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Of the scores of VC offerings currently available, remarkably few offer ‘breakout rooms’—the functionality whereby each party’s attendees can conduct their own VC meetings without being seen or heard by the other side/sides (replicating their private room from an in-person mediation).  

Now it is quite possible to conduct a mediation on a VC platform that does not offer breakout rooms—the mediator could repeatedly re-initiate separate video calls, for example each time he/she returns from having met with the other side. But because most participants would consider that to be unsatisfactory, only VC platforms that offer breakout rooms (or near equivalent) are considered here—see Remote mediation—platform comparator table.

It is worth noting, however, that if the break-out room criterion were taken away, some big-name players come back into serious contention, notably GoToMeeting (25 faces on same screen—see below) and Lifesize (13 faces on the screen, soon to be 49 faces).  

In the context of a VC mediation, participants may be first-time users of the chosen platform, and/or may not be IT-savvy. For the client attendees (maybe more so for their lawyers) it will be a stressful occasion, in which they are anxious not be disadvantaged. So simplicity/ease of use of the chosen VC platform is particularly important. Relevant factors here include: 

Other whistles and bells available within VC software but which (for now at least) are unlikely to be relevant in the mediation context, include:

•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;automated post-meeting feedback

It is not difficult to see how some of these, once coupled with future, yet-to-be-thought-of VC conveniences could one day make having some mediations by VC the preferred option for lawyers and other repeat-players, over having their mediations in-person.