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web conferencing software
One of the fundamental problems with an online conference is that it
must be online all the time. Thus you need a dedicated internet feed and
a server. Often you can place a machine you own in an internet
provider's office and plug directly into the net without the need for a
dedicated phone line.
Rarely can you run conferencing software on someone's machine because of
the overhead involved. You can go the route of CGI coding in Perl or C
on someone's Unix machine, but why do what has already been done.
Often the smaller service provider's are more than happy to let you put
a server in their site for a fairly reasonable fee ($200/month). Or, if
you don't need that much bandwidth a 14.4k dedicated modem line can
serve the same purpose, but I wouldn't want to have multiple people
access the web site at once.
The current solution is to spend a hefty chunk of money ($300/month or
so) on a nice 128k ISDN lne, but that route is so full of pitfalls that
you need to be a certified nerd to make it work.
The technology simply doesn't exist for the common person to serve an
interactive site on the internet. We now have unlimited access and web
pages for the masses, but not the interactive application service yet.
I will be putting up a server from my house in a few months and will
simply serve via a 28.8k modem and wait for ISDN service in a few
years in my area. If the volume gets to high, I'll simply move the
server to a local inet office and plug it into a T-3 line for the same
amount of money.
The answer to your problems is either to write your own app in Perl or C
on a Unix machine (lots of work), or find someone with a server set up
who would let you run a conferencing app on. You can find
internet conferencing apps ready to run for most platforms with Windows
NT being probably the simplest and cheapest.