Conference waiting room method and apparatus

The present invention comprises a method for hosting: (i) a first conference call on a first teleconferencing bridge from time tA to time tB, and (ii) a second conference call on the first teleconferencing bridge from time tB to time tC. When a teleconferencing manager receives a request from a telecommunications terminal at time tD to connect to the second conference call, the teleconferencing manager determines whether the request received at time tD is greater than or less than time tB. If the request received at time tD from the telecommunications terminal is greater than time tB, then the telecommunications terminal is connected to the first teleconferencing bridge. On the other hand, if the request from the telecommunications terminal received at time tD is less than time tB, then the telecommunications terminal is connected to a third conference call on a second teleconferencing bridge.