Set Up and Manage Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms are sessions that are split off from the main Zoom meeting. The meeting host (and co-host) can create Breakout Rooms, and can manually place participants into rooms, or have Zoom automatically assign them into rooms. The host (and co-host) can jump between rooms, and choose to close and reopen rooms at any time during the meeting.

Breakout Room Limitations

• Users who’ve joined a meeting from the Zoom Mobile App or H.323/SIP devices can participate in breakout rooms, but cannot manage them. Users joined using Chromebooks/Chrome OS or Zoom Rooms are unable to join breakout Rooms, but the main room can be used as an alternative session for these users.
• If the meeting is being cloud recorded, it will only record the main room, regardless of what room the meeting host is in. If the host selected local recording it will record the room the host is in.
• Hosts can create up to 50 breakout rooms. The maximum number of participants in a single breakout room depends on the meeting capacity (300), number of breakout rooms created, and if participants are assigned during the meeting or before the meeting. Up to 200 participants can be pre-assigned to breakout rooms.

Breakout Room FAQs

How do I create and manage breakout rooms during a meeting?

By default, all Georgetown Zoom accounts have Breakout Rooms enabled. Create and manage breakout rooms during a meeting.

Can I pre-assign breakout rooms before the meeting starts?

Yes, there is an option to pre-assign participants to breakout rooms before the meetings begins.

Can co-hosts start breakout rooms?

NEW! Co-hosts have the same breakout room controls as the meeting host, such as starting or ending breakout rooms, assigning participants, etc. This is available for users who are on the latest version of Zoom.

How do participants join and interact in a breakout room?

Join and participate in breakout rooms.

Can hosts and co-hosts move through breakout rooms?

The host and co-hosts can jump from breakout to breakout rooms. Use the Breakout Room in-meeting controls to do this. Within the Breakout room controls, mouse over the name of the breakout room and the “join” button will appear.

Can the host record breakout rooms?

It’s complicated. If the host chose the cloud recording option for their Zoom meeting, then Zoom will only record the main room, regardless of what room the meeting host is in. If the host chose a local recording, Zoom will record whatever room (main or breakout) the host is in. Note: When using the local recording option, you can give multiple participants the ability to record locally, and they can record their own breakout room for example. The participants given this ability will have the recording saved to their local computer.

Can the host reuse the same breakout rooms multiple times in a meeting?

Yes, the same breakout room configurations can be used multiple times during the same meeting. However, when the meeting is ended the breakout room configurations are lost. If this is a concern, see the section of pre-assigned breakout rooms.

Do breakout rooms work on mobile devices and tablets?

The host cannot create nor manage breakout room using the Zoom mobile app. The host will need to be using the Zoom desktop app to create and manage breakout rooms. However, participants can join breakout rooms using the Zoom mobile app. Your participants will receive a pop-up notification within the meeting when the host opens up breakout rooms. Participants then tap the “join breakout room” button to join the breakout room. See Zoom’s guide for instructions on how to join breakout rooms using their mobile app (iOS and Android).

Pre-Assigned Breakout Rooms

As a meeting host, you can set up and assign participants to breakout rooms before a meeting starts. This can be done when scheduling a new meeting or editing an existing meeting’s details.

Warning: There are known issues with pre-assigned breakout rooms that you need to be prepared for. You will probably need a dedicated TA or co-host to provide support during the meeting.

There are two prerequisites for pre-assigned breakout rooms to work correctly in Zoom: 

1. Participants must have a Zoom account before they can be pre-assigned. We recommend you pre-assign participants using their GU Zoom account, but it is possible to pre-assign non-GU Zoom participants into breakout rooms. However, you must know the email address associated with their non-GU Zoom account.
2. Once participants have been pre-assigned to a breakout room, they must be sign into the Zoom software or app on the computer or device using their NetID and password prior to joining the meeting. If you’ve pre-assigned non-GU Zoom participants into breakout rooms they must be signed into the Zoom account you used in the pre-assign process prior to joining the meeting.

