Microsoft Teams is one of the most popular collaboration platforms in existence. Businesses across the world use it to facilitate communication across both in-person and remote teams. But sometimes, the main meeting room can get a bit crowded. When ten people are struggling to make themselves heard during a virtual discussion, often nothing ends up getting accomplished.
Luckily, Microsoft has provided a solution for this problem. Breakout rooms allow you to foster participation and teamwork, even in large-scale meetings. If, that is, you’re using them correctly. This article will teach you how to create breakout rooms in Teams, why you would need one, and how to make sure they serve their purpose.
What Are Breakout Rooms, and Why Would You Use One?
Breakout rooms allow a meeting organiser to split participants into smaller groups, without needing to create a whole separate video conference. Think of it as a meeting within a meeting. Each group has a private space to talk, brainstorm, or work on tasks. Once they’re finished, everyone reunites in the main meeting room to continue the original discussion.
This strategy can be quite useful. Large-scale virtual meetings have a tendency to become passive and unproductive. Often the same few people will dominate the conversation, or everyone ends up shouting over each other. Breakout rooms combat this by:
- Encouraging quieter team members to speak up
- Making the meeting feel more personal
- Allowing teams to focus on specific topics without distractions
- Ensuring that every voice is heard and each point is considered
You can run multiple breakout sessions at once, tailoring meetings to a range of objectives while also preserving your team’s precious productive hours.
Read more: Using M365 to Boost Collaboration and Innovation in Business
How to Make Breakout Rooms in Teams
Creating breakout rooms in Teams is a fairly simple process:
- Schedule and begin a meeting in Microsoft Teams, just as you usually would.
- Select “Rooms” in the meeting controls.
- Decide how many rooms you want, and how individuals should be distributed between them.
- Select “Create rooms”.
You can also set up breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams before the main meeting commences:
- Head to the calendar, and double-click the meeting.
- Click “Breakout rooms” and then “Create rooms”.
- Choose the number of rooms, and assign participants.
- Click “Next” and then “Save”.
Setting up a breakout room ahead of time in this manner allows you to add up to 300 participants to a meeting. This may be useful during particularly large events or discussions.
How to Manage Breakout Rooms
After you open the breakout rooms, you can then interact with them in a variety of ways. This allows you to ensure that all goals are successfully accomplished. Some actions you can take include:
- Renaming each room to clarify its purpose (for instance, “Brainstorming Session”).
- Set timers to limit delays.
- Move between rooms to check progress and collect feedback.
- Send announcements to all rooms at once.
It is also important to remember that you can open or end a room at any time. If you discover that one or more are no longer serving a productive purpose, you can bring those people back into the larger meeting space. This level of control allows you to keep participants engaged at all times.
Using Whiteboard in Teams Breakout Rooms
An often-overlooked feature of Microsoft Teams is the built-in digital whiteboard. This feature can be utilised in breakout rooms to help visual thinkers and creative teams collaborate more effectively. Each room can have its own whiteboard, or the meeting organiser can share one whiteboard with everyone.
To share a whiteboard, the organiser must first select Share > Microsoft Whiteboard. They can then choose an existing board or create a new one. If a board already exists in the current meeting, then Teams will default to using that one.
Once the board is active in all breakout rooms, participants can use it to sketch ideas, list action items, map out processes, and share visual notes. This content will be saved for review after the meeting is over, making it easier to track next steps.
Breakout Room Best Practices
To get the most out of breakout sessions, consider these tips:
- Set Clear Goals: Make sure each team understands what they are supposed to discuss or complete. Set an expectation for what they should be able to contribute to the rest of the group at the end of the breakout session.
- Appoint Roles: Choose a facilitator in each room who will guide the conversation and keep everyone on track.
- Share Documents: Using shared documents will allow everyone to contribute in real-time. It may even generate interesting discussions across breakout rooms – for example, Team A may add a note that Team B finds intriguing, prompting them to build upon this idea.
- Limit Time: Provide a clear time limit, and an additional reminder shortly before breakout rooms are closed. This will allow teams to use their time wisely, rather than becoming distracted.
- Follow Up: Once the breakout rooms have closed, ask each team to summarise their insights for the larger group.
Keep Teams Meetings Productive and Efficient
Microsoft Teams makes it easier than ever for employees, clients, and partners to stay on the same page. But without the right support, these virtual conferences can end up wasting more time than they save. Breakout rooms, when used correctly, can solve this problem. They allow your team to ditch distractions and accomplish more within the same timeframe.
Need help leveraging the full power of your Microsoft products? That’s what we’re for. Our expert consultants guide you through each step from setup to long-term optimisation, ensuring that you’re getting the biggest ROI possible from your 365 subscription. If you’re interested in learning what else Teams can do for your business, speak to one of our Sydney-based experts.
FAQs
What is a Breakout Room?
Breakout rooms are a feature that allows organisers to split up a meeting into smaller groups. This is often used to facilitate individual brainstorming sessions and task completion.
Can Any Teams User Create Breakout Rooms?
Only the meeting organiser can create breakout rooms in Teams. This gives you greater control over where people are at a given moment.
Can I Re-Open Breakout Rooms After Closing Them?
You certainly can re-open previously closed breakout rooms. Just head back to the breakout room panel and select “Open”.
Can Participants Share Their Screen in Breakout Rooms?
Participants should be able to use most regular Teams features in a breakout room, including screen sharing.
I Don’t Know How to Do Breakout Rooms In Teams. How Do I Start One?
To create a breakout room, there are two options. You can either create them during a meeting (under the “Rooms” settings), or before it begins (using the calendar settings).
