diff --git a/app/controllers/conversations_controller.rb b/app/controllers/conversations_controller.rb
index 9dc6ea2d1..c566746fe 100644
--- a/app/controllers/conversations_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/conversations_controller.rb
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ class ConversationsController < ApplicationController
       person_ids = Contact.where(:id => params[:contact_ids].split(',')).map(&:person_id)
     end
 
-    params[:conversation][:participant_ids] = person_ids | [current_user.person_id]
+    params[:conversation][:participant_ids] = [*person_ids] | [current_user.person_id]
     params[:conversation][:author] = current_user.person
     message_text = params[:conversation].delete(:text)
     params[:conversation][:messages_attributes] = [ {:author => current_user.person, :text => message_text }]