Breakout Rooms

What are Breakout Rooms?

Breakout rooms are a feature in video conferencing that allows the host to split participants into smaller, separate virtual rooms for focused group discussions, collaborative work, or parallel sessions. Each breakout room functions as an independent meeting space where participants can see and hear only the members in their specific room, enabling private conversations and team activities within a larger meeting context.

After a designated time or when discussions conclude, participants return to the main meeting room to share outcomes, making breakout rooms ideal for workshops, training sessions, brainstorming, and educational activities.

How Breakout Rooms Work

Room Creation and Assignment

The host creates and manages breakout rooms:

1. Define Rooms: Host specifies number of breakout rooms (typically 2-50 rooms)
2. Assign Participants: Host assigns participants either manually, automatically (random distribution), or by allowing self-selection
3. Set Duration: Optionally set a timer for how long breakout sessions will last
4. Configure Settings: Enable/disable features like recording, screen sharing, or host access to rooms
5. Open Rooms: Participants are moved from main meeting to their assigned breakout rooms

Participant Experience

When breakout rooms begin:

• Automatic Transition: Participants are automatically moved to their assigned room (with optional countdown warning)
• Independent Session: Each room has its own audio/video space, isolated from other rooms
• Room Controls: Participants can mute, share screen, chat within their room
• Request Help: Participants can notify the host if they need assistance
• Return to Main: When time expires or host closes rooms, participants return to main meeting

Types of Breakout Room Assignment

Manual Assignment

Host manually assigns specific participants to specific rooms:

• Best For: Curated groups, team-based activities, skill-level grouping
• Advantages: Full control over group composition
• Disadvantages: Time-consuming for large meetings

// Manual assignment example
const breakoutRooms = [
  {
    id: 'room-1',
    name: 'Design Team',
    participants: ['user-1', 'user-4', 'user-7']
  },
  {
    id: 'room-2',
    name: 'Development Team',
    participants: ['user-2', 'user-5', 'user-8']
  },
  {
    id: 'room-3',
    name: 'Marketing Team',
    participants: ['user-3', 'user-6', 'user-9']
  }
];

Automatic Assignment

Participants are randomly distributed across rooms:

• Best For: Networking, ice-breakers, mixing diverse perspectives
• Advantages: Quick setup, promotes cross-team collaboration
• Disadvantages: No control over group dynamics

// Automatic assignment algorithm
function autoAssignBreakoutRooms(participants, numRooms) {
  const shuffled = [...participants].sort(() => Math.random() - 0.5);
  const rooms = Array.from({ length: numRooms }, (_, i) => ({
    id: `room-${i + 1}`,
    name: `Breakout Room ${i + 1}`,
    participants: []
  }));
  
  shuffled.forEach((participant, index) => {
    const roomIndex = index % numRooms;
    rooms[roomIndex].participants.push(participant);
  });
  
  return rooms;
}

Self-Selection

Participants choose which room to join:

• Best For: Topic-based discussions, optional sessions, informal networking
• Advantages: Participant autonomy, interest-based grouping
• Disadvantages: Uneven distribution, some rooms may be empty/overcrowded

Host Controls

Before Opening Rooms

• Pre-assign Participants: Set up rooms and assignments before starting breakout session
• Rename Rooms: Give rooms descriptive names (e.g., "Product Discussion", "Q&A Session")
• Set Options: Configure whether participants can return to main room, allow host to broadcast messages

During Breakout Sessions

• Broadcast Message: Send announcement to all breakout rooms simultaneously
• Join Any Room: Host can visit any breakout room to observe or assist
• Move Participants: Reassign participants between rooms if needed
• Extend Time: Add more time to breakout sessions
• Close Rooms: End breakout sessions early and return everyone to main room

// Host broadcasting to all breakout rooms
function broadcastToBreakoutRooms(message) {
  breakoutRooms.forEach(room => {
    room.participants.forEach(participantId => {
      sendToParticipant(participantId, {
        type: 'host-broadcast',
        message: message,
        timestamp: Date.now()
      });
    });
  });
}

After Returning to Main Room

• Recreate Rooms: Quickly recreate same room assignments for another session
• Facilitate Sharing: Allow room representatives to share discussion outcomes
• View Analytics: See participation stats from each breakout room (if recorded)

Implementation in WebRTC

Architecture Approach

Breakout rooms can be implemented as separate WebRTC sessions:

// Server-side: Create breakout rooms
function createBreakoutRooms(mainMeetingId, roomConfigs) {
  const breakoutRooms = roomConfigs.map((config, index) => {
    const roomId = `${mainMeetingId}-breakout-${index + 1}`;
    
    // Create new meeting room
    const room = createMeeting({
      id: roomId,
      name: config.name,
      parentMeetingId: mainMeetingId,
      type: 'breakout',
      settings: {
        waitingRoomEnabled: false,
        recordingEnabled: config.allowRecording || false,
        chatEnabled: true
      }
    });
    
    return {
      id: roomId,
      name: config.name,
      participants: config.participants,
      room: room
    };
  });
  
