A method for initiating a network conference, comprising: acquiring, by a conference initiating terminal, mail information related to the network conference; identifying, by the conference initiating terminal, sender address information, recipient address information, and mail title information in the mail information; determining, by the conference initiating terminal, a sender address indicated by the sender address information as a first participant address of the network conference; determining, by the conference initiating terminal, a recipient address indicated by the recipient address information as a second participant address of the network conference, wherein the conference initiating terminal is the first participant or the second participant; determining, by the conference initiating terminal, a mail title indicated by the mail title information as a conference subject of the network conference; and sending, by the conference initiating terminal, a conference reservation request to a conference reservation server, wherein the conference reservation request comprises the conference subject, the first participant address and the second participant address, and the conference reservation request is used to request the conference reservation server to create the network conference and send a conference notification that comprises the conference subject to the first participant address and the second participant address; acquiring, by the conference initiating terminal, graphical and text information from a graph and text shared area in the network conference at the conference initiating terminal, wherein the graphical and text information comprises at least one of speech of a participant, text and image information displayed in the conference; and uploading, by the conference initiating terminal, the graphical and text information to the conference reservation server, so that the conference reservation server sends a conference minute mail to the first participant and the second participant, wherein the conference minute mail comprises a storage address of the graphical and text information on the conference reservation server. acquiring, by a conference initiating terminal, mail information related to the network conference; identifying, by the conference initiating terminal, sender address information, recipient address information, and mail title information in the mail information; determining, by the conference initiating terminal, a sender address indicated by the sender address information as a first participant address of the network conference; determining, by the conference initiating terminal, a recipient address indicated by the recipient address information as a second participant address of the network conference, wherein the conference initiating terminal is the first participant or the second participant; determining, by the conference initiating terminal, a mail title indicated by the mail title information as a conference subject of the network conference; and sending, by the conference initiating terminal, a conference reservation request to a conference reservation server, wherein the conference reservation request comprises the conference subject, the first participant address and the second participant address, and the conference reservation request is used to request the conference reservation server to create the network conference and send a conference notification that comprises the conference subject to the first participant address and the second participant address; acquiring, by the conference initiating terminal, graphical and text information from a graph and text shared area in the network conference at the conference initiating terminal, wherein the graphical and text information comprises at least one of speech of a participant, text and image information displayed in the conference; and uploading, by the conference initiating terminal, the graphical and text information to the conference reservation server, so that the conference reservation server sends a conference minute mail to the first participant and the second participant, wherein the conference minute mail comprises a storage address of the graphical and text information on the conference reservation server.