To create and manage settings for your Breakout rooms before your scheduled meeting:

Go to your Teams calendar and open the appropriate meeting clicking Edit.

Teams calendar with an event indicated and Edit options pointed to.

In the Meeting Details menu click the menu item across the top Breakout rooms.

* If you see a plus icon instead make your window bigger, or click the plus to get the dropdown menu item.


Teams even details menu indicating the Breakout Rooms tab
 
This will bring you to the Breakout rooms setup page, click Create rooms. A prompt to select the number of rooms you would like to create will pop up. Add the correct number of rooms and select Add rooms.

Breakout rooms page in Team indicating Create rooms

Your rooms will be created and appear in the panel. In the top right corner select the settings cog. This will open the settings menu where you can set:

  • Co-presenters who will help you manage the Teams rooms, and participants.
  • Room timers, to automatically close after the allotted time, and redistribute the participants back into the main call.
  • Automatic room enrollment.
  • Whether on not you allow people to leave the Breakout rooms of their own volition.

Breakout rooms page with settings pane open



Managing your rooms once in the meeting

*Note: Participants organised into the rooms will be based upon the participants currently in the Teams call. Participants who join late or have dropped from the call will need to be manually re-assigned.

Assign participants to rooms manually window.

After the rooms have been setup the Rooms button will open the Breakout room menu for management features:

Breakout room manager panel with the rooms closed and the open all button Breakout room manager panel with the rooms open and the close all button.

  • Unassigned participants can be assigned with Assign participants button.
  • Open button opens all rooms at once, or if the rooms are open Close will close all rooms at once.
  • plus sign button allows rooms to be added.
  • trash bin button allow deletion of all rooms.
  • settings cog button opens the Breakout room settings.

Settings menu with control of presenters, room timer, and behavioural controls.

Within the Breakout room Settings menu, you can:

  • Assign your co-presenters, who will be able to assist with the managerial properties of Breakout rooms.
  • Set a time limit on the rooms, which will close at the end and re-assign participants to the main call.
  • Allow automatic enrolment to the rooms. 
  • Allow participants to exit their breakout rooms on their own prerogative. 
To control individual rooms or to Join them as a lecturer/presenter you can hover over the status of the room to get the more options ellipses. Click more options and you will get additional managerial features of the room, including the option to Join room.

Individual room controls, Join room, Open room, Rename, Close room, Delete room.

Once you have joined a room a second Teams meeting window will open. To leave this meeting carefully select to Leave the rooms instance of Teams, and click Resume at the top of the main call window.


* Note: In the main call participants who are in a Breakout room, or are transferring back to the main call meeting will be listed as On hold.