; and the super heterodyne circuit, a means of receiving, converting and amplifying weak, high-frequency electromagnetic waves.
His inventions are considered by many to provide the foundation for cellular phones.

The field radio was designed and manufactured by German company Telefunken in 1918.
One of its most striking design elements is the early use of plastic in the dials arrayed across the face of the machine.
The controls and switches are distinguished by various markings and shapes which cue the user as to their parameter, purpose and range of operation.

Radio wasn’t always as advanced as it is today or as popular. Like many technologies, it evolved gradually and gained acceptance slowly. Radio continues to evolve as it competes with other technologies to attract and hold an audience.

What’s your favourite Radio station?

Presentation Skills for Marketing Managers

A marketer’s chief responsibility is communication with customers. Getting the right message to the right people and making them act, think or feel a certain way takes skill and knowledge. Not all marketers are good at every type of communication and may focus on a specific area. For marketing generalists in smaller businesses, being a good ‘all-rounder’ is a big advantage. Even if you don’t need to physically create imagery, for example, you will still need to understand what makes an image effective if you are leading a campaign. So, a good marketer never stops learning to improve their communication skills.

Here are some of the main communication skills that marketers must continue to learn during their careers:

1.Compelling copywriting

If you are responsible for writing ads, sales collateral, press releases, blogs and newsletters, each type of copy you create requires specific knowledge. A creative style with words is a great start but you will also need to understand what motivates a journalist to pick up your press release and how to present the information, do you know the pyramid style? For web pages and blog copy, knowledge of SEO, content planning and research skills are needed. Is your ad copy persuasive? Is it punchy enough and does it compel your audience to buy from your brand? Each and every type of marketing copy you create needs to fulfill a different objective and, as a result, needs the writer to have the suitable skills and knowledge to produce it.

2. Public Speaking Skills

If you are responsible for Public Relations in your business, you have to deal with the press, speak at conferences or even present ideas internally to staff members? Public speaking is not something everyone enjoys but with training, it does get easier. Practice makes perfect! If you don’t have someone to practice in front of, record yourself and play it back. You will see how many ‘ums’ and ‘so’ you need to remove, whether you sound and look confident in what you are saying and if your presentation is delivering the right message.

3. Non-verbal communication

Just as salespeople need to work on their non-verbal communication, so do most marketers. If you are working on your public speaking skills, you will notice your body language, facial expressions and tone of voice have as much, if not more, of an impact than your choice of words.

4. Visual communication

Imagery and Brand identity are powerful ways to carry out the message, and becoming a familiar face to your audience and deliver information to them. Even if you are not a skilled graphic designer, you should still understand the technique of visual marketing, how to interpret a brief and check that imagery fits your brand and marketing objectives.

No matter strengths and weaknesses in communication skills, you can learn a great deal about the areas in which you are less confident while continuing to excel and improve on your natural talents, and After gaining the communication skills all you needs is the ability to create an effective marketing presentation is still a prized skill in modern digital marketing. There are several use cases where this courage will be practical, such as:

• When proposing a new marketing campaign, you may need to pitch your ideas to your superiors or clients by giving a presentation at a meeting.
• When conducting a teleseminar or webinar for training purposes, addressing user needs, or launching a new product.
• When creating marketing content for platforms as a part of your overall content marketing strategy.
• When you decide to take up the challenge of becoming a speaker at one of the networking events or marketing conferences.

Beside being comfortable speaking in front of a group and using slideshow presentation software such as PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides, or Prezi, there are some general guidelines which can be applied to any marketing presentation ideas that will ensure effectiveness in terms of engaging your audience, creating sales interest, and ultimately driving the message.
These following guidelines will help you create a marketing presentation that is both effective and engaging.

Seize your audience’s attention

Start your presentation with a bang by asking a dramatic question tailored to your audience’s most pressing pain points.
Start your presentation with a bang by asking a dramatic question tailored to your audience’s most pressing pain points.
For example, if your topic is something on the lines of how to improve your content marketing ROI, you can start with a provoking remark such as “B2B organizations waste almost $1 billion annually in incompetent and ineffective content marketing, are you contributing to that?” or maybe something like “60-70% of B2B content created is never used because the topic is irrelevant to the buyer audience. So, is your content actually useful or junk?”
your audience’s emotions and painting a vivid picture of their problems will force them to pay attention to your presentation. Oli Gardner, who is well-known for his inspiring presentations on conversion rate optimization, has a striking approach to his presentations. He starts off by presenting a few gloomy, despairing slides, and once the audience is amply dejected, he swoops in with good news.
The aim of all this is to get them on the right path, to seize their attention and get them focused on what you have to say.

