The more participants you have in your Microsoft Teams meetings, the better. With more people joining in, you only have to set the meeting once. It is efficient, a time-saver, and more practical. You don’t have to repeat yourself. It is ideal for settings where only you have to talk all the time, and your participants listen.
But, what if you need to create a more interactive time within your video conference or webinar? Now, Microsoft Teams added a new feature that will make the interaction more effective in remote meetings. You can set to create Breakout Rooms during your sessions.
What is Microsoft Teams Breakout Rooms?
The Breakout Rooms enable users to create sub-groups during their meetings. It means breaking out the big group into smaller ones so they can discuss one by one. Webinar organizers can divide the session with up to 50 Breakout Rooms. They can automatically assign participants to the rooms or manually choose who goes with and which room.
Creating Breakout Rooms will give participants a chance to discuss and say what’s on their mind in a more intimate setup. It is ideal for company meetings or class discussions.
How Does Microsoft Teams Breakout Rooms Work?
Using the Breakout Rooms is easy. You will need to use the desktop app of Microsoft Teams to enjoy the feature. Unfortunately, mobile app support for this mode is not yet available.
How to Create Breakout Rooms in Teams Meetings
- To create a breakout room, go to the toolbar section.
- Click the Breakout Rooms icon. You will either see one big box connecting to three smaller boxes or one small box in front of one big box icon.
- Under the Room Settings, select the number of rooms you need.
- Click the box whether you want to assign automatically or manually.
- Once done, click the Create Rooms button.
After you created the breakout rooms, you can rename them by clicking the room menu and changing the name. You can also add a new breakout room after you set the number of rooms. Click the Add Room button on top. To delete an extra Breakout room, click the name menu and select Delete room.
How to Use the Breakout Rooms Feature in Microsoft Teams
Take note that Breakout Rooms remain Closed after you created them. If you want to open the rooms for your participants to join, click the Start Rooms button. You can also open each room individually by clicking the name menu and select Open Room.
As organizers, here are the things you can do during the Breakout Rooms.
- Assign people into each room.
- Swap or move participants between each room.
- Create and send announcements sent to the Breakout Rooms.
- Join any of the rooms.
- Recall selected participants back to the main meeting.
- Record the Breakout Room sessions.
- Open and Close the Breakout Rooms.
What do you think of Microsoft Teams Breakout Rooms? Do you find it useful in organizing your Teams video meetings? You can share your thoughts with us in the comments below.