Christian magazine publishing professionals serving in Africa are invited to attend the first of a ten-year program of training events to be offered by Magazine Training International (MTI). The first Magazine Publishing Institute will be held 30 September – 7 October, 2018, in Nairobi, Kenya.

Although publishing professionals from some 200 African magazines have taken advantage of  MTI training or publishing resources in recent years, the Nairobi conference will be MTI’s first in Africa.

The seven-day Magazine Publishing Institute will offer a comprehensive training program in three tracks: magazine editing, magazine design, and magazine management. Each of the tracks comprises a full-length intensive course and includes hands-on sessions in which participants create a customized resource they can immediately use for their publications.

Although participants may join only one of the tracks, they will be exposed to information from the other tracks during plenary sessions designed to bring together all three disciplines, demonstrating how they work together to produce a high quality, financially viable magazine.

The management track will be taught by Dr. Kirimi Barine, founder of Leadership Today Africa, author, trainer, publisher and coach; Lou Ann Sabatier, principal of Sabatier Consulting and strategic communications director for the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative; and David Renard, a partner with mediaIDEAS, founder of Netcirculation, and co-creater of Stare. A few of the topics that will be covered include defining your purpose, increasing your circulation, and generating income.

Editing track trainers include Carla Foote, editor for Disciple! and One-to-One for The Navigators ministry; Camerin Courtney Mattson, senior editor for a nonprofit humanitarian aid organization, where she edits their quarterly magazine, blog, and other print and online communications; and Jeremy Weber, senior news editor at Christianity Today. A sampling of the topics include developing a magazine profile, solving manuscript problems, and the art of digital publishing.

The design track will be taught by Anne Elhajoui, creative director of Knight Marketing; Dr. Tamara Welter, associate professor and chair of the Department of Media, Journalism, and Public Relations at Biola University; and Rick Szuecs, designer for Man of Integrity. Topics to be covered include design on a modest budget, the magazine’s visual identity, and when and how to approach a redesign.

The Magazine Publishing Institute in Nairobi will be followed by training programs in West Africa in 2019 and 2020. Registration for the conference in Nairobi is now open.

by Jennifer Howard, communications director