Setting Up Breakout Rooms in Zoom: A Step-by-Step Guide

Zoom’s breakout rooms are a dynamic feature that can transform your large meetings or virtual classrooms into intimate discussion spaces. They offer the flexibility to split participants into smaller groups for collaborative tasks, focused discussions, or varied instructional activities. Here’s an enthusiastic guide to help you set up breakout rooms in Zoom, ensuring your meetings are more interactive and engaging.

Step 1: Enable Breakout Rooms in Zoom Settings
Before you can start using breakout rooms, you need to enable them in your Zoom settings. Sign in to the Zoom web portal, navigate to ‘Settings,’ and under the ‘Meeting’ tab, find the ‘In Meeting (Advanced)’ section. Here, you’ll see the option to enable breakout rooms.

Step 2: Schedule Your Meeting
While scheduling your Zoom meeting, you’ll find an option to pre-assign participants to breakout rooms. This is particularly useful if you already know how you want to group your attendees. You can create rooms and assign participants directly from this scheduling page.

Step 3: Starting a Meeting with Breakout Rooms
Once your meeting is underway, you’ll see the ‘Breakout Rooms’ option on your meeting control bar. Clicking this will allow you to create multiple rooms and assign participants either automatically or manually. You can also let participants choose their room, giving them the autonomy to move as they wish.

Step 4: Managing Breakout Rooms During the Meeting
As the host or co-host, you have the power to move between breakout rooms to monitor discussions or provide assistance. You can send broadcast messages to all rooms, which is perfect for providing instructions or updates. Additionally, you can set a timer for the breakout sessions, ensuring that everyone is on track.

Step 5: Recording Breakout Rooms
If you wish to record the activities within breakout rooms, you’ll need to use local recording. Cloud recording only captures the main session. Assign participants the permission to record locally if you want to capture their individual breakout room sessions.

Step 6: Closing Breakout Rooms
When it’s time to bring everyone back to the main session, you can close the breakout rooms. Participants will receive a countdown before they are returned to the main meeting, giving them a heads-up to wrap up their discussions.

Tips for a Smooth Breakout Room Experience

• Test the breakout room feature before your actual meeting to familiarize yourself with its functionality.
• Provide clear instructions and objectives for each breakout room activity.
• Consider having facilitators or leaders in each room to guide the discussions.
• Use the ‘Ask for Help’ feature to allow participants to signal if they need assistance.

Breakout rooms can significantly enhance the interactivity and effectiveness of your Zoom meetings.