ATF Professionals' Network(TM)

The Way Networking Can Work

Connections are critical to success for today's professionals. New business opportunities, career moves, and important information come to us all the time through people we meet. This is why the African Technology Forum (ATF) has developed the Professionals' Network(TM) to link technical professionals of African descent.

Since 1988, ATF has produced the only magazine covering the application of science and technology for development in Africa. In the process we have brought together thousands of individuals and organizations, including research institutions, private companies, government and international agencies, professionals, and students.

ATF Professionals' Network(TM) was conceived to meet demand from our readers to provide more networking opportunities. The Network will be a special section of African Technology Forum that exclusively promotes professional organizations. This means that your newsletter will be published for you and circulated to over 10,000 people worldwide. The Professionals' Network(TM) will contain the following sections:

Membership and publicity information from participating organizations
Calendar of Events
Who's Who among African Professionals
US and international job postings

How it works

The Professionals' Network(TM) is designed to be simple and effective. At no cost to your organization, ATF will reserve up to two full pages in our magazine for you to place membership information, new developments, activities, or conferences-virtually anything of interest to your readers. You will also have the opportunity to place items of interest in the Calendar, Who's Who, and Positions Available sections, which are shared by all participating organizations.

When you sign on to the Network, you will be sending us material for publication four times a year. ATF will edit your material to ensure that it meets our editorial standards. There will be no charge to your organization for placing your material in the Network.

As an added bonus, we are offering typesetting and formatting free of charge to organizations that sign on this year. This means that we will take your text and photographs, perform edits and layout, print, and circulate your material-AT NO CHARGE to your organization.

Even if your organization has its own newsletter or similar publication, the Professionals' Network(TM) is an excellent opportunity for you to boost your organization's exposure and add many new members. If your organization does not yet have a widely circulated newsletter, you will find that the Network will do all the work for you.

By now you can already see the power and potential of the ATF Professionals' Network(TM). ATF will put over 6 years of publishing experience behind your organization to achieve maximum impact. Among the many benefits, you will:

Provide a valuable service to your members at no cost to your organization
Increase your membership: your information in ATF will reach over 10,000 professionals in 85 countries
Your organization will appear in African Technology Forum , a magazine with over 6 years experience and a reputation for quality news and information
Your newsletter will be professionally designed and printed at little or no cost
Create links with other international organizations
Get informed on the latest technical developments affecting people of African descent
Learn about career opportunities in business, science, academia, and industry
Gain access to our calendar listing dozens of important annual and special events in the US and abroad
Increase attendance at your organization's events
Save yourself the trouble and expense of mass mailings
Find out who the major players in science and technology are, and where to find them

What should you do?

As a publication, ATF is interested in reaching the widest possible readership, particularly among technical professionals of African descent. Your organization has exactly the type of reader we seek: well educated, progressive, technically oriented, and upwardly mobile. This is a unique program to encourage networking between professionals. All we ask from you is to guarantee a number of paid one-year subscriptions to ATF from your members during the period of participation in the Network.

Participation in the Network is on a year-to-year basis, with contracts renewable at the beginning of each calendar year. Space allocated in the Professionals' Network(TM) section is based on the number of subscriptions you guarantee. The space you receive is calculated as follows:

No. of Subscriptions        Allocated Space             
20-49                       1/4 page (33/8 x 47/8 in.)            
50-99                       1/2 page (7 x 47/8 in.)               
100-199                     Full page (7 x 10 in.)                
200 or more                 Two-page spread (10 x 15 in.)

Your organization's section will be clearly marked with its own headline and your logo, if available. You may use black and an additional color at no extra charge, but there will be charges for layouts containing more than two colors. Publication trim size is 8³/8 x 10⁷/8 inches.

ATF will track subscriptions received from your organization and provide you with confirmation of the receipts. At the end of the one-year contract period, your organization may carry forward into the following year any subscriptions received above the guaranteed number. If fewer subscriptions than the guaranteed number are received, your organization will be required to pay for the extra issues of ATF at the cover price.

ATF is published four times a year in February, May, August, and November. Submissions for publication must be received no later than 30 days before the start of the publication month. For example, in order to be considered for the November 1994 issue, we must receive your material by October 1. We will notify you promptly that the material has been received and for which issue it is being considered. There will be no further notification prior to release except for clarification of content.

How to guarantee subscriptions

There are several options to guarantee the subscriptions from your members. Based on your organization's structure and size, you may choose to use any of the options listed below or suggest an alternative arrangement. For those members you guarantee, ATF will offer a significant discount on the copies you guarantee, giving you the flexibility to pass on substantial savings to your members.

Offer subscriptions to your members at a discount. Under this option, ATF handles all the billing and receipts directly with the individual subscribers.
Example: a member of your organization who subscribes with proof of membership will receive a discount of up to 45% off our cover price.
Include an ATF subscription in your annual membership fee. Your organization will submit the agreed amount to ATF based on the number of membership payments you receive in that year.
Example: Your membership fee is $65 and ATF offered your organization a $15 annual subscription rate per member. With 100 members paying dues totaling $6,500 that year, you will pay ATF $1,500 and have one full page of space in each issue of the magazine.
Create a new membership class which would include a subscription to ATF.
Example: If regular membership dues are $35, members could receive ATF for an additional $15 per year. Your guaranteed subscribers will be based on those special members who pay the $50 dues.

ATF is establishing the Professionals' Network as a permanent service to organizations in the US, Europe, and Africa. However, the free design and layout services are available only to organizations that join the Network in 1995. Please contact me at your earliest convenience at the address below to make arrangements for joining this program.

Mawuli Tse
Editor-in-Chief
African Technology Forum
Room 50-360, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: (617) 225-0339, Fax: (617) 252-3330

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