Promise something and deliver it

Once you’ve got them interested in what you have to present, it is time to make some legit promises, just as you do in your everyday digital marketing activities. For example, while creating a pay-per-click ad, you write a convincing copy that promises to solve the reader’s problems, getting them to click through to your landing page. Likewise, if you are writing a blog post, you use the power of storytelling to convince them to take some action such as click a call to action.
Have you ever seen a tutorial on YouTube? The next time you do, note how all the finest quality videos are the ones in which the presenter makes it crystal clear what you’ll achieve within the first 30 seconds if you watch the entire video. They show you the end-result as proof that they know what they’re doing, and you’ll get what you came for.
So, in the case of the mentioning remarks on content marketing ROI, you can promise your audience that you’ll show them the exact strategies you used to achieve your goals (rankings, traffic, conversions, etc.).
Your product or service may be the greatest invention in the world, but delivering a killer sales pitch is how you’ll really make your sales.
The point is, the start of your presentation should be all about answering the famous copywriting question: “What’s in it for me?” Make it apparent within the first five minutes that your presentation is going to solve their problems and will provide them with actionable takeaways.
Of course, making these clear promises means you also have to fulfill them. In fact, go above and beyond in delivering what you promised by following the wise adage “underpromise and overdeliver.”

Tell an engaging story backed by data

The one thing common among all effective presentations is how they influence storytelling and real-life examples to drive the point home.

There is an amazing marketing quote by Melinda Partin that said: “At its very core, marketing is storytelling.”
The same applies to your presentations. Basically, your audience is more likely to engage with your content if they find it highly relatable and personal. A story offers that kind of connection by introducing a character fictional or otherwise, who has a problem you can solve. It creates a script that cannot be ignored by the audience.

So, going through your slides, use functional, real-life examples to link the presentation together smoothly. It’s as simple as telling how you or someone else performs what you are trying to transfer.
That said, ensure all your examples and illustrations are backed by data driven marketing from reliable sources. Your slides should clearly specify the information source. The last thing you want to hear is “get your facts straight” while giving a presentation.

Have less slide content rather than more

How many times have you sat through a presentation where the slides are so full with text that it makes the whole presentation ineffective?
Don’t do that. As you may have heard, the average human’s attention span today is pitifully low. And when it comes to paying attention in conference settings and elaborate presentations, it’s even worse. Your audience likely has far better and more urgent things to do than listen to you and your wordy slides.
So, you have to work to simplify your slides and include only the key points as written text instead of cramming them with the text you’re supposed to speak and explain. Use slides to support speech, not replace it. And just like with stories and examples, include as many visuals as images, GIFs, videos as possible to aid understanding.

Moreover , the more slides, the better. Instead of speaking to one slide for several minutes, spread your content around multiple slides. Use numerous images to illustrate your point, and keep the slides moving. This will help tackle the issue of deacrease attention spans.
Furthermore, make sure you use high-quality images. They may look fine on your computer, but images often become blurry after projection on a bigger screen. So make sure you checked that.

Also, if you don’t have a graphic designer and there’s an important need to whip up some good-looking graphics or remove/edit the background of some image you wish to include in your slides, consider using intuitive online tools such as Canva and AutoClipping, respectively.

Use humor wisely

Just because you are presenting in a serious context, doesn’t mean your presentation has to be boring or bland. Including some jokes here and there will increase audience engagement and retention of your content.
So, give your slides a facelift by supplying them with relevant humor. This can take the form of witty wordplay, GIFs, and even memes. However, make sure the humor is, in fact, relevant to the content you’re presenting and not a distraction. Don’t make it seem forced but natural.
Most memes available on the internet are of low-quality and resolution, you’ll have to take some time to create your own original memes, which seems fun!

Don’t forget

Don’t leave your audience hanging at the end of your presentation. Tell them exactly what to do next: is this the part where they can ask questions and clarify their doubts?
How should they use the information you’ve just presented to solve their problems?
Repeat all of the most important points explained in the presentation and make sure the value you promised at the start of the presentation is actually delivered. If your presentation lacked two-way communication and audience participation, now is the time to have a proper exchange of ideas and casual debates.
At last, as it was a marketing presentation, it makes sense to end it with a definite that carry the exact action you want your audience to take.

Plastic Pollution

Photograph by Thomas P. Peschak, NAT GEO

Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues, as fast increasing production of disposable plastic products crushes the world’s ability to deal with them. Plastic pollution is most visible in developing Asian and African nations, where garbage collection systems are often inactive or don’t even exist. But the developed world, especially in countries with low recycling rates, also has trouble properly collecting discarded plastics. Plastic trash has become everywhere it has prompted efforts to write a global treaty negotiated by the United Nations.

