Guide to Setting Up Breakout Rooms in Zoom

With the increasing popularity of remote work, virtual meetings have become an integral part of our daily lives. One tool that has gained tremendous popularity for conducting online meetings is Zoom. Zoom offers a range of features, and one of the most useful for facilitating group discussions is the breakout room feature. In this guide, we will walk you through the process of setting up breakout rooms in Zoom to enhance collaboration and engagement during your virtual meetings.

Step 1: Update your Zoom application
Ensure that you have the latest version of Zoom installed on your computer or mobile device. It is important to have the most recent version to access all the features, including breakout rooms.

Step 2: Schedule your meeting with breakout rooms
When scheduling a meeting in Zoom, make sure to enable the breakout room feature. Under the meeting settings, select the option to enable breakout rooms. This will allow you to create breakout rooms during your meeting.

Step 3: Setting up breakout rooms during a meeting
Once you start your meeting, you will find the breakout room icon on the Zoom toolbar. Click on it to open the breakout room menu. Here, you can choose to manually assign participants to breakout rooms or let Zoom do it automatically.

Step 4: Manually assigning participants to breakout rooms
If you prefer to assign participants to specific breakout rooms yourself, click on “Assign” in the breakout room menu. A window will appear where you can see the list of participants. Simply drag and drop participants’ names into the desired breakout room. Repeat this process for each breakout room you want to create.

Step 5: Automatically assigning participants to breakout rooms
If you have a larger number of participants and want Zoom to assign them to breakout rooms automatically, click on “Options” in the breakout room menu and select the desired number of rooms to create. Zoom will then evenly distribute the participants into the breakout rooms.

Step 6: Start breakout rooms
Once you have assigned or allowed Zoom to automatically assign participants to breakout rooms, click on “Open All Rooms” to start the breakout session. Participants will be automatically moved to their assigned breakout rooms.

Step 7: Managing breakout rooms
As a host, you have control over the breakout rooms. You can join any breakout room to assist participants, share your screen or present content. To join a breakout room, click on the “Breakout Rooms” icon on the Zoom toolbar, select the desired room, and click on “Join.”

Step 8: Monitoring breakout rooms
While breakout rooms are in progress, you can monitor the discussions by clicking on the “Breakout Rooms” icon and selecting “Broadcast a message to all,” or “Send to” a specific breakout room. This allows you to share important information or communicate with participants.

Step 9: Closing breakout rooms and ending the meeting
To end the breakout sessions and bring all participants back to the main meeting, click on the “Breakout Rooms” icon and select “Close All Rooms.” Participants will then be automatically moved back to the main meeting. You can then proceed to end the meeting as usual.

Zoom breakout rooms are an excellent feature for facilitating group discussions, brainstorming sessions, or interactive activities during virtual meetings. By following this step-by-step guide, you can easily set up breakout rooms and create a more engaging and productive online meeting experience for all participants.