Mediasite Events and Learner's Digest Create Online Learning Portal for Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists

LOS ANGELES, March 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonic Foundry, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFO), the trusted market leader for lecture capture, enterprise and event webcasting, today announced a partnership with Learner's Digest International to create an online learning portal for The Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA). The portal features high-resolution video and slide capture of continuing medical education for SCA presented at their 15th Annual Comprehensive Review & Update of Perioperative Echo held in San Diego, CA.

The SCA is an international organization of over 6,000 cardiac, thoracic, and vascular anesthesiologists that promotes excellence in clinical care, education, and research in the subspecialty. The enduring recorded material resulting from the Annual Comprehensive Review is called "SCA Echo Review & Update on Demand."

SCA Echo Review & Update on Demand, made available via a Learner's Digest International online portal includes 36 hours of sessions and workshops recorded over six days by Mediasite Events. The content offers an unprecedented level of enduring education for practicing physicians to help prepare for boards and stay up to date on the latest advancements in their field. After the conference, participants will benefit from both an online and offline library of sessions, including programs on practical applications and core concepts, as well as a high-resolution video session of a Porcine Heart dissection. The sessions are also available to medical practitioners not in attendance at the conference.  

"We are thrilled with the Learner's Digest partnership.  Since 2008, we have seen the reach of our education and revenue of enduring products increase dramatically with their marketing expertise.  With the addition of the Mediasite technology in 2012, the product has evolved significantly as well.  It is simple and intuitive for users to find the content they want and watch high-resolution video of the session as if they were in the room.  The quality of the video is particularly important for our core wet lab session and the product delivers," said Heather Spiess, executive director of Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists.

"We saw our clients' needs evolving. We needed the quality of the capture to keep up with the increasing amount of high resolution and detailed content being presented at these educational meetings. The learner also requires the product to be accessible in multiple ways, including via mobile applications and technologies. This needed to be delivered without compromise of quality and in a similar experience to watching via a web browser. Mediasite Events is the right partner to help us do that," said Mark Guasp, senior director of product marketing for Learner's Digest International. "Sonic Foundry is constantly thinking about the next generation of educational communication and how people learn. Video becomes more important. If I can't be there I need to have the experience as if I were there."

"An increasing number of conferences, particularly in the medical field, recognize the importance of recording the information presented on-site and repurposing it for continuing education," said Justin Jaeck, vice president, Sonic Foundry Mediasite Events. "Partnering with groups like SCA and Learner's Digest International allows physicians to make strategic decisions about when and where they access the enduring educational content."

Mediasite Events and Learner's Digest have partnered on a number of on-demand training and continuing education programs for the healthcare, disease management and pharmaceutical industries. The combined offering consists of creating elearning portals for medical professionals which provide certification and accreditation, featuring the highest quality video webcasts of medical procedures, research and other educational instruction.

Mediasite Events is a leading provider of event webcasting for hybrid events and high-profile meetings. The group supplies technical webcasting services and expertise to organizations who seek to complement their conference or event with viewing over the web. Since its launch in January 2007, the Mediasite Events group has provided live and on-demand webcasting for clients ranging from Fortune 500 corporations and university associations to sporting events and charitable organizations.

About SCA

Since its inception in 1978, the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA) has been a driving force in providing a forum for leading research and issues in anesthesia.  The SCA is entering its 34th year and has been providing accredited continuing medical education (CME) to its members since 1982. Today, the SCA offers four educational activities, drawing an average of 2000 meeting registrants annually. The Society has always strived to provide the highest quality, the most pertinent and the best innovative educational activities for physicians and other allied healthcare professionals with a professional interest in cardiac, vascular and thoracic anesthesiology, surgery, intensive care and perioperative medicine.

About Learner's Digest International

Learner's Digest is a technology-enabled learning company specializing in the development and distribution of educational products for physicians, healthcare professionals, researchers and scientists. With roots dating back to 1954, Learner's Digest creates strategic partnerships with premier medical societies, technical associations and top teaching institutions to develop, produce and distribute educational and research products.  Through two established channels: Audio-Digest Foundation and Marathon Multimedia, Learner's Digest offers broad expertise in abstract processing, audio publishing, CME accreditation and direct-to-clinician marketing, posters management, and webcasting. 

For more information, visit Learner's Digest companies on the web at www.learnersdigest.com.

About Sonic Foundry®, Inc.

Sonic Foundry (NASDAQ: SOFO, www.sonicfoundry.com) is the trusted market leader for enterprise webcasting and lecture capture, providing video communication solutions for education, business and government. Powered by the patented Mediasite webcasting platform and Mediasite Events group, the company empowers people to transform the way they communicate online, using video webcasts to bridge time and distance, accelerate research and improve performance. Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of Sonic Foundry, Inc. or their respective owners.

Certain statements contained in this news release regarding matters that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Because such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, uncertainties pertaining to continued market acceptance for Sonic Foundry's products, its ability to succeed in capturing significant revenues from media services and/or systems, the effect of new competitors in its market, integration of acquired business and other risk factors identified from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Sonic Foundry, Inc.