(ISF) Online meeting tools

Dear ISF Colleagues,

I'm doing some scouting on behalf of Third Sector New England, which
is looking for a good web-based tool for conducting meetings. I say
"meetings" rather than "trainings,"; because a lot of the courseware
that Third Sector has considered is tailored to the needs of
teacher/student interaction rather than the needs of peers to discuss
and decide.

Up until now, Third Sector has been using ASAP
<;http://www.convoq.com/products/default.aspx>, which is adequate but
not wonderful. However, ASAP recently notified its customers that the
company was getting out of the online meeting business.

Here are some things that Third Sector needs from an online meeting solution:

- Multi-lateral audio chat. (I.e., not just a voice over by the
faciliator or instructor.)

- Private and public instant messaging, running parallel to the presentation.

- Ability for participants to raise their hands (electronically
speaking) to request the floor or take a straw poll.

- Ability to show Power Point presentations. (Not that I'm
personally a fan of Power Point.)

- It would be desirable (but not necessary) if the facilitator could
choose to display what's on the screen of one of the participants.

Some alternatives to ASAP that are in the hopper are:

- Centra <http://www.saba.com/products/centra//>;

- Go To Meeting <http://www.gotomeeting.com/>;

- Ready Talk <http://www.readytalk.com/> (used by NTEN for its webinars!)

I've been looking at Brian Satterfield's November 2006 TechSoup
article <http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/page5975.cfm>,
and noting that TechSoup as well as NTEN uses ReadyTalk. That's a
pretty good endorsement, but I wonder if ReadyTalk is much more
oriented to teaching than to deliberation among colleagues.

I'd be very interested in feedback from ISF members who have used
various online meeting tools, and have a set of needs that are similar
to Third Sector's. In this case, I'd also be happy to hear from
vendors.

Many thanks and best regards from Deborah

Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
deborah_elizabeth_finn%40post.harvard.edu">deborah_elizabeth_finnpost.harvard.edu
www.cyber-yenta.org

Recommended reading:
"Universal Declaration of Human Rights&quot;
<http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights>;

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-----original message-----
>&gt;I'm doing some scouting on behalf of Third Sector New England, which is looking for a good web-based tool for conducting meetings. I say "meetings" rather than "trainings,"; because a lot of the courseware that Third Sector has considered is tailored to the needs of teacher/student interaction rather than the needs of peers to discuss and decide. <snip&gt; - Ready Talk <http://www.readytalk.com/ <http://www.readytalk.com/>&gt; (used by NTEN for its webinars!)>>

I just did a webinar yesterday using Ready Talk, and I don't know how platform-neutral the others are, but I was a presenter using a Linux desktop and Firefox! And, I tested it successfully on a Mac (also Firefox) as well. It showed my desktop and applications just fine. (I'm assuming it runs w/o hitches on Windows/IE.) I give it very high thumbs up just for that.

Peace,
Michelle
--
Michelle Murrain
michelle%40murrain.net">michellemurrain.net
http://www.murrain.net
Blog: http://www.metacentricities.com

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Just FYI -- we will be changing platforms and will be using Adobe Connect which offers all of the features you outline below. It is not an inexpensive platform (neither is Webex, its competitor in terms of features) but we got a deal (and will be working on passing that one to other nonprofits) and highly featured to meet our more complex needs at this juncture. Once we rolled it, we can tell you more.

Katrin

--
Katrin Verclas
Executive Director
NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network
www.nten.org

katrin%40nten.org">katrinnten.org
415 397 9000 ext 302 (new number!)
413 687 9877 mobile
skype: katrinskaya

Because People who Change the World need the Tools to do it.
Become a member now: www.nten.org/join

-----original message-----
>&gt;I'm doing some scouting on behalf of Third Sector New England, which is looking for a good web-based tool for conducting meetings. I say "meetings" rather than "trainings,"; because a lot of the courseware that Third Sector has considered is tailored to the needs of teacher/student interaction rather than the needs of peers to discuss and decide.>;>

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-----original message-----
>&gt;Just FYI -- we will be changing platforms and will be using Adobe
Connect which offers all of the features you outline below. It is not
an inexpensive platform (neither is Webex, its competitor in terms of
features) but we got a deal (and will be working on passing that one
to other nonprofits) and highly featured to meet our more complex
needs at this juncture. Once we rolled it, we can tell you more.>&gt;

Dear Katrin, and other esteemed colleagues:

This is *very* interesting news! I look forward to hearing what you
think of Adobe Connect.

Meanwhile, here's the consolidated list of online meeting tools
recommended by members of the community:

ReadyTalk
Yugma
WebHuddle
DimDim
Vyew
PremiereGlobal
WebEx

Best regards from Deborah

Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
deborah_elizabeth_finn%40post.harvard.edu">deborah_elizabeth_finnpost.harvard.edu
www.cyber-yenta.org

Recommended reading:
"Universal Declaration of Human Rights&quot;
<http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights>;

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