Creating and using Zoom Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom Meeting in up to 100 separate sessions. The meeting host can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these separate sessions automatically or manually, or they can allow participants to select and enter breakout sessions as they please. The host can switch between sessions at any time.

Overview

Breakout rooms are a feature in online meeting platforms that allow the host or co-host to create separate virtual rooms for participants to join and collaborate in smaller groups. The host or co-host can manage the breakout rooms by assigning participants to specific rooms, renaming rooms, joining or leaving rooms, and deleting rooms. Participants can either be automatically assigned to rooms or given the option to choose their own room. The host or co-host can also set options such as allowing participants to return to the main session, automatically moving participants into breakout rooms, automatically closing breakout rooms after a certain time, and receiving notifications when the time is up.

Enable Zoom Breakout Rooms

To enable the breakout room feature for your own use:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal using your Neomed SSO (single sign-on) credentials.
2. In the navigation menu on the left of the screen, click Settings.
3. Click the Meeting tab.
4. Under In Meeting (Advanced), click the Breakout room toggle to enable it.

1. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable to verify the change.
   Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level. You need to contact your Zoom admin.
2. (Optional) Select the check boxes for the following breakout room options, then click Save:
   • Allow meeting hosts to pre-assign participants to breakout rooms
   • Allow host to broadcast message to participants: This allows the host to broadcast a text-based message to all participants in breakout rooms. 
   • Allow host to broadcast voice to breakout rooms: This allows the host to broadcast their microphone audio to all participants in breakout rooms. This feature requires 5.12.0 or higher.
   • Allow hosts to create, rename, and delete breakout rooms when rooms are open.
     Note: This option must be enabled by Zoom before it is available and requires 5.9.3 or higher.
   • Allow host to view activity statuses of participants in breakout rooms (e.g. share screen, reactions). This allows hosts and co-hosts to quickly view participants' audio and video status, if they are sharing their screen, and any active reactions or nonverbal feedback. This feature requires hosts and participants to have client version 5.10.3 or higher for activity statuses to appear, and does not apply to participants joining on certain devices such as phone, H.323, and SIP.  

Create Zoom Breakout Rooms

Create meeting breakout rooms

Note: You can also pre-assign participants to breakout rooms when you schedule the meeting instead of managing them during the meeting.

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:
   • Assign automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms.
     • Include co-host(s) to breakout rooms: Disabled by default, you can include any co-host(s) in the automatic assignment of breakout rooms.
   • Assign manually: Choose which participants you would like in each room.
   • Let participants choose room: Participants can select and enter rooms on their own. 
   • Load pre-assigned rooms: Choose from pre-assignments or previously saved assignments. 
4. Click Create.
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.

Breakout Room Options

1. After creating the breakout rooms, click Options (on Windows) or the gear icon (on macOS) to view additional breakout rooms options.
2. Check any options that you would like to use for your breakout rooms.
   • Allow participants to choose room: Participants can select and enter rooms on their own once rooms are launched. 
   • 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 or co-host to end the breakout rooms.
   • Automatically move all assigned participants into breakout rooms: 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.
   • Automatically move all selected participants in breakout rooms to main meeting: Checking this option will move participants to the main meeting session when breakouts are closed, rather than giving participants 60 seconds to wrap up their discussion and prompting the users to leave the breakout room. 
   • Auto close breakout rooms after () 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 and co-hosts will be notified when the breakout room time is up.
   • Set Countdown timer: 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.

Assign participants to rooms

To assign participants to your rooms, select Assign next to the room you wish to assign participants to and select the 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.

For more information about Zoom Breakout Rooms, see the Zoom Knowledge Articles here: Zoom Website Search | Zoom

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