Zoom Breakout Rooms

Zoom Breakout Rooms



Enabling Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 50 separate sessions. The meeting host can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these separate sessions automatically or manually, and can switch between sessions at any time.  
  •  

To enable the breakout room feature on your Zoom account:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal at https://nexus-yfs.zoom.us/profile 
  2. If asked to sign in, please enter your full work email address and the same password you use to sign in to your work computer. If given the option for sign-in method, select SSO.
  3. In the navigation menu, click Settings .
  4. Navigate to the  Breakout Room  option on the  Meeting tab and verify that the setting is enabled.
    If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose  Turn On  to verify the change.

  5. (Optional) Click the checkbox to allow meeting hosts to pre-assign participants to breakout rooms .

Using breakout rooms

After enabling breakout rooms, you can do the following:

  • Participant in breakout rooms  (participants)
  • Manage breakout rooms  (host)
  • Pre-assign participants to breakout rooms  (host) 

Participating in breakout rooms


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.

Prerequisites


Join the meeting by the Zoom desktop client, mobile app, web client, phone, or H.323/SIP device
Invitation to join breakout rooms from the meeting host

Note:
  • Users joined into the Zoom meeting from the Zoom Desktop Client, Zoom Mobile App, or H.323/SIP devices can participate in breakout rooms. Users joined using Chromebooks/Chrome OS or Zoom Rooms are unable to join breakout rooms, but the main room can be used as an alternative session for these users.
  • Only the host can assign participants to breakout rooms.
  • The co-host can leave and join any breakout room only after they join a breakout room assigned to them by the host.

Zoom Desktop Client (Windows / Mac)


Joining a breakout room

  1. The host will need to invite you to join the breakout room.
  2. Click  Join .
  3. If you choose  Later , you can join by clicking the  Breakout Rooms  option in your meeting controls.
  4. Click  Join Breakout Room .


    You will have access to full  controls  similar to the meeting.

Asking for help

If you click  Ask for Help , it will notify the meeting host that you need assistance and they will be asked to join your breakout room.

  1. Click  Ask for Help  in the meeting controls.
  2. Confirm that you would like assistance by clicking  Invite Host .

Leaving the breakout room

You can leave the breakout room and return to the main meeting session at any time, or you can leave the meeting entirely from the breakout room.

  1. Click  Leave Breakout Room. 
  2. Choose if you want to leave the breakout room or the entire meeting.
  3. When the host ends the breakout rooms, you will be notified and given the option to return to the main room immediately, or in 60 seconds.

Zoom Mobile App (Android)

Joining a breakout room

  1. The host will need to invite you to join the breakout room.
  2. Tap  Join .
  3. If you choose  Later , you can join by tapping the  Join Breakout Room .


    You will have access to full  controls  similar to the meeting.

Asking for help

If you  Ask for Help , it will notify the meeting host that you need assistance and they will be asked to join your breakout room.

  1. Tap  Ask for Help .
  2. Confirm that you would like assistance by tapping  Ask for Help .

Leaving the breakout room

You can leave the breakout room and return to the main meeting session at any time, or you can leave the meeting entirely from the breakout room.

  1. Tap  Leave. 
  2. Choose if you want to leave the breakout room or the entire meeting.
  3. When the host ends the breakout rooms, you will be notified and given the option to return to the main room immediately, or in 60 seconds.

Managing breakout rooms

Overview

Breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 50 separate sessions. The meeting host can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these separate sessions automatically or manually, and can switch between sessions at any time.

Creating breakout rooms

  1. Start an instant or scheduled meeting.
  2. Click breakout rooms.
  3. Select the number of rooms you would like to create, and how you would like to assign your participants to those rooms:
    • Automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms.
    • Manually: Choose which participants you would like in each room.
  4. Click Create breakout rooms.
  5. Your rooms will be created, but will not start automatically. You can manage the rooms prior to starting them by following the instructions below.

