Sonic Foundry Opens Fifth Annual Mediasite User Conference - UNLEASH 2011

MADISON, Wis., May 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonic Foundry, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFO), the recognized market leader for rich media webcasting, lecture capture and knowledge management, opens the 2011 Mediasite User Conference, UNLEASH the Impact today at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.

The fifth annual conference is the most well-attended to date, with 17 percent more in-person participants than last year from 35 states and nine countries. UNLEASH is also available as a hybrid event, with an active remote audience online. Whether attending in-person or online, everyone will have access to all conference sessions streamed live and on-demand, as well as unparalleled social networking opportunities including:

• The UNLEASH conference portal, a private network within the Mediasite User Group website, which gives attendees one central place on the web to view sessions and collaborate with other participants, both in-person and online.
• Twitter, using #mediasite to follow the conversation. 
• The Mediasite fan page on Facebook.
• World of Webcast, the Sonic Foundry corporate blog. 

"Since its inception UNLEASH has been the largest global gathering for Mediasite users to share their knowledge, network, talk to individuals within the company and learn about new features," said Gary Weis, Sonic Foundry chief executive officer. "The event also has become a critical point in our development process, as we host several formal and informal listening sessions. Each year our attendees tell us it is one of their favorite features of UNLEASH, and for our engineering team, it provides unprecedented access to explore the requirements of our growing Mediasite user base."

Several UNLEASH 2011 attendees have participated since the first conference five years ago and they shared the value that keeps bringing them back, including:

"UNLEASH has been a valuable program for me, and has led to more creative uses of the product within my organization. The multi-track agenda gives me the opportunity to customize my conference and learn about what interests me. The ability to view the presentations afterward ensures that I don't miss any interesting presentations that are scheduled at the same time. Each year, I especially look forward to learning about the future of the Mediasite product. Over these 5 years there have been features added that have enhanced the product greatly, and often come directly from attendees of the program."

~ Jim Lasher, director of AV services, CA, Inc

"UNLEASH has grown into a very useful tool that allows me to meet other users and discuss ideas and solutions with them. I really love the fact that the entire company – from the CEO to the programmers – is around listing to my suggestions and willing to talk with me. That is customer service at its best."

~ Dusty Smith from the UW Madison College of Engineering

"What makes UNLEASH such an excellent conference experience is the willingness of all those who attend to share their ideas, solutions and enthusiasm. It doesn't matter what level of understanding you have about Mediasite, beginners and experienced users alike can learn valuable information from the variety of sessions, workshops and networking opportunities that are provided. The program also allows participants to share their insight with colleagues and Sonic Foundry staff on future product development and implementation."

~Todd Hutchings, director of distance learning at Ontario Hospital Association.

"Being the pioneer of Mediasite at NC State since 2004, UNLEASH was the best networking venue for me to interact and connect with other Mediasite enthusiasts, share experiences and learn from other users. During my first years of utilizing Mediasite at NC State and attending UNLEASH, the training workshops, best practice sessions, feedback sessions and 1:1 guru time provided me with the knowledge and skills I needed to become the Mediasite expert for campus.  As I have continued to attend UNLEASH in subsequent years, I utilized the opportunity to discuss NC State's needs and feature requests with Sonic Foundry's executive leadership, engineers, and product managers to help guide the future road map of Mediasite. The Sonic Foundry team has always been eager to not only listen to their customers, but implement their customer's needs in future releases."

~Laura Stephenson, associate director of DELTA at North Carolina State University

"For the past five years, I have attended the Mediasite UNLEASH meeting and each year I have learned about new and innovative features added to the Mediasite recorders, tips and techniques to improve presentations for our viewers and most important to Michigan Public Health Institute, ways to increase our customer base. UNLEASH is the only conference that I have consistently attended over the past five years that each presentation provides information to enhances your thinking about the use of electronic media in education and training situations."

~ Larry Doele, learning services, Michigan Public Health Institute

"As a business educator, the number one thing I teach my students is to access the value proposition in any situation. You need to understand what value you get or receive from any transaction. UNLEASH is a unique opportunity to have a two way value transaction. Not only do you share your knowledge by attending and presenting but you also receive the benefit of the collective experience of the Mediasite community."

~ Kelly Parke, senior multimedia designer at York University.

"It's the topics that keep me coming back: Mediasite in Action, Tech Talk and others that makes this conference interesting.  Sharing real life experiences, failures and successes make the presentations real.  And the ability to choose different presentations among the topics make the experience more flexible."

~ Jason Chan, distance learning supervisor, USC School of Social Work.

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.