Joining friends in SL just got easier:

Getting a Second Life Just Got Easier with Direct SLurl
"As we’ve discussed several times in this space, improving the “first hour” experience of new Residents is one of our primary goals. As our use cases and base continue to diversify, it’s important to begin tailoring the Second Life experience to the specific needs of our audience and reduce the time it takes to access and begin exploring the virtual world. One of the ways we can address this is to look at how first-time visitors are finding and accessing Second Life.
It’s with that mission in mind that we are launching Direct SLurl, an improved web address vehicle that enables first-time visitors to arrive directly at a location within Second Life, as their first location, by clicking on a Second Life URL from the Web, email, etc. Previously, all new Residents were directed to Help Island upon registration, where they went through orientation before they began exploring Second Life. In this new model, a first time visitor will be directed to www.slurl.com where, on that page, they click “sign up” and quickly register, download and login to the viewer, and arrive at their originally intended destination. A quick tutorial will open upon their initial arrival."

What this means is that your friends can skip help island orientation and join you at a specific location - they will still get a tutorial to help them get started.
Plus it will enable business meetings to get everyone together and orientate their members in one place.
This may help with large inworld conferencing and educational meetings as the company hosting it can then set up orientation themselves. With all their company in one place it certainly makes sense for conferences and businesses.
Dana