What is a breakout room and how can I use it?

A breakout room is an extra room where you can host classes, workshops, or any other type of event for your attendees and work with them in separate, smaller groups. It is a great feature that can be used by teachers or trainers to work on specific subjects with just a few people. That way, you can focus on the most salient aspects of projects, tasks, or ideas as well as test knowledge of your audience with quizzes or exams in separate rooms.

Complement breakout rooms with Edu mode to allow for efficient, distraction free collaboration. Note that Edu Mode has to be enabled individually in each breakout room. The host or presenter needs to first enter each breakout room they will be using Edu Mode in. Once enabled, presenters will see all the event attendees, while the attendees will only see the presenters and not one another. Presenters can ask an attendee (or multiple attendees) to speak to the entire group.

The ClickMeeting platform enables you to create a maximum of 20 breakout rooms, and in each of them you can gather up to 40 people. By default, the event type of a breakout room is a meeting.

Please keep in mind that the number of attendees joining breakout rooms does not multiply the overall number of attendees of your subscription plan. For instance, if you have purchased an Automated 100 plan, it means that you can gather up to 100 attendees in the main event room and breakout rooms.

How do I create a breakout room?

There are two ways you can divide your audience into small groups. You can either enter an event room and prepare breakout rooms yourself or ask another presenter to create them for you while you give your presentation.

The reason why we recommend doing so is that creating breakout rooms in advance is not possible at the moment. It would be a smart move to create breakout rooms a few minutes before the event starts or let another person to do it on your behalf. The choice is up to you. Please bear in mind that assigning attendees to specific rooms is possible after they join your main event room and appear on the attendee list.

Enter your event room, either one scheduled in advance or a spontaneous Meet now conference, and let your attendees gather inside. Move your pointer to the left side of the screen and locate the option Breakout rooms in the menu.

Click the plus icon to start the process of adding breakout rooms to your main event. A pop-up window will appear on your screen where you can estimate how many breakout rooms you would like to create and how long the sessions within them should last.

Keep in mind that the number of breakout rooms is limited to 20, and you can gather up to 40 people in each of them within the limit of your subscription plan.

The next pop-up displayed would enable you to give your breakout rooms meaningful names, assign attendees to different rooms, as well as join them. Depending on how you join the breakout room (via a desktop browser, our mobile application, or a mobile browser), you will have different sets of rights available.

If you, as a host, decide to start your breakout session from a desktop browser, you will be able to assign, drag and drop, and move selected attendees to rooms and join these rooms. This option is your natural ally if you need to fully control, manage and host your events in breakout rooms format.

The mobile application enables hosts and presenters to only join the main event and then move to the breakout room. Creating breakout rooms or assigning attendees to them through the mobile app is not possible. In such a scenario, make sure that breakout rooms are created via a desktop browser, for instance, by one of your presenters.

If you choose to join a breakout room via a mobile browser, you will be limited to only being able to join the event. You will not be able to create breakout rooms nor assign attendees to them. Also, in this case, you would want to ask your presenter to help you create breakout sessions and assign attendees to them on your behalf.

How do I assign attendees to different breakout rooms?

The fastest and easiest way of assigning attendees to a breakout room is by mass-marking their names on the list and then choosing the rooms they should be redirected to. Once you click the Open all rooms button, your attendees will be moved within seconds to a given breakout room.

Alternatively, you can manually mark specific attendees and then move them to a given breakout room. It is a great option for those who want to control who exactly works with whom in a smaller group. This way you can control the number of attendees more effectively, with up to 40 allowed in each breakout room.

Another great way of assigning attendees to a given breakout room is by dragging and dropping them. Simply, click on the attendee’s name, then drag and drop them to the breakout room they should be placed in. Remember that you can drag and drop a few people at a time to a selected room.

If you do not want to take any action and do not mind your audience working on projects or tasks in random groups, click on the Assign randomly button. Our system will randomly assign attendees to your breakout rooms where they will be able to focus on more specific assignments.

If needed, you can display a short message in all of your breakout rooms to communicate any plans, collaboration-related aims or ideas.

What does a breakout room layout look like?

Once you have assigned your attendees to separate rooms, they will see a notification informing them that they have been transferred to a breakout room. They will also see a timer, and after a few seconds, they will be able to start working in small groups.

The layout of the breakout room is exactly the same for the attendees, the host, and the presenters as in the main event room. The only difference is the Go back to the main room button which they can click to leave the breakout room.

Once the host and presenters enter a breakout room, they will see the same features that are available in the main event room. They can display a presentation, share their screen, conduct surveys, etc.

However, please note that it is not possible to share your screen in multiple breakout rooms at once. You would want to join one breakout room at a time to share your screen there. Alternatively, you can end all active breakout room sessions and share your screen in the main event room to all attendees at once.

How do my attendees rejoin a breakout room?

It may happen that someone unintentionally leaves the breakout room, closes the browser tab, or loses their Internet connection. Should that happen, the attendee would simply want to click the room URL they received (through an invitation, for example) and get back in.

The attendees will join the main event room and will see a notification asking them to wait before they are assigned back to a particular breakout room. The host and/or presenters will receive a notification informing of an attendee waiting to be assigned.

Once assigned back to the breakout session, the attendee can keep working in a designated team or group.

Please note that breakout rooms do not come with a URL which is why the help of a host or presenter is required to assign attendees to proper rooms.

Another thing to keep in mind is that attendees who dial into your main event will not be able to join any of your breakout rooms. You would want to advise them to join the event via a desktop browser, mobile application, or mobile browser to be able to participate in a breakout session.

How do I end my breakout room sessions?

To end the breakout sessions, get back to your main event room by clicking the button located in the top bar of the breakout room – Get back to the main room.

In the main event room, go to the menu on the left and locate Breakout rooms. Click the red X icon next to a room session you would like to end.

To close all active breakout rooms at once, click Manage next to Breakout rooms in the menu on the left side of the main event room → Close all rooms.

Your attendees will then be automatically moved back to your main event room. At this point, you can discuss their progress, answer their final questions, or simply say goodbye to all attendees at once.

You can also estimate the duration of a breakout session before assigning attendees to specific rooms. When the time is up, you will automatically get notified so you can consider adding extra minutes to your breakout session. If you choose not to, your attendees will be automatically redirected to the main event room.

Which plans are breakout rooms available in?

The breakout rooms are available in Live 50, Automated 50 and higher plans. Please note that breakout rooms do not increase the overall number of attendees who can simultaneously attend your event.

To test this feature for free, please create a free trial account where you can manage up to 2 breakout rooms (with each accommodating up to 5 attendees).