Sonic Foundry Event Services Webcasts Professional Convention Management Association Chapter Events via Mediasite

MADISON, Wis., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonic Foundry, Inc. (Nasdaq: SOFO), the recognized market leader for rich media webcasting and knowledge management, today announced the Professional Convention Management Association's (PCMA) New York and Greater Midwest chapters selected Sonic Foundry Event Services to webcast their education events.

The Greater Midwest and New York are the only two chapters of the PCMA to webcast their meetings, ensuring attendees could participate in-person, from their desktops, through remote webcast sites around the country and on-demand after the event.

"Because of our partnership with Sonic Foundry we were able to have a virtual audience and our attendance doubled, reaching members who were traveling or otherwise unable to attend," said Amanda Ciarlone, Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau and Vice President of the PCMA New York Area Chapter. "Multiple features of the event have appeared in the press and our members have been enthusiastic about doing a webcast again, and we've seen increased traffic following the chapter on Twitter."

Ciarlone continued, "Any platform that allows you to increase your audience, create a buzz about your event and encourage your attendees to continue their connections beyond the onsite meeting is one worth using. The opportunity to add a hybrid element to our Education Day through this webcast was a win-win for all parties involved."

Midori Connolly, Chief AVGirl and CEO of Pulse Staging and Events, who devised the AV strategy for the PCMA events said, "I choose to partner with Sonic Foundry for my hybrid meeting solutions because the technology, Mediasite, is as close to foolproof as I've been able to find."

"The partnership with Sonic Foundry helped us to enhance the quality of the Greater Midwest Chapter event. Their webcast platform is robust and highly functional. In particular, the side-by-side feature of the video and slide deck support windows facilitated a very pleasant viewing experience for attendees," said Michael M. McCurry, CMP and Immediate Past President, GMC PCMA. "We have received nothing but positive feedback from the PCMA remote participants, and continue to receive high marks from PCMA members accessing the archived version of this content.  Many thanks to the Sonic Foundry team for making us look good.  We look forward to utilizing their services in the future."

To access the webcasts visit http://sofo.com/c8565 for the Greater Midwest event, and http://sofo.com/9a992 for the New York Area event. Registration is required.

"Momentum is building in the hybrid meeting space, as associations increasingly turn to webcasting to open their events to new participants. This has led to unprecedented growth in the Event Services segment of our business, whose turnkey services not only facilitate two-way sharing between virtual and in-person audiences, but also create an archive where content is enduring and accessible after the event," said Rimas Buinevicius, chairman and CEO of Sonic Foundry.

Sonic Foundry's Event Services is a leading provider of webcasting for blended conferences. 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 Event Services 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 Sonic Foundry®, Inc.

Sonic Foundry (Nasdaq: SOFO, www.sonicfoundry.com) is the global leader for rich media webcasting and knowledge management, providing enterprise communication solutions for education, business and government. Powered by Mediasite, the patented webcasting platform which automates the capture, management, delivery and search of lectures, online training and briefings, Sonic Foundry empowers people to transform the way they communicate. Through the Mediasite platform and its Event Services group, the company helps customers connect a dynamic, evolving world of shared knowledge and envisions a future where learners and workers around the globe use webcasting 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.