In computer-mediated communication (CMC) and video-mediated communication (VMC), conveying availability at the beginning of an encounter may become an intricate interactional task to be solved jointly by participants. Based on the analysis of 18 openings in multi-party videoconference meetings in Spanish, this article addresses how participants initiate interaction without a moderator. Taking Conversation Analysis (CA) as a methodological point of departure, the study shows that being present online does not necessarily indicate being available; even so, availability is one of the first interactional issues to be addressed at the beginning of an online interaction. The analysis illustrates how participants use different resources in order to display availability progressively during the three phases of the pre-meeting, and how interaction is unfolded until the establishment of mutual availability is accomplished. The findings lead to a discussion of the necessity for expanded notions like availability in CMC and VMC settings, in which the initial interactional problem is solved gradually.