How to create and manage breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is an instant messaging platform, file sharing, and organizational tool for teams large and small. If you have mastered the basics of this collaboration tool, it’s time to improve your skills. Learning how to use channels as meeting rooms will give you more options for meeting with your teams. Here’s how to do it, as well as best practices to make the experience easier for participants.

How to use channels as breakout rooms in Teams

First, you need a private team. Use an existing team or create a new one. You can add people to the team now or wait until your prep work is done. You may want to wait to invite other people until the setup work is complete; nobody wants to get all those notification emails.

The next step is to create a channel for each meeting room you need. Click the ellipsis to the right of the team name. This pop-up window allows you to set the name, add a description, and set privacy rules. Select names for your small group rooms that make it easy for people to understand the purpose of the room.

SEE: Zoom vs. Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Cisco WebEx, and Skype: Choosing the Right Video Conferencing Apps for You (Free PDF) (TechRepublic)

You can add content or a welcome post on each channel. You can include a start and end time in the initial channel post and remind participants where to find the relevant files.

If you want a common room for all participants, create a general room along with the topic-specific rooms.

How to use rooms in Teams

Once you have created your channels, you have two options for using your breakout rooms: you can schedule a meeting and invite the channels or you can press the “Meet Now” button. Once the meeting has started, you can invite people to your room at the venue by clicking the Participants icon.

Another way to attract people to your rooms is to schedule a meeting for each team channel. The meeting notice will appear on the calendar and on the channels.

As a host, you can switch from room to room to check on activity. When you are active in a room, you are put on hold in the other rooms that you have joined.

How to open a lobby for your meeting room in Teams

It’s a good idea to be ready when people start arriving in your meeting room. Keeping participants in a lobby is one way to do it. This gives you time to start the meeting and set everything up before someone shows up. Here’s how to create a lobby.

1. Schedule a new meeting within Teams.
2. Open the invitation and select “Meeting Options”. This is where you turn on the lobby option.
3. Go to “Who can bypass the lobby?” menu option. By default, everyone can bypass the lobby.
4. Set this to “Only me”, “People in my organization” or “People in my organization and trusted organizations”.

This menu also has a setting that allows callers to the meeting to bypass the lobby and another that announces when callers join or leave.

The last option on the menu is “Who can present?” The default is “Everyone” and you can change it to “Just me”, “People in my organization” or “Specific people”.

Once you join the meeting, you can prepare your presentation and take care of last minute details. When other participants join, you will see their names in a pop-up window. You can view the lobby or admit the person from this window.

To allow everyone to join, click “Show Participants” and another window will show you who has been invited, who has joined the meeting, and who is in the lobby. You can allow participants to join from here. You can also change the permissions to allow someone to present from this menu.

How to facilitate participation in Teams

It’s a good idea to make it easier for people to understand what they are supposed to do in these rooms. Use these tips to increase your chances of a smooth meeting. You can also send these FAQs to participants before the meeting and let them know which group they will be in.

Do a rehearsal before everyone arrives. Find a volunteer to check your links and download the files. It is not enough to make sure it works for you.

Include a tip on how to activate “Do not disturb” mode to reduce the number of distractions during the meeting. Letting participants know how to change their channel notification settings will also reduce frustration levels and help them focus.

Remind participants how to get to and from the main room to the small group rooms.

Create an FAQ document that answers common questions about Teams and your meeting, such as scheduling, calls to action, or surveys. Having this information ready to copy and paste into channel chats will save you from having to type the same information over and over again. You can also put this information in the Wiki section of each channel.

If you expect to have large rooms in your small group rooms, have a moderator in each room. This person can monitor the chat, answer questions, and solve problems. It’s also a good idea to have a moderators-only group chat for those group leaders.

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