How to Pre Arrange Breakout Rooms in Zoom: A Step-by-Step Guide to Efficient Zoom Meetings

Arranging breakout rooms in Zoom ahead of your meeting is a great way to ensure a smooth and efficient session, especially if you have a large group or want specific participants grouped together. To pre-arrange breakout rooms, you need a licensed Zoom account, and the meeting must be scheduled through the Zoom web portal as this feature is not available when scheduling via the desktop app. Here’s how to do it:

1. Enable Breakout Room Pre-Assign: Log into your Zoom web portal, navigate to "Settings," and ensure the "Breakout Room" feature is enabled. Also, check the "Allow host to assign participants to breakout rooms when scheduling" box.
2. Schedule Your Meeting: Click "Meetings" then select "Schedule a Meeting." Fill in the meeting details.
3. Configure Breakout Rooms: Scroll down to the “Meeting Options” section and check “Breakout Room pre-assign.” You have two methods here:
4. Create Rooms Manually: Click “Create Rooms,” then add breakout rooms and assign participants’ email addresses to each room.
5. Import from CSV: Download the CSV template from Zoom, fill it out with room names and participant emails, and upload it.
6. Edit or Update Assignments: After saving, you can revisit the scheduled meeting to modify breakout room assignments at any time.
7. During the Meeting: Start the meeting and launch breakout rooms – participants will be automatically assigned as pre-arranged. If someone joins with a different email address than assigned, you may need to manually assign them.

From my perspective as a designer, considering the flow and comfort of your participants parallels arranging a harmonious space. Thoughtful pre-arrangement—whether with client teams or creative workshops—prevents chaos and creates a sense of organized participation, much like designing a living room layout in advance to encourage the best interactions. For more tailored space solutions or to visualize layouts for collaborative sessions, I often leverage room planner tools to plan every detail intuitively and efficiently.

Tips 1:

Consider participants' roles, familiarity with one another, or project goals when assigning breakout rooms. Use clear naming conventions and share room groupings in advance if possible to manage expectations and foster engagement.

FAQ

Q: Can I edit breakout room assignments after scheduling the meeting?

A: Yes, you can revisit your meeting on the Zoom web portal at any time before the event to adjust or reassign participants in breakout rooms.

Q: Do participants need to have Zoom accounts to be pre-assigned?

A: Yes, participants must log in with the email address used in the pre-assignment for automatic placement; otherwise, manual assignment during the meeting is necessary.

Q: How many breakout rooms can I create in advance?

A: Zoom allows you to pre-assign up to 50 breakout rooms per meeting, with a maximum of 200 participants per room, depending on your plan.

Q: Does pre-assigning breakout rooms work for recurring meetings?

A: Yes, the pre-assigned breakout room settings will apply to all instances of a recurring meeting unless edited for a specific occurrence.

Q: Can I use pre-assigned breakout rooms if I start a meeting from the Zoom desktop app?

A: Pre-assignments must be created via the web portal, but once set up, they work when you start the meeting from the Zoom desktop client (host must be logged in with the same account).