How to Use Zoom Breakout Rooms

Edited 3 months ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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Zoom breakout rooms are one of the most useful features for conducting meetings, training sessions, or educational classes when you need to divide participants into smaller groups for discussion or collaboration. This guide will walk you through all the details of how to effectively use Zoom breakout rooms to improve your meetings and events.

Understanding Zoom breakout rooms

Breakout rooms in Zoom allow the host to divide a Zoom meeting into separate sessions. The host can choose to divide participants into these separate sessions automatically or manually, and can switch between sessions at any time. This feature is especially beneficial for events such as workshops, training sessions, or classes, where small group interactions or discussions are required.

Prerequisites

Before you start using breakout rooms, you need to ensure a few pre-requisites:

• A licensed Zoom account.
• Zoom desktop client on Windows, macOS, or Linux version 5.3.0 or higher.
• The breakout rooms feature must be enabled in your Zoom settings.

Enabling breakout rooms

To enable breakout rooms, you must first make sure the feature is turned on in your Zoom account settings. Follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation panel, click Settings.
3. Go to the Meeting tab and confirm you're on the Meeting (Advanced) section.
4. Scroll down to Breakout Rooms and make sure the setting is enabled.
5. If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it.

You can also optionally allow the meeting host to pre-assign participants to breakout rooms when scheduling the meeting. This requires a separate step of enabling the Allow host to assign participants to breakout rooms when scheduling setting.

Create breakout rooms in a meeting

Once the breakout rooms feature is enabled, you can create breakout rooms during a live Zoom meeting. Follow these steps:

1. Start a meeting as the host.
2. Click the Breakout Rooms button at the bottom of Zoom's control bar.
3. A pop-up window will appear where you can create breakout rooms:

Automatically assign: Zoom will automatically divide participants into the selected number of rooms.
Manually specify: You manually choose which participants you want to have in each room.

4. Choose the number of rooms you want to create and how you want to assign your participants to those rooms.
5. Click 'Create' and the breakout rooms will be created, but not launched yet.

Managing participants in breakout rooms

After creating rooms, a new window will open showing the rooms, and you can manage assignments before starting them. Here's how to manage participants:

• Move participants: You can move participants from one room to another by clicking their name and selecting another room.
• Add rooms: At any time, you can create more rooms by clicking the Add Room button.
• Rename rooms: Click the default room name to rename any room for clarity.
• Reassign participants: If you already have rooms assigned but you want to change the assignments, use the options to manually assign and unassign participants.

Opening breakout rooms

Once the assignments are satisfactory, you can open all rooms to begin breakout sessions:

1. Click Open All Rooms to take participants to their respective rooms.
2. Participants will receive an invitation to join their breakout room. Once they accept it, they will be taken to a different breakout room.

During the breakout session

Breakout rooms function independently of the main session and enable participants to focus on their specific tasks or discussions. When rooms are open, the host can:

• Join any room: The host can enter any breakroom to check in or assist with proceedings.
• Broadcast a message: Send a text message to all room members for an update or reminder.
• Set a timer: Indicate how much time is left to complete breakout room sessions in an orderly manner.

Closing breakout rooms

To bring everyone back to the main session:

1. Click Close all rooms.
2. Participants will be reminded that the breakout session is ending in a predetermined number of seconds (10 seconds by default).
3. After the countdown, all participants will be escorted back to the main meeting room.

Recording the breakout sessions

Breakout rooms can be recorded:

• Local recording: Participants can record if they have permission, but only on their local device.
• Cloud recording: Only the main session will be recorded, unless the host joins a breakout room to start a cloud recording.

To record individual sessions, it's best to work on participants' local machines.

Examples and scenarios

Breakout rooms are versatile. Imagine hosting a virtual classroom where a keynote lecture is delivered, and then the teacher divides students into teams for group analysis on specific topics. In a corporate setting, after a new policy is introduced, breakout rooms can be used for department-wise discussions, with reports back to the head group.

Advanced options

With varying business needs, Zoom Breakout Rooms offer advanced settings to customize the experience:

• Pre-assign breakout rooms: Before the meeting starts, the host can pre-assign different rooms to participants from the scheduling page.
• Allow participants to choose room: Give participants the freedom to choose and enter a room themselves.

Troubleshooting common problems

Sometimes, hosts may face the following problems:

• If the breakout room buttons aren’t visible, confirm the Zoom client version and settings.
• If participants are unable to join the room, verify network stability and Zoom app permissions.

Conclusion

By mastering the use of breakout rooms, you can make your Zoom meetings more productive and interactive. These small-group settings can encourage participation and discussion, improving the meeting experience.

With presentations, team projects, or group brainstorming sessions, breakout rooms can be a dynamic part of your virtual toolset, expanding the horizons of what's achievable in online engagement. As needs evolve, Zoom constantly updates its software to offer even more practical features and customization options.

Explore, experiment, and engage with breakout rooms to unleash their full potential in facilitating communication and collaboration.

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