Microsoft Teams - Breakout Rooms

Breakout Rooms have arrived to Microsoft Teams! Breakout Rooms allow you to separate participants in a meeting into smaller groups. The rooms can be configured to add participants automatically or manually. The meeting organizer has the ability to create, open, close and delete Breakout Rooms.

Creating Breakout Rooms

Only the meeting organizer can create Breakout Rooms. The meeting must already be underway in order to organize participants into Breakout Rooms. The organizer must be using the desktop version of Teams.

1. Once the Meeting has begun, click the Breakout Rooms icon. The Create Breakout Rooms dialog appears.
   
   
2. Select the number of rooms to create and choose how you would like to assign participants (Automatically or Manually). In this example, Automatically is selected and the 10 attendees will be split into 2 rooms of 5 people.
   
   
3. Click Create Rooms. The meetings are created in the Closed state. When you are ready to use the Breakout Rooms, they need to be Opened.
   
   

Opening Breakout Rooms

To open all rooms, click Start Rooms. If you want to open a single room, click the More Actions ⋯ button beside a room and select Open Room. By default, participants are sent a message saying the room is opening and they are automatically transferred to their rooms. It will take a moment to open rooms.

Closing Breakout Rooms

To close all rooms, click Close Rooms. If you want to close a single room, click the More Actions ⋯ button beside a room and select Close Room.

Renaming Breakout Rooms

Breakout Rooms can be renamed by clicking the More Actions ⋯ button beside the Breakout Room and selecting Rename Room. A dialog opens for the new room name.

Deleting Breakout Rooms

Click the More Actions ⋯ button beside the Breakout Room and select Delete room.

Assigning or Switching Rooms

1. Expand the room name in the Breakout Rooms pane.
   
   
2. Click the checkbox beside a participant and click Assign.
   
   
3. In the pop-up, select the room for the participant.
   
   

Joining a Breakout Room

Meeting organizers can join any Breakout Room they create. Click the More Actions ⋯ button beside the Breakout Room and select Join room. There is no announcement that you have arrived in the room, make sure attendees are aware you have arrived.

Recording a Breakout Room

The meeting organizer can record a Breakout Room. To record a Breakout Room, the organizer must be in the room to start the recording. The organizer can leave the room and the recording will continue.

Click More Actions ⋯ and select Start Recording.

Sending Announcements to Breakout Rooms

The meeting organizer can broadcast an announcement to all Breakout Rooms. The organizer has access to the chat of each Breakout Room via the Chat icon in the Teams app bar.

1. Click the More Actions ⋯ in the Breakout Rooms pane and select Make an announcement. A dialog opens for your announcement. Enter your message and click Send.
   
   
2. Enter the announcement and click Send. The message is marked as Important in the chat for all Breakout Rooms.
   
   

What can attendees do in a Breakout Room?

While in a Breakout Room, attendees are given the Presenter role.