Breakout Rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 50 separate sessions. The meeting host or co-host(s) can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these separate sessions automatically or manually, and can switch between sessions at any time.
For more details on using Zoom Breakout Rooms, please see the Breakout Rooms documentation.
FAQ for Managing Breakout Rooms
Who can assign people to breakout rooms?
Only the primary host of a Zoom meeting can assign users to breakout rooms, co-hosts do not share this ability (see this table for a full breakdown of meeting roles). This is usually the creator of the meeting, though if you have Alternative Hosts for the meeting, the first designated host to join the meeting will have the 'primary host' role.
Can I assign my TA to manage breakout rooms?
Only if they are the primary host of the meeting, in which case they will need to assign participants and move them between rooms. There is no 'room moderator' role, so the meeting owner will need to act as the manager for all breakout rooms. We recommend assigning one TA per breakout room when possible, to act as a liaison, though they will have no additional privileges in the room.
Can I assign users to breakout rooms before the meeting?
Yes, though all users in the meeting will need to have Zoom accounts, and you will need a list of the email addresses associated with their Zoom accounts. See this article for more information: Pre-Assigning Participants to Breakout Rooms
Getting and Giving Help in Breakout Rooms
While managing breakout rooms, you may need to respond to people in individual rooms, or send messages to all rooms at once, the following features are provided to meet these needs.
Using the Ask for Help feature
Participants in breakout rooms can request that the meeting host join their meeting by clicking Ask for
Help.
The host will be prompted to join the room where the request originated from. Click Join Breakout
Room to join the room. If you select Later, the participant will see the following message: “The host is
currently helping others. Please try again later.”
Broadcasting a message to all breakout rooms
The host can broadcast a message to all breakout rooms to share information with all participants.
- Click breakout rooms in the meeting controls.
-
Click Broadcast a message to all, enter your message and click Broadcast.
- The message will now appear for all participants in Breakout Rooms.
Recording in Breakout Rooms
Whether you're working in groups for a class or breaking out into focused training sessions, Breakout Rooms can be an effective tool. If you want to record your individual breakout session, you can do so by following these instructions:
Note: You must have Local Recording and Breakout Rooms enabled in your Zoom account settings.
- After you've joined a breakout room, click on the Record button
You can see who is recording by looking for the recording icon in the participant list in your breakout room:
If you do not see the option to record, you will need to ask the meeting host or co-host to allow recording for your account in the meeting. The host or co-host can allow participants to record by clicking on the participant list, hovering over the participant name and selecting More -> Allow Record. - Once either the meeting ends or you stop recording, you will see your meeting recording saved to a folder on your computer, typically under a parent folder titled, "Zoom."
- You can then upload the meeting to OneDrive, Panopto, or another video streaming service to share.