• Moderators can use breakout rooms to divide participants into smaller groups during video calls. 
  • Moderators must start the breakout rooms during a video call on a computer.
  • Anyone who schedules or starts a meeting will be the moderator. There can only be one moderator per meeting. 
  • Breakout rooms currently can’t be live-streamed or recorded. 
  • Participants must be signed in to their Google Accounts and can join from a computer or from the mobile Meet app Meet app.
    • If participants aren’t signed in to their Google Accounts or dial into a video call from their phone, their names will appear under “Cannot be assigned,” and they can’t be assigned to a breakout room.

For video call moderators

Create breakout rooms

  1. On your computer, start a video call. 
  2. In the top right, click Activities and then Breakout rooms.
  3. In the Breakout rooms panel, choose the number of breakout rooms. You can create up to 100 breakout rooms in a call. 
  4. Call participants will then be randomly and equally distributed across the rooms.
    • To manually move people into different rooms, you can either:
      1. Enter the participant’s name.
      2. Click the participant’s name. Hold down the mouse, drag the name, and then drop it into another breakout room. 
    • To randomly mix up the groups again, click Shuffle .
  5. In the bottom right, click Create. 

Tip: To redo the breakout rooms and put all participants back in the Main room, click Clear.

Edit, join, or leave breakout rooms

Once you’ve created breakout rooms, you can make changes to the rooms or join each breakout room to monitor and participate in discussions.

Tip: Moderators won't see chat messages that were exchanged between participants before they join or after they leave a breakout room.

  • To make changes to the participant groups or number of breakout rooms, click Edit breakout rooms . Once you’ve made your changes, click Save. 
  • To join an individual breakout room, next to the breakout room number, click Join.  
  • To leave all breakout rooms and return to the Main room, next to the current breakout room, click Leave.

End breakout rooms

  1. In the Breakout rooms panel, at the top right, click End breakout rooms .
  2. Click End breakout rooms.

For video call participants

Join a breakout room

Your moderator will create breakout rooms and invite you to join one. Your moderator can join each breakout room at any time during the video call. 

  1. On a computer or mobile device, sign in to your Google Account. 
  2. Join a video call from your computer or the Meet mobile app.
    • Important: If you dial in to the call from your phone, you won’t be able to join breakout rooms. 
  3. When your moderator invites you to join a breakout room, you’ll see a prompt on your screen. Click Join. 
    • Tip: If you click “Cancel,” you’ll remain in the Main room. At the top, next to “Invited to Breakout #,’ click Join.
  4. Once you’re in a breakout room, you can speak to or send chat messages to other participants.

Tip: If your moderator moves you to another breakout room, you’ll see a new prompt on your screen. To switch rooms, click Join. 

Return to the main room

During a video call, you can choose to leave a breakout room and return to the video call’s main room. 

  • On a computer: At the top, click Return to main room. 
  • On a mobile device: At the top, Tap to return to main room.

When your moderator ends all of the breakout rooms, you’ll see a prompt that you’re returning to the main room. Click Return.