Teams Training: Breakout Rooms

Create and manage breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams

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Tip: Practise Breakout rooms before using them in your real meeting.

Warning: Certain types of meeting participants can't be moved to breakout rooms:

Participants signed into a free Microsoft account
- Currently, the only workaround is for them to join the meeting as a guest using a browser in an incognito or private window. Please provide any external participants a link to this guide:
- Teams Training: Join a Meeting as a Guest >
Participants who joined from unsupported devices
Participants who are not currently in the meeting
Participants who are using an older version of Teams

Breakout Rooms in Microsoft Teams

Breakout rooms can be setup before the meeting if participants are invited by email however, for external participants, it is easier for them to join with the meeting link.
Assign 1 person as co-organizer or yourself as organiser to manage breakout rooms and the participants during the meeting. Multiple people trying to do it at the same time during the meeting will cause conflicts and confusion.
Check the breakout rooms settings before using (see video below from 3m 16s).
- Enable Let people return to the main meeting particularly if you have participants using the Teams web version (not desktop) - typically external participants.
Organizers and co-organizers cannot be assigned a room. Instead they join individual rooms themselves.
Participants may find themselves in the lobby rather than the main meeting after the breakout rooms end. Check the People pane and let participants back into the main meeting if they are in the lobby.

Video Tutorial

In this tutorial, learn how to use Teams Breakout Rooms to create multiple virtual meeting rooms and let the meeting participants collaborate in a smaller group session. The meeting organizer can create and manage rooms, including opening, closing, and moving participants between rooms.