SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 04/26/12 -- Maintaining messaging consistency while improving the quality and effectiveness of webinar content and event promotions, Penton Media's American City & County and Microsoft have achieved industry-leading performance with the State and Local Government Summit, now in its fifth year. American City & County is part of Penton's Public Infrastructure Group.

An early adopter of virtual event technology, American City & County created the first Local Government Summit in 2008. Sponsored by Microsoft, the summit was developed to more effectively connect with officials of local governments and to engage the audience in the latest ways to provide public services. By leveraging the virtual events platform from ON24, the global leader in webcasting and virtual event solutions, American City & County has created an online event that continues to be the "go-to" resource for government officials seeking to learn more about new technologies such as mobile and cloud computing.

At its beginning, the Local Government Summit attracted 600 registrants and established the foundation for an annual virtual meeting, focusing on methods for governments to better leverage technology to serve constituents. Attendance has significantly increased each year, and last year American City & County expanded the scope of its virtual show to include state governments, attracting nearly 2,000 registrants and achieving more than 1 million impressions at its most recent event. American City & County also developed a second virtual conference on cloud computing in 2011 to complement the annual fall event.

The organizers have improved summit ROI with each event. By increasing promotional activity and creating targeted webinar content around cutting-edge solutions, American City & County and Microsoft have achieved greater audience engagement while reducing overall cost per lead. And, because the State and Local Government Summit has set new standards for quality, performance and ROI on a year-over-year basis, the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and ON24 honored the 2011 event with a Virtual Communication Excellence Award for performance and ROI.

"American City & County was one of Penton Media's earliest innovators in virtual conferences and trade shows," said Gregg Herring, Penton Public Infrastructure Vice President and Market Leader, "and we are pleased that the partnership has expanded into multiple virtual events and other types of online products."

Penton, American City & County and Microsoft are continuing to build on previous success with the upcoming summit, which will focus on putting tech trends into a meaningful operational context for government managers. "Your Cloud. Your future. Your move. Game-changing decisions in government," set for April 26 and 27, 2012, will illustrate how state and local government IT officials can prepare for the migration of essential services to the cloud and for the next version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. A full calendar of technical and business/operational sessions is scheduled.

"After working together for years, American City & County and Microsoft have become a seasoned group, maximizing performance and ROI," commented Sharat Sharan, CEO of ON24. "Penton has provided a compelling example of how best to implement a long-term virtual events strategy as part of the marketing mix with the State and Local Government Summit, and we congratulate them on the 2011 excellence award."

About ON24, Inc.
ON24, the virtual communications platform for the global enterprise, provides interactive, impactful cloud-based solutions that drive outstanding results. ON24 offers a broad and innovative product portfolio, including webcasting, virtual events and virtual environments, accessible from any device and supported by robust reporting and analytics. Applications for the ON24 communication platform include demand generation, partner enablement, training, product launches, company town hall meetings and user conferences. More than 700 organizations, including IBM, CA Technologies, Merck, Unilever, JPMorgan Chase, Deloitte, Credit Suisse, Ernst & Young, Amazon and New York Life, rely on ON24. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices throughout the world. For more information, visit http://www.ON24.com.