Before you can hold a live consultation, you must first agree a time that is convenient for both you and the other participant.

If a date & time for the live consultation has not yet been suggested, then select a date & time that is convenient for you and click on the "Submit" button; if you indicate that you would like to hold the live consultation immediately (or as soon as the other participant is available), we will either ask you to wait while we try to contact the other participant, or we will alert you as soon as they are available.

If the other participant has already suggested a date & time for the live consultation, then you can accept their suggestion by clicking the "Accept" button. If the proposed time is not convenient for you, then use the drop-down list boxes to indicate a date & time that is convenient and then click on the "Submit" button.

Once a date & time for the live consultation has been agreed by both participants, you can still change the scheduled date & time of the live consultation if you need to by clicking on the "Reschedule" button.

Other than the date & time of the live consultation, the only option currently available is whether to make the live consultation secure by encrypting text chat, the whiteboard, transferred files and shared applications. Please note that the option to have a secure live consultation is only actually available if both participants use Microsoft's NetMeeting client software; if either participant is using other client software, then the live consultation will not be secure (even if the web site appears to suggest that it will). Further note that audio and video communications cannot currently be encrypted, and so will not be available in secure live consultations.

The Notes field provides an opportunity for you and the other participant to coordinate any specific requirements for the live consultation. For example, this could be used to indicate restrictions or preferences for scheduling the live consultation, or perhaps to indicate your screen resolution (since for best results both participants should use the same resolution), to check the compatibility of the client software you each use, or to advise of any specific network configuration issues you may have (such as the fact that you are behind a firewall).