Zoom: Allow Participants in a Meeting to Self-Select and Move Between Breakout Rooms

Environment

U-M Zoom

Issue

I want participants in my Zoom meeting to be able to move freely between breakout rooms and/or self-select which breakout room to join instead of me having to assign them. How do I do that?

Resolution

By default, only the host or co-host(s) can create breakout rooms. Allowing participants to choose their own room must be set during the meeting when launching the breakout rooms.

Note: Hosts and co-hosts cannot manage breakout rooms using a mobile device.

To allow participants to self-select and move between breakout rooms:

1. Click Breakout rooms from the bottom toolbar of the meeting window.
2. Enter how many rooms you'd like to create in the field provided.
3. Select Let participants choose room.
4. Click Create.
5. Rename each room created by hovering over it in the list, clicking Rename, entering the new name, and clicking Yes.
6. Adjust the breakout room settings by clicking Options in the lower left corner and updating as desired.
7. Click Open all rooms when complete.

Participants can now self-select their room by clicking Breakout rooms from the bottom toolbar of the meeting window. (It isn't possible to limit how many participants can join each breakout room.)

If you already created the breakout rooms using another method (i.e., assign automatically, manually, or pre-assigned) but want to allow participants to freely self-select/move between rooms now, you can do one of the following:

• Adjust settings for existing rooms: Click Breakout rooms from the bottom toolbar, click Options in the lower left corner, and check the Allow participants to choose room box.
• Delete existing rooms and start over: Click Breakout rooms from the bottom toolbar, click Recreate, and follow the steps listed above.

Additional Information

• If a participant struggles to select a breakout room, you can manually assign them to one from the breakout room assignment window.
• Breakout rooms must be enabled in your account settings to create and manage them during meetings.
• The host and co-host(s) can switch between breakout rooms at any time, regardless of whether the self-select setting is enabled.
• Zoom Support: Managing meeting breakout rooms

Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.