You have almost certainly used Breakout Rooms online – either in a presentation or webinar over the last few years.
They can be engaging and are (in the main) quite popular with presenters and audience members alike.
The presenter gets breathing space for a few minutes.
The audience gets to interact with a few other people and do something different from the main plenary session.
Here are two tips to help boost your next session if you are using Breakout Rooms online.
Both tips involve the Broadcast Message button.
Tip 1 – send instructions via the Broadcast Message button
Obviously you gave them clear instructions before creating the rooms.
But it is possible they forgot one or two elements.
Type in the instructions into the Broadcast Message box and send them.
This means everyone in the breakout room can see your instructions
If you have more than a line or two then paste (Ctrl + V) the message from a document.
This will make it easier for them to stay on track.
Tip 2 – update them on timings
In pretty much all scenarios, they get a 1-minute morning that the rooms are about to close.
While the 1-minute warning is helpful, this can be improved upon.
In order to keep the momentum going, update them on the timing more regularly.
Let’s say you gave them 6 minutes in total.
Click Broadcast Message and type in ‘2 minutes’ when that time has elapsed.
Then type in ‘4 minutes.’
This can reduce the risk of things drifting during the session.
And the 1-minute warning comes as less of a surprise.
Two easy tips – but they will add value to your Breakout Rooms online.
For another idea to boost your online presenting – check out the following article on Using Zoom Polls Correctly…
