Yes, it does sound like a far fetched notion, but bear with me a moment while I explain. I've been fooling around in a virtual chat world called There (there.com) which has a remarkably good 3D graphical engine and the ability to share video, sound and images with other people in realtime. It would make an excellent conference system to hold "face to face" classes and meetups when the participants can't all be in the same physical space.
If you're interested, maybe take a poke around the system and let me know whether you think a realtime class meeting will work. Be sure to put my avatar name (Lorien) as your referrer. The system gives me virtual items when I refer people who join up, and that's what I will need in order to host the classes. However you don't actually need to join up. You get 14 days free, and there is nothing stopping you from signing up again under a different name when your two weeks are up.
Anyhow no one can get bitten attending these classes, so if nothing else they'll be pretty safe. No virtual antivenom needed. LOL
