6 replies to this topic

[mcanerin]

I'm not sure if this should be in the pub or techno-babble, but hopefully this is a good spot.

Lets say, just as an example, that someone wanted to have a "town hall" meeting with up to 500+ people involved.

Problems:

Firewalls and Java chat don't get along
People will be using Windows, Linux, and Mac
There will be a need for some sort of moderation and crowd control
We don't have a lot of $$$$
It has to be easy to use.

For example, I use MSN messenger quite happily, but it's not appropriate for that many people and is (AFAIK) Windows only. Most IM's have similar issues, or require signups, etc.

The Java chat systems either don't work at all with firewalls, or require you to fiddle with opening ports, and many people don't know how or are unwilling to do this. Especially just for one meeting.

I was thinking about something along the lines of IRC or similar, any thoughts?

Ian

[Scottie]

I don't know what your budget is, but meeting services like WebEx are designed to handle these types of events and already have the bugs worked out.

[mcanerin]

Thanks Scottie, I can't believe I didn't think of them...

<gets back> ouch! $5000 to hold one meeting. That's not too bad (I spent almost $3500 going to London for the SMA meeting, and usually spend $5k+ for meetings in Asia) but it's still pretty high for a *virtual* meeting.

I'll definately keep them in mind - I really like the flash/powerpoint presentation abilities, etc.

Ian

[leadegroot]

IRC would seem like an obvious, cheap, simple solution.
Clients available on all platforms and not difficult to find, or install, a server app.

HIH
Lea
~ not that I've ever needed to do something like that!

[eomedia]

mcanerin

I actually work for a teleconferencing company that competes directly with WebEx and the like, and I have to say that it's absolutely true that it's very easy to handle these types of events. The cost however can be prohibitive.

Example: 500 people for one hour

500 X 60 minutes = roughly $3,500

From my own 4 years of experience I would suggest the following. I would set up a phone conference with a very limited number of people on the phone as moderators, etc. and set up a webcast (much much cheaper) for the rest of the people to listen to. All of the listeners could connect to a visual interface for viewing of slides, powerpoint, etc and those people on the webcast would be able to type in questions via chat, etc.

This would likely provide you with the flexibility you need and would save you quite a bit of money over a straight conference call.

If you are looking for a completely free solution I"m not sure that I have any great ideas, except maybe to install a free open source IM server (such as jabber) and run it over PORT 80 for the event. This would avoid the firewall and port issues.

Of course the major problem with that type of set up is that it is a free for all with little to no moderation capability.

If you have any more specifics that you want to accomodate please let me know and I"m sure I can direct you to some possible solutions, I do this type of thing every day.

Ryan

[mcanerin]

Excellent - thanks Ryan!

I'll take your info and my other research back to the working group and get their feedback. I'll almost certainly be in touch

I liked your eoRadio site, btw - listening to it right now

Ian

[eomedia]

Excellent - thanks Ryan!

I'll take your info and my other research back to the working group and get their feedback. I'll almost certainly be in touch

No problem, happy to help.

I liked your eoRadio site, btw - listening to it right now

That's great, we always appreciate the feedback - we like it more when it's positive like this however :-). We actually play quite a few unsigned Canadian bands on the station as well!