Steve Conn Staff asked 4 years ago
With the outbreak of COVID-19, we should consider if we can continue to meet, but using online meeting tools instead of in-person meetings. For the District, we need to host some larger meetings that have the ability to display content, have a speaker, allow the audience to ask questions, and ideally capture the meeting for others to watch later. All this needs to be done for free. I don’t know which tools are best for this. I would love it if others can chime in with suggestions by typing answers to this question. Others can vote for the answers or answers they think are the best.
Bharath Venkatesan answered 4 years ago
Hi,
Saw this https://discussions.scouting.org/t/free-video-conferencing-through-july-for-meetings/165348
both webex and Google seems like good solutions
Abhijit Saha answered 4 years ago
Cisco is offering free WebEx for the virtual meetings with audio/video. https://cart.webex.com/sign-up-webex?utm_source=CDCSite&utm_medium=OwnedContent&utm_campaign=WW_US_General&TrackID=cc001191 Zoom also has free a/c but limit to 100 participant and 40 min max.
Steve Conn Staff answered 4 years ago
After some research, I came up with this list. As I do further research, I will try to keep the table up to date.
| Free Tools | Fee Version | # Ppl. | Vid. | Screen Share | Rec. | Ease of Use | Chat | White Board | Poll | Time Limit | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom | $15/month to remove the 40 minute limit & add polling | 100 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Super Easy | Yes | Yes | Included with the paid version | 40 Minutes | |
| Cisco Webex | 100 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ok | Yes | No | Yes | Unlimited | Took 4 days to get my free account | |
| Skype | 50 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ok | Yes | No | No | Unlimited | ||
| exTalks Meetings | $10/month to remove the 40 minute limit | 100 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ok | No | Yes | Yes | 40 Minutes | |
| Google Hangouts | 10 | Yes | Yes | TBD | Need Google Login (not @gmaill.com email) Account | Yes | No | No | Unlimited | ||
| GoToMeetings | $12/month 150 people, remove 40 minute limit | 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Easy | Yes | Yes | Yes | 40 Minutes | |
| TeamViewer | TBD | Yes | Yes | TBD | Not intuitive | Yes | Yes | TBD | TBD |
Shikhar Bajaj answered 4 years ago
I would not recommend Google Hangouts. Performance and quality vary a lot. I have been on a number of 1-to-1 calls where it was on the edge of unusability.
We use Zoom extensibly in my company (Vmware) even before the work from home. No issues even now under the current heavy load.
I have used Webex in the past and I think that Zoom is much easier to use and much more intuitive.
Michael Conn answered 4 years ago
I personally recommend Zoom if you’re willing to spend the money (or stick to short meetings if you’re not!)
Steve Conn Staff answered 4 years ago
The Mission Peak Key 5 have chosen the paid version of Zoom to host our District Meetings. It was the easiest tool we tested and for large groups, it seems to work well. We will be using it starting in April for District Operating Committee, Commissioners, & Roundtable Meetings. Other tools may work just fine for smaller groups, like Patrols or Dens.