Webconference / meeting. How?

[BonRouge]

I really don't know if this is even a website issue, but maybe someone knows something about this.

I have a language school and we'd like to have online classes where maybe 3 or 4 people could be on the screen and participating at once.

I looked around the internet for this kind of thing and I found some webconference packages where you have to register with some company or other and pay A LOT of money.

This might mean installing some kind of server or I might have to buy some special software (more than likely), but I'm looking for any advice.

What can I do?

Thanks in advance.

[ray326]

The only ones I've used are those big commercial guys but I suspect you could bring up your own conferencing server, possibly based on some open source conference server code.

[BonRouge]

Any idea how I'd go about doing that?
As for the 'big guys'- do you have any recommendations?

(Thanks for the reponse by the way)

[PeOfEo]

There is always simple voice chat thru ventrilio or team speak. But for a conference, one of the big guys would be live meeting http://www.microsoft.com/office/livemeeting/prodinfo/default.mspx

[ray326]

Mostly we've used WebEx but there was another one that I don't remember but I think it had "place" in its name. I think that one may be the one Microsoft bought and renamed Live Meeting.

--

Yes, I found it with Google. It was PlaceWare.

[BonRouge]

$375 a month... Kind of pricey. In the short-term at least, it really wouldn't be worth our while. Hmmm... but if it started to take off (he thinks aloud...). We'll have to think more about this. Are those the recommendations then? Would they be the best options?

Can you tell me any more about running our own server to do this? It seems like the obvious thing to do - but then, I don't know how to do it.

[ray326]

I don't know either. What I'd do though is look for some suitable free web conferencing software then find a hosting service that provides the appropriate infrastructure. I'm guessing you could do it yourself for less than $100/mo.

[BonRouge]

Hey Ray,

I found a couple of things at SourceForge... I installed one (CIM3 Server) , but it didn't seem to be what I thought it was, or I just didn't understand. I got another (pwlib), but I couldn't work out how to go about installing it. I don't know what to do unless it's like a Windows installer package or something - if the command panel pops up, I panic - no idea what I'm doing there.

I'm wondering too - why do you say we should find a host after we find some good software? Couldn't we host it ourselves?

Thanks for the input so far.

Cheers

[ray326]

Sure you can host it yourself.

[BonRouge]

So... any ideas where I can get this free software?

[ray326]

I usually start with something like this (http://www.google.com/search?q=open+source+web+conferencing).

[BonRouge]

Yeah, thanks...

I think maybe I tried Google...

So you don't know where I can get something good then?

[norl]

had the same problem. and found a web conferencing site that doesn't require any download or any software. you just have to register, that's all. it's so easy to use and you can add an unlimited number of people. and since you're starting up an online school, this will surely be great help to you since it's free. there's no harm in trying it out. good luck to your school by the way. :)