Submit Your Story to the Portal
Guidelines for Submitting Your Story to the Portal
In every issue of the Portal, we invite our authors to share their experiences, success stories, learning experiences, and vision with others in the moving and forwarding industry.
Contributing to Feature Articles
Each issue contains a feature story united by a central theme. Visit our Coming Up In the Portal page to read about upcoming themes and deadlines for the next issue of the magazine, and return often, as it will change regularly. Our editorial calendar will give you a glance further into future issues.
More of our members than ever before are contributing to our feature stories—this is an excellent development, but it also necessitates some submission guidelines. In the future, we will implement these quantified guidelines for feature story contributions:
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The maximum limit for submissions is a firm 1,400 words.
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Only 10-15 submissions of the highest quality will be published, as adjudicated by IAM’s editorial staff.
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Your submission must be in your own words. While it is acceptable to use AI to help research and outline your article, our readers want to connect with you and hear your voice in your writing.
- Submissions must state the name, business title and company of the author, as well as a photo of the author.
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images submitted must be high-resolution graphics with a file size of 1 mb or greater—a mobile phone photo at actual size is preferred.All photos and
Suggestions for Writing
1. Watch the Editorial Calendar for topics that match your interests or expertise. Your colleagues want to hear from writers who are knowledgeable and passionate about the feature topic.
2. Give us your unique perspective. Tell your readers how your company is addressing the topic at hand and what steps you are taking to overcome obstacles and thrive in the industry. The more general your focus, the more likely your readers will skip to the next story.
3. Do your research. Even if you know your chosen topic inside out, take some time to research cutting-edge trends and practices. This will ensure you address the topic with a fresh perspective, making your article more informative and valuable to your target audience.
4. Before you write, create an outline. When your research is done, create a structure that you can follow when writing your article. Spell out the ideas that you’re going to discuss in your introduction, expand on those ideas in the article body, and summarize those points in your conclusion.
5. Write your article. With your outline prepared, writing the full article becomes easy. Be thorough, be creative, and most importantly, write it in your own voice. Beyond simply becoming more informed, your readers want to connect with you as you share your own genuine insights and experiences.
NEW Policy Regarding Use of AI: While AI-powered tools like ChatGPT can be useful in researching and outlining your contribution, we ask that you do the writing yourself; our readers want to hear your ideas in your own voice. Think of it as the difference between being one voice on a conference call, and meeting your colleagues face-to-face at the Annual Meeting—don't phone it in, your readers are here to meet the real you.
Member News and Regular Columns
Here is a list of our regular and semi-regular columns, for which we welcome submissions at any time:
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Portal Focus: Themes and issues explored by and for Portal readers, with input and insights from IAM members worldwide.
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IAM-YP: A section devoted to the young movers and Millennials who are the industry’s rising stars and future leaders.
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Executive Suite: Best practices for your business and the industry by thought leaders among our IAM membership.
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Movers Doing Good: Honoring IAM members who give back to their communities, employees and planet.
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TechNotes: A timely exploration of technological developments that make the moving process more reliable and efficient for both IAM members and their clients.
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Maritime/Ocean Shipping: A spotlight on IAM members and government agencies that work together to make overseas commerce safe and efficient.
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Industry News: The people and companies who shape today’s moving industry.
Before you submit
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Ensure you include the company name, the author's name and full business title (especially important if you're attaching a Word document) and a high-resolution photo of the author for their byline.
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Be sure that any photos you provide are high-resolution digital photos; cell phone photos at the actual size are acceptable.
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If you send additional photos, be sure to include a caption including identities of company employees being depicted.
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Finally, don't forget to include an email address for someone we can contact if we have any questions.