Colorado Springs, CO – Some 40 Christian magazine editors, designers, and publishers from five countries gathered in Bangalore, India, last month for Magazine Training International’s (MTI) "India 2012: Success in Magazine Publishing" program. The conferences were the second in a series of three planned MTI training events in India.

Participants from India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Zambia, and Nigeria attended the program, with most taking part in both of two separate training events. The first conference was a five-day Advanced Magazine Publishing Institute, which provided a holistic approach to magazine publishing, exposing all participants to the key disciplines necessary to publish a successful magazine. The Institute was comprised of three tracks: magazine editing, magazine design, and magazine management. The Institute was followed by the Digital Magazine Publishing Seminar, a three-day seminar providing a fact-packed overview of the digital world of publishing.

Ten trainers from India, the United States, and Ukraine brought together their various insights and experience, which they freely shared with the participants. The program is expected to help the publishers of established magazines to move forward and start-ups to gain solid footing in their endeavors.

"I was impressed with the amount of information and knowledge imparted in such depth," says Joel Godi with Sonshine magazine in Secunderabad, India. Other participants agreed with Godi, leaving the conference with a renewed sense of purpose for their publications or start-ups.

"Your contributions opened my eyes to venture into magazine publishing," commented Emmanuel Timothy of the Methodist Church Record in Sri Lanka. "The knowledge, contacts, and support earned from this are simply priceless."

Many Christian publishers in India lack the time and resources to gain training on their own. They expressed gratitude for the quality, affordable training they received.

"Most people in India involved in publication, have not had much training," stated Dorothy Kumar of the Tree of Life in Bangalore, India. "MTI’s providing top experienced knowledgeable resource persons is a great service. Such a learning experience is so valuable."

"I can never thank the donors enough for investing their resources in a developing world that will soon be in a leadership role (in the global stage)," says Jabez Lloyd of The Almond Branch in Bangalore, India. "Personally, it was a chance I might otherwise never have had: the chance to meet and interact with trainers who offered cutting-edge knowledge so freely and lavishly."

The next MTI conference in India is planned for 2014 and will take place in the state of Kerala, in the south of India. The next training program will be quite different from the previous two annual programs, since the entire program will be offered with translation into Malayalam, the language of Kerala. MTI plans to offer two six-day courses.

Next year MTI will concentrate on developing an online training program and a new interactive Web site.