Systems and methods for electronic conferencing over a distributed network

A method for establishing an instant message (IM) conference between a sender and at least one attendee, comprising:

• receiving a time-sensitive e-mail message, the time-sensitive e-mail message comprising:
• an IM conference request;
• an e-mail address associated with each attendee;
• and
• a rule set specifying a predefined time limit governing the delivery of the e-mail message;
• receiving and extracting the rule set and the e-mail address for each attendee;
• determining a predefined time limit;
• forwarding the time-sensitive e-mail mail to a mailbox for each attendee in accordance with the rule set;
• determining whether the at least one attendee opened the time sensitive e-mail message within the predefined time limit;
• if the attendee opened the time-sensitive e-mail message within the predefined time limit, providing the IM conference request to the attendee;
• and
• if the attendee did not open the time-sensitive e-mail message within the predefined time limit, not providing the IM conference request to the attendee.