This info has been culled from the Zoom Help center web pages.

Contents:

Creating Breakout Rooms

  1. Start an instant or scheduled meeting.
  2. Click Breakout Rooms.

    Screenshot of where to click "Breakout Rooms" in Zoom controls


  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.
    • Let participants choose room: students can self-select their rooms. Note that students will need to have Zoom version 5.3 or higher, and need the desktop or mobile app for this to work.

      Screenshot of box that provides options for Breakout Rooms in Zoom


  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.

Note: You can also pre-assign participants to breakout rooms when you schedule the meeting instead of managing them during the meeting (but only if students have set up their own accounts first — send them to https://amherstcollege.zoom.us first). 

Options for Breakout Rooms

  1. After creating the breakout rooms, click Options to view additional Breakout Rooms options.

    Screenshot of "Options" button and the menu that pops up when pressed


  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.

Screenshot of "Assign" option for a Breakout Room, to add participants

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

Screenshot showing "Assign" replaced with a number to indicate number of participants already added to Breakout Room
 

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.

Screenshot of option to move participant to another room using "Move 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.

Screenshot of message that is shown when Breakout Rooms are being created

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.

Screenshot of hosts view of all rooms, including the option for "Join" next to a room
  • 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.

 

Last Updated: Spring 2021 by Academic Technology Services