A method and system for adding a participant to a conference call. A feature of the method and system is that with respect to individual invitees to ad-hoc conference calls, the conference call can essentially be "turned around" and treated "as if" the individual invitees were dialing in to a "meet-me" conference call, if it is determined that such is the more optimum calling method. A multipoint controller unit, in conjunction with a Call Optimization Application (COA), utilizes information contained in one or more tokens to make possible the change in call direction. The optimal call direction is established via a COA channel.