# Making a consultative conference call

## Prerequisites

Enable the Consultative Conference option in System Options > Agent Preferences > Call Handling.

Use Consultative Conference when want you to announce the call to the third party before conferencing the call.

1. On an active call, perform any one of the following actions:

   - To conference the call with the supervisor, in the Work List window, click Add WorkItem to Conference > Supervisor. For steps, see Calling Supervisors from Contact List.

   - To conference the call using the SpeedDial list, in the Work List window, click Add WorkItem to Conference > SpeedDial. For steps, see Making a call using SpeedDial.

   - To conference the call with an agent in the contact list, in the Work List window, click Add WorkItem to Conference > Contact List. For steps, see Making a call using Contact List.

   - To conference the call with an agent using the text input field, in the Work List window, click Add WorkItem to Conference > EnterValue. For steps, see Making a call using the text input field.

   The system puts the first party's call on hold and dials a call to the selected third party.

2. Wait for the third party to pick up the phone and announce the conference call.

   The system adds the new call to the associated work item in the Work List window.

3. If the third-party is ready for the conference call, click Consultative Conference.

   The system creates a conference call for the associated work item.

4. To add more participants to the conference, click Add to Conference and repeat the above steps.
5. To control the call hold options, perform any one of the following steps:

   - To put the conference on hold, click Hold Conference.

   - To return to the conference on hold, click Unhold Conference.

6. To end the conference call, perform any one of the following steps:

   - To drop the last added participant from the conference call, click Drop for the associated participant.

     The conference returns to normal call.

   - To close the conference call, click Drop in the corresponding work item.

   Depending on the Communication Manager settings, and on whether the conference participants are local extensions or trunk calls, dropping a conference may release some or all of the participants from the conference.

   The system drops you out of the Communication Manager conference, but the other two parties if connected on the same Communication Manager (one person on a Communication Manager and the other on a trunk call, or both on a trunk) are allowed.

## Example

Related information
Call Handling panel field descriptions
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