Pre-Assigned Breakout Room Limitations / Issues

• Even when participants have met both of these prerequisites, there have been cases where they still don’t appear properly in the Zoom database of users, or they do not appear in the correct pre-assigned room during the meeting. You should expect to manually move a number of participants into their pre-assigned rooms. Depending on the number of pre-assigned participants, hosts may simply opt to skip the pre-assign process, and let Zoom automatically (but randomly) assign participants into breakout rooms.
• Pre-assigning breakout rooms can only be done in the Georgetown Zoom web portal by the creator of the meeting. It is not supported in the Zoom desktop or mobile client; nor in the Zoom Conferencing tool in Canvas.
• If a participant joins the meeting after the host has joined, they will not be automatically assigned to the breakout room you specified. To resolve this, open the Breakout Rooms controls within the Zoom meeting, and select to revert to pre-assigned breakout rooms. This will reassign participants to their pre-assigned breakout rooms.
• If a participant is in their pre-assigned breakout room and they leave the meeting and then rejoin, they won’t automatically rejoin their pre-assigned breakout room. You will need to manually assign these participants using the in-meeting breakout room controls, or revert to pre-assigned breakout rooms.
• Pre-assigned breakout rooms in Zoom are not synced with Canvas course groups.
• If you have registration enabled and external participants (non Georgetown users) joining the meeting, you will need to manually assign them to breakout rooms during the meeting.
• Up to 200 participants can be pre-assigned to breakout rooms.

Pre-Assigned Breakout Room FAQs

Do participants need to download and sign into Zoom before they can be pre-assigned to Breakout Rooms?

Yes, in order to pre-assign participants into breakout rooms, they must have a Zoom account. We recommend GU Zoom participants download, install and sign into the Zoom software/app on their computers and mobile devices.

It is possible to pre-assign non-GU Zoom participants into breakout rooms. However, the meeting host must know the email address associated with the non-GU Zoom account. Then, the non-GU Zoom participants must be signed into the Zoom account you used in the pre-assign process prior to joining the meeting.

How do I pre-assign participants into breakout rooms?

1. Sign in to the GU Zoom web portal
2. Click the ‘Meetings’ tab on the left side of the screen
3. Schedule a new meeting, or click the name of an existing meeting
   (note: If adding pre-assigned breakout rooms to an existing meeting, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click ‘edit’)
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and in the Meeting Options section, select Breakout Room pre-assign 
5. Click ‘Create Rooms’
6. Click the plus icon beside ‘Rooms’ to add breakout rooms
7. Hover over the default breakout room name and click the pencil icon to rename it
8. In the Add participants text box, search for participants’ by name (not email address) to add them to the breakout room
9. When finished adding rooms and participants, click Save at the bottom of the page

How do I pre-assign participants to breakouts rooms using a CSV file? (optional)

1. Download a sample CSV file you can fill out:
   https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/article_attachments/360064694172/breakout_room_sample.csv
2. Open the CSV file with spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel
3. Fill in the ‘Pre-assign Room Name’ column with the breakout room name, and the ‘Email Address’ column with the assigned participant’s email address.
   (Note: For GU Zoom accounts, you will need to add the participants using their NetID@georgetown.edu email address. It will not work if you use first.last@georgetown.edu email address)
4. Save the file
5. Sign in to the GU Zoom web portal
6. Click the ‘Meetings’ tab on the left side of the screen
7. Schedule a new meeting, or click the name of an existing meeting
   (note: If adding pre-assigned breakout rooms to an existing meeting, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click ‘edit’)
8. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and in the ‘Meeting Options’ section, select ‘Breakout Room pre-assign’
9. Drag and drop the file in the web portal
10. Zoom will verify that the email address has a Zoom account
11. Click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page

How do I start pre-assigned breakout rooms in a meeting?

See Zoom’s guide to starting pre-assigned breakout rooms during a meeting. If a participant does not automatically appear in their pre-assigned breakout room, you will need to manually assigning them using the in-meeting breakout room controls.

How do I recover (revert to) the pre-assigned breakout rooms during a meeting?

After starting the breakout rooms, you can revert to pre-assigned breakout rooms you previously specified. This can be useful if you changed your breakout rooms during the meeting, or pre-assigned participants have joined the meeting after you joined the meeting or started breakout rooms. You can also choose to simply manually assign participants to their breakout room. 

Can the host use pre-assigned breakout rooms multiple times in a single meeting?

Yes, simply relaunch the breakout rooms in-meeting controls and open the breakout rooms. You may have to revert to pre-assigned breakout rooms if room assignments are missing.