Guide: How to Use Breakout Rooms in Zoom
People have embraced the new reality of video calls and conferences, with Zoom leading the way. The app has stabilized in recent weeks, introducing security measures and features such as breakout rooms - a unique offering not found on other video calling apps.
Breakout rooms provide a way for meeting hosts to divide their participants into separate virtual rooms, allowing them to keep conversations and chats organized without any overlap. This can be especially helpful when dealing with large groups, such as marketing, design and finance teams, who would otherwise all be talking at once.
Zoom’s breakout rooms feature allows users to divide their attendees into separate virtual rooms, enabling them to keep relevant conversations together. This logical solution has yet to be adopted by competitors such as Google Meet.
Discover the ins and outs of breakout rooms, from how they work to their many uses.
Availability per platforms and subscriptions
Breakout rooms are not enabled by default, requiring manual activation on the desktop app to use during calls. Smartphone users can join breakout rooms managed by the host, but cannot create them.
Mobile communication is now commonplace, and Zoom’s free plan offers a generous bonus: the breakout rooms feature, which no other platform provides.
Turn on Breakout rooms in Zoom
Users must log in to the Zoom website on a desktop computer to create virtual rooms, an unusual requirement.
Zoom allows up to 50 breakout rooms with a maximum of 200 participants each, providing ample space for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and startups, which typically have fewer than 20-50 departments.
Log in to the website with your ID, social media account or single sign-on (SSO) and access your account by clicking “My Account.”
To access the breakout room, go to Settings > Meeting and select the In Meeting (Advanced) menu option.
Enabling the setting will give you the ability to create and assign attendees to breakout rooms before a meeting begins. Be sure to click Save when finished.
Use breakout rooms in zoom
Zoom’s process for creating and using breakout rooms is the same regardless of whether you’re using the Windows or macOS desktop app. This guide focuses on the Windows version.
Launch Zoom’s desktop app and sign in if you haven’t already. As host, create or schedule a new meeting - either option will allow you to create breakout rooms.
To access Breakout Rooms, click the More button on the far right.
Zoom’s breakout rooms feature allows users to create and manage multiple virtual spaces. To ensure you have control over who is assigned to each room, select the Manual option when creating them. Once you’ve made your selections, click Create Rooms and remember that you can always reassign participants later.
To create breakout rooms in your virtual meeting, hover over the room name to change the default name, then click “Assign” to assign participants. You can also set timing and countdown options before clicking “Add Room” when you’re finished.
Start your meeting off on the right foot by testing the Open all rooms feature with friends and family beforehand. This will help you avoid any last-minute confusion or technical difficulties.
Facts About Breakout Rooms
When using Zoom’s breakout room feature, remember that recordings only capture the main room, not any of the breakout rooms. This means that even if the host is in a different room, it won’t be recorded.
Zoom calls can now be recorded in the cloud, allowing multiple users to record the same call regardless of their location. For example, a department head could be included in each room and all rooms would be recorded.
The host must enable local recording and give participants permission to record from the settings in order for recordings to take place.
Breaking it down
Zoom’s Breakout Rooms feature is a convenient way to organize meetings, especially when there are many participants from different departments or levels of the organization. It also provides privacy, allowing conversations between top executives to remain confidential. With this new feature, Zoom is leading the charge in the video conferencing industry and competition is likely to follow suit soon.
Discover how to edit Zoom recordings on both Windows and macOS with this helpful guide.
How to Use Breakout Rooms in Zoom: benefits
Faq
Final note
We hope you found our guide on using Zoom’s Breakout Rooms helpful. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Show your support by sharing this article with your friends!
Have questions about using Zoom’s Breakout Rooms? Our guide is here to help. For educational purposes only, this tutorial provides information on how to use the feature. If you need to correct any misinformation or add more methods, please contact us. We’re available through our contact page and social media accounts (WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter). We’ll answer your questions within 24-48 hours (weekends excluded). For the latest software updates and discussions, join our Telegram channel.
