I am in the midst of planning an online webinar for middle school boys. There will be five panelists that will be present at different times, and the attendees will be participating in Q&A's as well as group discussions - like breakout groups. Since each attendee/panelist will have a different operating system, I want to know which tool is most effective and accessible for my event?
I've used Zoom for something similar, and it should work for you. Zoom is widely accessible, including via phone calls. Breakout rooms are included (https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206476093-Enabling-breakout-rooms).
One challenge with middle school boys might be managing participant behavior. Regular Zoom calls with more than ~20 people can easily get chaotic. Zoom's webinar mode might be more appropriate for this use case. Webinars are an extra $40/month.