Earlier this week I found myself having to host a web meeting and was determined to find the best free live webcasting solution. There are a few out there now but none seemed to have as many features as DimDim. I created an account in about 2 minutes. Created a meeting space and sent out invites in another minute.

Sending out invites asks the respondants to create a new account. This isn’t much of a hassle for them, however I figured out that you can just email them the meeting link they provide, allowing others to join the meeting without signing up. A nice bonus. Everyone was able to join the meeting quickly, without a single technical problem (a first in web meetings!).

Once you’re in, Dimdim allows you to share whatever is on your screen (after installing a small plugin on your computer). It also has a handy Whiteboard feature that allows all attendees to collaborate by typing, drawing, diagraming, doodling, etc. on a shared space. You can also use your computer’s built-in mic so they can hear you, use their free call-in number so they can call if they don’t have access to a computer, and you can record your entire session for later viewing or sharing. There’s a ton more features you can check out here.

The free version allows up to 20 attendees in a meeting at once, which I’d imagine is fine for the average user. If you need more there’s an upgraded version that allows up to 100 attendees at once for $99 a year, not bad.

Now lets just see how much longer the IT departments of the world will be able to handle the other options before they switch to something a little more “web 2.0ey.”