A method for enhancing a conference comprising: designating a virtual meeting attendant, VMA, to act on behalf of a previously invited conference attendee; said VMA performing the steps of: recognizing a triggering event in the conference, wherein the triggering event in the conference comprises detection of the conference attendee's name spoken in the conference and detection of a question to the conference attendee spoken in the conference; taking an action item on behalf of the conference attendee based on at least one of the triggering event in the conference, the VMA having access to information that allows patching on demand, based on the triggering event in the conference, via an initiation of an outbound communication, of the conference attendee into the conference to allow the conference attendee to contribute to the conference and interact with one or more other conference attendees attending the conference in real-time; determining, based on preferences and presence information, how to contact the conference attendee; and in response to detecting the triggering event in the conference, initiating a contact to the conference attendee, wherein initiating the contact to the conference attendee further comprises at least one of the following: converting the question to text and sending the text over an Instant Message, IM, to the conference attendee; and calling the conference attendee and playing the question to the conference attendee. designating a virtual meeting attendant, VMA, to act on behalf of a previously invited conference attendee; said VMA performing the steps of: recognizing a triggering event in the conference, wherein the triggering event in the conference comprises detection of the conference attendee's name spoken in the conference and detection of a question to the conference attendee spoken in the conference; taking an action item on behalf of the conference attendee based on at least one of the triggering event in the conference, the VMA having access to information that allows patching on demand, based on the triggering event in the conference, via an initiation of an outbound communication, of the conference attendee into the conference to allow the conference attendee to contribute to the conference and interact with one or more other conference attendees attending the conference in real-time; determining, based on preferences and presence information, how to contact the conference attendee; and in response to detecting the triggering event in the conference, initiating a contact to the conference attendee, wherein initiating the contact to the conference attendee further comprises at least one of the following: recognizing a triggering event in the conference, wherein the triggering event in the conference comprises detection of the conference attendee's name spoken in the conference and detection of a question to the conference attendee spoken in the conference; taking an action item on behalf of the conference attendee based on at least one of the triggering event in the conference, the VMA having access to information that allows patching on demand, based on the triggering event in the conference, via an initiation of an outbound communication, of the conference attendee into the conference to allow the conference attendee to contribute to the conference and interact with one or more other conference attendees attending the conference in real-time; determining, based on preferences and presence information, how to contact the conference attendee; and in response to detecting the triggering event in the conference, initiating a contact to the conference attendee, wherein initiating the contact to the conference attendee further comprises at least one of the following: converting the question to text and sending the text over an Instant Message, IM, to the conference attendee; and calling the conference attendee and playing the question to the conference attendee.