Overview


" Breakout rooms are sessions that are split off from the main Zoom meeting. They allow the participants to meet in smaller groups, and are completely isolated in terms of audio and video from the main session. Breakout rooms can be used for collaboration and discussion of the meeting."  


  • Only the host or co-host joined with the desktop client can assign participants to breakout rooms.
  • The host and co-host can move between any breakout rooms.

From: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005769646-Participating-in-breakout-rooms


Setting Up Breakouts in Sessions


1.  Claim cohost or host status.

2.  Access Breakout Rooms menu by clicking the  ...More link at the bottom of the Zoom window and....

.....click Breakout Rooms.  You should see a popup menu like below.


Whether you assign people automatically or manually to a breakout room, or allow them to decide which breakout to join will be dependent on your meeting objectives.


Once you have decided how many rooms you need, click Create.

In this menu you will normally have a list of participants for you to assign or already assigned depending on your previous choices.


In the bottom left corner there is a Options link which allows you to change how the Breakouts will be managed.


Important options:  


Breakout assignment:   Participants assigned to breakout rooms will receive an invitation to join their breakout room which they must accept in order to move into the breakout.  In some cases they may not understand or be able to comply depending on their device.  It is wise to have them join automatically by checking the Automatically move all assigned participants option. 

Automatic closure of rooms:  If this is not set you will have to keep track and close the breakout rooms yourself.

Countdown timer:  When the breakouts are closed automatically (OR MANUALLY) the countdown timer is started and displayed in the breakout so participants will know it's time to finish and return to the main meetin


Once you have set these options you can implement the breakout rooms by clicking Open All Rooms.


Broadcast Message to Breakouts

Use the Broadcast Message to All link to send a message to all breakout rooms, such as a link they may need for documents they are supposed to view or us.

Share screen to breakout rooms

Once breakout rooms are open, the host or co-host can share their screen from the main session directly into all open breakout rooms. This allows the presenter to share visual information to all breakout rooms as once, guiding them on next steps or tasks. 

  1. Click Share Screen  in the meeting controls.
  2. Enable the Share to breakout rooms option along the bottom of the share window. 
  3. Choose what you would like to share, including an entire screen, a specific open program, or others. 
  4. Click Share. The selected content will be shared to all breakout rooms. Any active shares in any breakout rooms will be interrupted for the host's/co-host's shared screen. Annotation or whiteboarding is saved before the host's shared content is viewed.