From the File menu, choose “New Chat.”

A new message window appears. Before you type anything or choose anyone to invite, go to the View menu and choose “Chat Options….”

From the pop-up “Mode” menu, choose “Chat,” as shown below.

Type a name in the “Chat Name” text box. Be sure to enter a name that no one else in the world would be using at this moment or you might end up in someone else's chat room. Click OK.

Tip Caps and lowercase don't matter in a Chat Name, nor do spaces; “tea room” is the same as “TeaRoom.”

To invite one or more of your buddies to the new chat, drag them from your Buddy List to the chat's Participants drawer (shown below). Or click the + button at the bottom of the Participants drawer, then choose people from your list who are online at the moment.

Drag buddies from your Buddy List to the Participants drawer. Or, click the + button (in the bottom-left corner of the Participants drawer) to select buddies from a pop-up menu, shown on the right.Buddies that show up in this AIM Buddies pop-up menu are currently online. Select a buddy in the list to add her to the Paricipants drawer. Click “Other” to open an Address Book window and invite a buddy that's not already in your Buddy List. See page 487.

To invite someone who is not in your Buddy List, click the + button at the bottom of the drawer, then choose “Other….” Type a buddy name in the sheet that slides down from the top of the message window (shown below), then click OK.

Once you've added participants to the list, type a message into the text field at the bottom of the window, hit Return, and that message goes out to everyone in the list.

You can add more participants at any time, and anyone in the world can enter your Chat Room name and drop in to your window. For instance, if someone is not yet online when you send out an invitation, you can send them an email asking them to join you in that particular room as soon as they are online.

All invited participants will see a message on their screens inviting them to the chat. As soon as they respond, they appear in your window.