That’s All Happened Because:

Plastics made from fossil fuels are just over a century old. Production and development of thousands of new plastic products quickened, after World War II.
Plastics revolutionized medicine with life-saving devices, made space travel possible, lightened cars and jets, saving fuel and pollution, and saved lives with helmets, incubators, and equipment for clean drinking water.

However, plastics have a material’s dark side: today, single use plastics account for 40 percent of the plastic produced every year. Many of these products, such as plastic bags and food wrappers, have a lifespan of mere minutes to hours, yet they may persist in the environment for hundreds of years.

Plastics move around the world

Most of the plastic trash in the oceans, Earth’s last sink, flows from land. Trash is also carried to sea by major rivers, which act as conveyor belts, picking up more and more trash as they move downstream. Once at sea, much of the plastic trash remains in coastal waters. But once caught up in ocean currents, it can be transported around the world.

Based on NAT GEO:
“On Henderson Island, an uninhabited atoll in the Pitcairn Group isolated halfway between Chile and New Zealand, scientists found plastic items from Russia, the United States, Europe, South America, Japan, and China. They were carried to the South Pacific by the South Pacific gyre, a circular ocean current.”

Grave effects of Plastic Pollution

It seems clear that this amount of a material that isn’t meant to break down can wreak destruction on natural environments, leading to long-term issues for plants, animals, and people.
Some of this main long term effects of plastic pollution are:

Harm to wildlife

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Millions of animals are killed by plastics every year, from birds to fish to other marine creatures. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by plastics. almost every species of seabird eats plastics.

Most of the deaths to animals are caused by tanglung or starvation. Seals, whales, turtles, and other animals are strangled by abandoned fishing gear or discarded six-pack rings. Microplastics have been found in more than 100 aquatic species, including fish, shrimp, and mussels destined for our dinner plates. In many cases, these tiny bits pass through the digestive system and are expelled without consequence. But plastics have also been found to have blocked digestive tracts or pierced organs, causing death. Stomachs so packed with plastics reduce the urge to eat, causing starvation.

Plastics have been consumed by land-based animals, including elephants, hyenas, zebras, tigers, camels, cattle, and other large mammals, in some cases causing death.

Tests have also confirmed liver and cell damage and disruptions to reproductive systems, prompting some species, such as oysters, to produce fewer eggs. New research shows that larval fish are eating nanofibers in the first days of life, raising new questions about the effects of plastics on fish populations.

Land Pollution

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When plastic is dumped in landfills, it interacts with water and form hazardous chemicals. When these chemicals weep underground, they decrease the water quality. Wind carries and deposits plastic from one place to another, increasing the land litter. It can also get stuck on poles, traffic lights, trees, fences, towers etc.

Air Pollution

Burning of plastic in the open air, leads to environmental pollution due to the release of toxic chemicals. When humans and animals breath the polluted air, it affects their health and can cause respiratory problems.

Plastic is Toxic

Man artificially makes plastic by using a number of toxic chemicals. Therefore, the use of and exposure to plastics has been linked to a number of health concerns affecting people around the world. The processes of making, storing, disposing of, and just being around plastics can be extremely harmful to living things.

Stop the Plastic!

The sad truth is that the only way this problem can be addressed is by individuals and companies around the world agreeing to implement practices that reduce waste on every level. The top tips for reducing plastic waste are:

Shop Friendly
Plastic bags were once a modern convenience but can be efficiently replaced by reusable bags, many of which fold up compactly in order to be portable. Just Carry a bag and always reuse plastic bags as much as possible if you have them.

Bottled Water
People are meant to drink lots of water each day.
However, most plastic bottles are only recommended for single use, and that means that every time someone finishes a bottle, it goes into the trash. Many companies now sell reusable water bottles as a substitute, reducing plastic waste and exposure to leaking bottles.

Educate the Businesses
Speak to local restaurants and businesses about options that they can switch to for packaging, storing, and bagging items. Many companies are starting to come up with excellent low-cost replacements.

Stopping the plastic tide
Once in the ocean, it is difficult—if not impossible—to retrieve plastic waste. Mechanical systems, a litter interceptor can be effective at picking up large pieces of plastic, such as foam cups and food containers, from inland waters. But once plastics break down into microplastics and drift throughout the water column in the open ocean, they are virtually impossible to recover.

Many scientists and conservationists says:
The solution is to prevent plastic waste from entering rivers and seas in the first place. This could be accomplished with improved waste management systems and recycling, better product design that takes into account the short life of disposable packaging, and reduction in manufacturing of unnecessary single use plastics.

Tell us, how will you participate in saving the planet from plastic pollution?