  // Store breakout room references
  meetings.get(mainMeetingId).breakoutRooms = breakoutRooms;
  
  return breakoutRooms;
}

// Move participants to breakout rooms
function openBreakoutRooms(mainMeetingId) {
  const meeting = meetings.get(mainMeetingId);
  
  meeting.breakoutRooms.forEach(breakoutRoom => {
    breakoutRoom.participants.forEach(participantId => {
      // Send room assignment to participant
      sendToParticipant(participantId, {
        type: 'assigned-to-breakout-room',
        roomId: breakoutRoom.id,
        roomName: breakoutRoom.name,
        joinUrl: generateBreakoutRoomUrl(breakoutRoom.id),
        countdown: 10 // 10 seconds before transition
      });
    });
  });
}

Client-Side Transition

// Client receives breakout room assignment
socket.on('assigned-to-breakout-room', async ({ roomId, roomName, joinUrl, countdown }) => {
  // Show countdown notification
  showNotification(`You will be moved to "${roomName}" in ${countdown} seconds`);
  
  await sleep(countdown * 1000);
  
  // Leave main meeting
  await currentSession.leave();
  
  // Join breakout room
  const breakoutSession = await joinMeeting({
    url: joinUrl,
    token: breakoutRoomToken
  });
  
  // Update UI
  updateUI({
    inBreakoutRoom: true,
    roomName: roomName,
    showReturnButton: allowSelfReturn
  });
});

SFU Optimization

For scalability, use SFU architecture where each breakout room is handled independently:

• Independent Streams: Each breakout room has its own media routing
• Resource Efficiency: Only streams within the same room are forwarded to each other
• Scalability: Breakout rooms distribute load across SFU servers

Common Use Cases

• Education: Students work on group projects, discuss readings, or practice presentations
• Corporate Training: Role-playing exercises, case study discussions, skill practice
• Workshops: Brainstorming sessions, design thinking activities, collaborative problem-solving
• Team Building: Ice-breakers, getting-to-know-you activities, social events
• Conferences: Parallel sessions, roundtable discussions, networking opportunities
• Coaching: Small group coaching, peer feedback sessions, accountability groups
• Customer Engagement: Product demos to different customer segments, focus groups

Best Practices

Planning Breakout Sessions

1. Set Clear Objectives: Give each group a specific task or discussion topic
2. Optimal Group Size: 3-5 participants per room works best for engagement
3. Provide Instructions: Send written instructions to all rooms before starting
4. Assign Roles: Suggest roles like facilitator, note-taker, timekeeper
5. Reasonable Duration: 5-20 minutes typical, longer for complex tasks

During Sessions

• Send Time Warnings: Broadcast "5 minutes remaining" and "2 minutes remaining" messages
• Be Available: Visit rooms proactively or respond to help requests quickly
• Monitor Engagement: Check that all rooms are active

After Returning

• Debrief: Allow time for groups to share key takeaways
• Collect Deliverables: If groups produced documents, gather and share them
• Acknowledge Participation: Thank participants for their contributions

Platform Examples

• Zoom: Up to 50 breakout rooms, manual/automatic/self-select assignment, broadcast messaging, timer
• Google Meet: Breakout rooms support (rolled out 2020+), automatic and manual assignment
• Microsoft Teams: Breakout rooms with manual assignment, room renaming, and host visiting capabilities
• Webex: Breakout sessions with pre-assignment, automatic generation, and polling
• BigBlueButton: Open-source platform with strong breakout room support for education

Limitations and Considerations

Technical Challenges

• Connection Transitions: Participants may experience brief disconnections when moving between rooms
• Bandwidth Spikes: Sudden room transitions can cause temporary bandwidth spikes
• Lost Context: Chat history from main room may not carry over to breakout rooms

Platform Limits

• Maximum Rooms: Most platforms limit to 20-50 concurrent breakout rooms
• Participants Per Room: Some platforms limit participants per breakout room
• Recording Limits: Not all platforms allow recording individual breakout rooms

Pedagogical Considerations

• Instruction Clarity: Participants can't ask questions once rooms open
• Uneven Participation: Some rooms may be more active than others
• Technical Difficulties: Isolated participants may struggle without immediate host help

Advanced Features (2025)

• AI-Powered Assignment: Algorithms assign participants based on role, expertise, or prior interactions
• Live Transcription: Real-time captions in each breakout room
• Automatic Summaries: AI generates summaries of each room's discussion
• Cross-Room Polling: Collect votes/feedback from all rooms simultaneously
• Persistent Rooms: Save room assignments for recurring meetings
• Analytics: Track participation, speaking time, and engagement per room

References

• How to Use Breakout Rooms in Video Conferencing
• WebRTC Based Customizable Video Conferencing Platform
• Video Conferencing with WebRTC
• Complete Guide to WebRTC Scalability (2025)