There are many online meeting tools available, with a wide range of features and options.  These tools are rapidly evolving, so be sure to look at each vendor's website to obtain the latest information.

 

The process of choosing a tool that will work well for you is just like selecting any other application: define your needs, then look for what's available.

 

As an example, I'll walk you through a basic selection process I went through recently to identify possible web meeting tools for Michigan Nonprofit Association.

 

REQUIREMENTS 

 

I had four key requirements:

- We had to be able to support at least 25 simultaneous users (and, ideally, 50 simultaneous users, since that is approximately the number of staff).  But if we met the 25-user requirement that should be sufficient for most of our web trainings and meetings.

- Ideally, the web meeting tool would work using only a browser. I've given enough webinars to know that participants are not always able to easily install software. Therefore, choosing software that only requires a browser simplifies things significantly.

- The solution needed to be hosted, as I didn't want to have to purchase additional hardware or deal with any on-going maintenance of an application on an internal server.

- And, of course, I had the usual desire that the tool be as inexpensive as possible.

 

A few other "nice to have features" would be:

- The ability to upload and share Microsoft Office 2007 documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint),

- The ability to share a view of a browser, either within the application or by sharing an application or the entire desktop.

 

So, with that in mind, I took a look at several possible solutions: Acrobat Connect Pro, Cisco WebEx, DimDim, Fuze, Goto Webinar, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, Vyew, Yugma, and Zoho Meeting. This is where things got a bit more complicated!

 

ROUND 1

 

Here's a bit of what I learned about each, and the general process by which I narrowed the options down to viable alternatives. I started by simply looking at pricing and numbers of users.

 

1. Acrobat Connect Pro's hosted 5-user starter pack costs $375 per month, so I eliminated that from the choices.

 

2. Cisco Webex offered a Meeting Plus option for hosting 25-person meetings at a cost of $69 per month.

 

3. DimDim had three relevant options: a free version for up to 20 users, a Pro version (40 users for $198 per year, 60 users for $297 per year).

 

4. FuzeMeeting, which is still in Beta, but currently offered at a pricing structure of $29 per month (with a promoted "regular" cost of $49 per month), with an unlimited number of participants per session.

 

5. Goto Webinar offered an unlimited number of meetings of up to 1,000 participants per meeting for a monthly fee of $99 per month.

 

6. Microsoft Office Live Meeting, which didn't have easily accessible pricing from Microsoft, but was available from third-party vendors for a price of a minimum of 5 host licenses at $29 per month EACH for up to 1,250 participants in each meeting (translating into $145 per month).

 

7. Vyew, I must say, had the most confusing pricing of all of these vendors. Their Professional plan started at $13.95 per month, allowing up to 45 participants, but 15 of those saw no ads.  This means the other 30 participants would be served ads.  I actually had to complete a math story problem in order to estimate cost: "Let's see... 45 user minus 15 users with no ads equals 30 users who are seeing ads. Hmmm, per their pricing schedule, I can free 5 more users from ads with another $5 per month. Therefore, 6 sets times $5 per month (for each set of 5 users) means I need to add $30 to the $13.95 price... making their monthly price without ads $43.95."  (I eliminated them from consideration after setting down my pencil and raising my hand to indicate I'd finished the assignment. Their technology may be wonderful, but any company that makes me work that hard to figure out cost is definitely NOT focused on usability or placing customer needs first.)

 

8. Yugma also had several relevant options: a free version for up to 20 users, a Pro 20 version ($14.95 per month) and a Pro 50 version ($44.95 per month).

 

9. Zoho Meeting had an option of up to 25 participants at a fee of $24 per month.

 

Based on my initial review, I decided to narrow the field of contenders to six, eliminating Vyew because of their confusing price scheme, and Acrobat Connect Pro and Microsoft Office Live Meeting because their pricing was significantly higher than competitive alternatives. My hope was that of the remaining six, I could find one that met my other requirements. If not, I would then need to re-examine these other three options.

 

ROUND 2

 

Of the six remaining contenders (Cisco Webex, DimDim, Fuze, GotoWebinar, Yugma, and Zoho Meeting) WebEx, GotoWebinar, Yugma and Zoho Meeting all require some type of software installation, even if it is installing additional java-based software.  This leaves DimDim and Fuze as potential candidates -- they do both require the installation of Flash, but that is already present on the vast majority of Internet browsers.

 

ROUND 3

 

That's it: it is now down to two alternatives: DimDim or Fuze.  Of the two, it seems that DimDim is more full-featured at this point, especially since Fuze is in beta.

 

SUMMARY

 

(TO BE COMPLETED)