Options for breakout rooms

  1. After creating the breakout rooms, click Options to view additional breakout rooms options.
  2. Check any options that you would like to use for your breakout rooms.
    • Move all participants into breakout rooms automatically: Checking this option will move all participants into the breakout rooms automatically. If this option is unchecked, the participants will need to click Join to be added to the breakout room.
    • Allow participants to return to the main session at any time: If this option is checked, the participants can move back to the main session from their meeting controls. If this is disabled, they need to wait for the host to end the breakout rooms.
    • Breakout rooms close automatically after x minutes: If this option is checked, the breakout rooms will automatically end after the configured time.
    • Notify me when the time is up: If this option is checked, the host will be notified when the breakout room time is up.
    • Countdown after closing breakout rooms: If this option is checked, the participants will be given a countdown of how much time they have left before being returned to the main room.
  3. Follow the steps below to assign participants to rooms or click Open All Rooms to start the breakout rooms.

Assigning participants to rooms

To assign participants to your rooms, select Assign next to the room you wish to assign participants to and select participants you want to assign to that room. Repeat this for each room.

Once a participant has been assigned (manually or automatically), the number of participants will show in place of the Assign button.

Preparing breakout rooms

After manually or automatically assigning participants to rooms, you can rearrange the participants. Participants who are not assigned to breakout sessions will remain in the main meeting when the rooms are started.

  • Move to (participant): Select a room to move the participant to.
  • Exchange (participant): Select a participant in another room to swap the selected participant with.
  • Delete Room: Delete the selected room.
  • Recreate: Deletes existing breakout rooms and creates new ones.
  • Add a Room: Add another breakout room.
  • Open All Rooms: Start the rooms. All participants will be moved to their respective rooms after confirming the prompt to join the breakout room. The host will be left in the main meeting until manually joining one of the rooms. The participants (and the host when manually joining a room) will see the following message shown when joining the breakout room.

Managing breakout rooms in progress

Once the breakout rooms have been started, the participants will be asked to join the Breakout Session. The host will stay in the main meeting until joining a session manually. If a participant has not joined the session yet, it will be noted by (not joined) next to their name.

  • Join: Join the breakout room.
  • Leave: Leave the room and return to the main meeting (only shows when in a breakout room).
  • Close All Rooms: Stops all rooms after a 60 second countdown, shown to the host and participants, and returns all participants back to the main meeting.

Responding to requests for help

Participants in breakout rooms can request that the meeting host join their meeting by clicking Ask for Help.

You will be prompted to join the room where the request originated from. Click Join breakout room to join the room.

Broadcasting a message to all breakout rooms

The host can broadcast a message to all breakout rooms to share information with all participants.

  1. Click breakout rooms in the meeting controls.
  2. Click Broadcast a message to all, enter your message and click Broadcast.
  3. The message will now appear for all participants in Breakout Rooms.

Pre-assigning participants to breakout rooms

For information on pre-assigning participants to breakout rooms, you can visit this link:

    • Related Articles

    • Using Microsoft Teams Rooms

      Join a Scheduled Meeting 1. Tap Join next to your meeting name on the touch screen. 2. You will then be added to the meeting.  If your meeting doesn’t show on the console Invite or add the room to your Outlook invitation.  Note: It may take a few ...

    • Zoom Sign Up/Sign In Instructions (SSO)

      How do I sign up or sign in to Zoom videoconferencing? Open the Zoom app Click Sign In Click SSO If it not already filled out, please Enter “nexus-yfs” for the company domain Click Continue If it asks for a username and password, please enter your ...

    • Video Conferencing Rooms

      Identify the technology available in the room: Square Yealink touch controller Touch controller has no brand OR is a tripod item that says Yealink No touch controller No camera: this room cannot handle video calls through the TV/projector thus will ...

    • Zoom FAQs

      Joining a video call (created by someone else) No sign-in required. Simply click the link from email or click Join & type in meeting ID Manage Participants & Features Be aware only host has most features Mute participants Click Participants at bottom ...

    • Using the Zoom Outlook 365 add-in

      Schedule meeting with Zoom Outlook app (new method in top-right of meeting) Open Outlook & create a new meeting: In the Meeting window click 'Add a Zoom Meeting' in top-right. If you don't see it maximize your window or click 3-dots (More commands): ...