Breakout Rooms

Introduction to breakout rooms

Breakout rooms allow you to divide meeting participants into separate sessions which can be used for small group activities or discussions. As meeting host, you have full control over the number of rooms created, who can join each room, how long the breakout sessions will last, and have the ability to move between rooms at any time. This is an excellent feature for adding collaborative elements to online classes or webinars, particularly with a large number of attendees where facilitating meaningful interactions can be challenging. Breakout rooms can also give participants access to features which may be restricted in the main room, such as their microphone, camera, and screen sharing. Like any group activity, it can be helpful to plan breakout activities in advance. For example, you may want to consider:

number of participants per group
timings for the breakout activity
clear instructions for the activity
materials participants may need to work on
expected outputs and whether participants will report back to the main room
assigning roles during the breakout session to ensure activities run smoothly

Creating breakout groups

Ad-hoc breakout groups can be created quickly during a meeting, or you can create groups with specific participants in advance by configuring the meeting settings in your Zoom account. To initiate a breakout session during a meeting, start by clicking the Breakout Rooms button at the bottom of the window.

Use the Breakout Rooms window to specify the number of rooms using the drop-down menu. You can then assign participants automatically (random allocation), manually (not recommended for large groups), or let participants choose their own groups. Once configured, click Create.

You will be presented with a window previewing the rooms and which participants will be allocated to each. From this window you can rename or delete a room, assign additional participants to a room, move participants between rooms, and use the Add Room button to create additional breakout rooms. To move a participant, hover your cursor over their name, click Move and select the desired room.

If you would like to adjust the settings for the breakout session, click the ‘Cog’ icon at the bottom of the window.

This allows you to specify whether participants can move between rooms, automatically end the breakout session after a set amount of time, or adjust the countdown timer when manually ending a session.

Once you are ready to start the breakout session, click Open All Rooms. See the ‘Managing breakout sessions’ section below for information on running a breakout session.

Configure breakout rooms in advance

To create breakout rooms with specific users in advance of your meeting, first to your Zoom account, locate your scheduled meeting and click edit.

This can also be done during the initial meeting setup. Click here to view our detailed guide on Scheduling a Meeting. Under Meeting options, tick the box for Breakout Room pre-assign. This will allow you to create rooms manually using the + Create Rooms setting, or automatically using an Excel CSV import. Guidance for each method is outlined below.

When manually creating rooms, you will be presented with a window where you can click the + icon to add rooms. On the right side of the window, you can search the names or email addresses of the users you would like to register and add them to each room. Repeat these steps until all your rooms are configured and click Save.

For larger groups, you may want to configure breakout rooms using a CSV Import. This allows you to use an Excel spreadsheet with participant email addresses to create rooms automatically. To get started, click the Import from CSV option. From the Import Rooms window, you can download a template file which already contains the required format.

Simply add the email addresses of your participants (this must match the email address they are using to log in to your meeting) and type the room name in the corresponding column. When ready, save the file and upload it using the Import Rooms window.

Please note: Only participants who enter the meeting with the email address registered in the pre-assigned breakout room will be allocated to the correct room when the breakout session begins. Students need to join the Zoom session using their QMUL email addresses to be automatically allocated to the correct room. Anyone connecting as a Guest, using an external email address, or registered users who join late after the breakout has started, must be manually allocated to a breakout room during the meeting

Managing breakout sessions

Once the breakout rooms have been opened, there are several actions you can take to manage the session. You (or any Co-Hosts) may want to move between the rooms to check on participant discussions or answer any questions. Hover your cursor over a room and click Join. This will refresh your Zoom meeting window and move you into the breakout room. You can move between any of the breakout rooms and the main meeting room at any time.

You can also use the breakout rooms window to Broadcast a message or end the breakout session.

Broadcasting a message is an easy way to communicate with all participants without moving between each room manually. Using the breakout rooms window, click Broadcast Message to All to open a text field. Enter your message and click Broadcast to have the message temporarily appear in each of the separate breakout rooms for participants.

When you are ready to end the breakout session, click Close All Rooms to recall participants back to the main meeting room. Depending on your meeting settings, participants can choose to return immediately, or will automatically return to the main room once a countdown timer ends.

Participants will be presented with the following message:

You can also view the time remaining on the countdown timer in the breakout room window.

Broadcast messages to breakout rooms

This is how you, as a host, can broadcast a typed or voice message to participants in Zoom breakout rooms. First ensure you are running the latest version of the Zoom desktop app. In Zoom, once you have set up your breakout rooms, select Open All Rooms.

Open all rooms button.

A new window will give you the option to 'Close Rooms' or 'Broadcast'. Select Broadcast.
You will be presented with two further options: 'Broadcast Message' and Broadcast Voice.

To send a typed message to everyone in the breakout rooms, select Broadcast Message.

A text window will appear in which you can type your message to all participants.

Window in which to type the required message.

When you have finished typing your message, click on the blue Broadcast button to send the message to all breakout rooms.

Broadcast button to send the message.

Please note: Messages only broadcast for about 5 seconds to participants in the breakout rooms, so you are advised to keep them very short. If you are sharing important details with the breakout rooms, use the chat window instead or relay the message several times.

Return to the Broadcast menu.
To speak to the participants in the breakout rooms select Broadcast Voice.

A new 'Broadcast Voice' window will appear.

Click the speaker icon to speak to the participants.

When broadcasting, the speaker icon is replaced by a waveform.

Broadcast voice icon changes to an image of a waveform.

Hovering your mouse over the waveform icon will present a new 'stop' option. Press this to end the broadcast.

Please note: If you do not switch off the broadcast option, your microphone will continue to broadcast any sound or conversation you have! A message will also appear on screen giving you the option to hold the 'B' key down whilst speaking, rather than clicking on the speaker icon.

Tip to hold B on the keyboard as an alternative option when broadcasting your voice.

Please note: the B key on the keyboard works slightly differently to using the speaker icon. If you press B, you must continue to hold the key until you finish speaking. When you remove your hold on the B key the participants will no longer hear you.

To remove the B key button message select Got It.

An additional window will appear notifying you that you are currently broadcasting to all rooms.

Pop up window informing host that they are currently 'broadcasting to all rooms'.

You may decide to alert participants if you are going to speak to them during a breakout room, otherwise it might come as an unexpected surprise!

Tips for running breakout rooms

Be sure to share any required files, communicate tasks, and assign roles prior to opening the breakout rooms. Users may be confused about what to do once leaving the main room if instructions are not clear. You are unable to share your screen to all groups once breakouts begin.
Note that if you are recording the meeting, the recording will continue to capture activity in the main room during breakout sessions. If you need to have discussions with other co-hosts, ensure you pause the recording. Breakout rooms are not automatically recorded, and breakout room recordings will appear as separate files from the main meeting recording. Recording breakout rooms follows the same steps as recording a meeting. Click here to view details information on recording in Zoom.
Participants who join late, after the breakout session has started, will need to be manually allocated to a breakout room.
You can manually re-assign or move students between rooms at any time.
Co-hosts can move between rooms and assign participants to rooms. If you have a large number of participants, additional facilitators can be helpful for assigning users to rooms and moderating discussions.