Electronic communication systems can be enhanced to allow a sender to indicate a topic and request an amount time for a conversation. The topic and time requested can be displayed to a recipient along with the sender's identification so that the recipient can choose to accept or reject the conversation. If the conversation is accepted, the topic and an amount of time remaining can be displayed to both the sender and the recipient. In addition, the sender and the recipient can be reminded of the topic if the discussions are off-topic.