Break-Out Rooms (Beta)

What are breakout rooms?

During breakout sessions, smaller groups of attendees can have more in-depth conversations about event topics. Facilitating deeper conversations and one-on-one interaction, breakout rooms create a more intimate, meaningful guest experience. 

How do attendees enter breakout rooms? What interactive features and permissions are available to attendees?  

Breakout sessions are formatted as live webinars on the BigMarker platform, just like main agenda sessions. So on event day, guests will enter the breakout session just as they would any other live agenda session in the event, either through the Agenda page or a reminder link sent by email. 

Once they’ve entered the breakout session, guests are then automatically split into smaller discussion rooms. These are also structured as webinars on BigMarker, and attendees can interact with the session in the same way they would other live webinars. They can also talk to one another using microphones, microphones and cameras or a public chatbox. Interactive features like Q&As, handouts and polls are also available in breakout rooms. 

How do I use breakout rooms? 

Breakout rooms are currently available to enterprise customers only. 

• Enable breakout rooms by logging into the webinar associated with your breakout session. Select the Manage Webinar tab. In the left-hand menu that appears, select Breakout Rooms. Toggle Breakout Rooms on. 

• Once you've enabled breakout rooms, use the subsequent prompts to create and adjust settings for each individual breakout rooms. 
  
  
  • Switch Breakout Rooms on so that the breakout session “splits” into discussion groups, then brings everyone back together at the end. 
  • Use the next prompt to give your audience members permission to use their microphones, cameras or both while in the breakout rooms. Note: hosts can enter breakout rooms while they’re in session and manually activate and deactivate individual microphones and cameras. 
  • If you want to randomly assign guests to breakout rooms, toggle the next switch. To pre-assign guests to breakouts, check the box reading Pre-assign participants and follow the steps on the next page.
  • Using the dropdown menu, select the number of breakout rooms you’d like to create. You can host up to 25 breakout rooms at the same time. Click Save to complete.

How Can I Pre-Assign Attendees to a Specific Breakout Room?

To pre-assign guests to specific breakout rooms, check Pre-assign participants. Each of the breakout rooms you’ve created will then open in the dropdown form seen below. Add participants to each room by clicking on its name. A webinar associated with that breakout room will open in a new tab. 

To assign participants to a specific room, press the three horizontal dots to the right of its name, then select Assign Participants in the dropdown that opens. 

How Can I Activate the Breakout Rooms During a Webinar?

• In the upper right corner of the webinar room, select the Breakout tile.

• A dropdown menu displaying all of the session's breakouts will open. Select the Start Breakout Room button to begin the session. Once the breakout session begins, attendees will be automatically redirected to their breakout room.
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How Can I Bring Attendees Back to the Main Webinar Room?

In order to do bring attendees back to the main session, click the same Breakout tile in the top right corner of the screen, then Close Breakout Rooms. 

Breakout Room FAQ: 

*Can I send a general message to all attendees during an ongoing breakout session?

In the main webinar room, select the Breakout tile on the top right corner of your screen. A menu listing each ongoing breakout session will open. Under Broadcast Message to All Breakout Rooms, type your message. then select Broadcast Message to All.

If I share audio/video in the main session room, will it be available in the breakout rooms?

No. Each room displays its own audio and video.

How I can see which attendees are in a particular breakout room?

In the dropdown menu below, click the name of each breakout room to see the list of attendees present. 

Can attendees leave a breakout room before the session ends?

Breakout attendees can leave their breakout room before the session's scheduled end time. But upon leaving, they will not be able to re-enter the main session unless the host manually closes the breakout room first.

What mode do breakout room sessions use?

Breakout Rooms are in Consolidated Mode, meaning that 64 cameras and microphones can be shared in an individual session at the same time.

How many attendees are allowed in breakout rooms?  

There is no maximum on the number of attendees in a breakout room. However, only 64 cameras and microphones can be shared at any one time, per Consolidated Mode settings.