Use breakout rooms

• Overview
• Configure breakout rooms (for on-premises only)
• About breakout room roles
• About the breakout rooms control panel
• Move the participants among the rooms
• Broadcast messages to the participants
• Record the calls in the rooms
• Respond to participants’ requests for help
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Note If you are a non-moderating participant, see Join or leave a breakout room

Overview

The breakout rooms feature enables the call moderator (the one who scheduled the conference or became a conference moderator using the moderator PIN) to separate the call participants into smaller groups. This feature is especially useful in situations where there are privacy concerns but call participants still need to speak openly. For example:

• In a medical environment, a doctor may want to talk to a patient in one breakout room and consult with other medical professionals in another room.
• In a judicial environment, an attorney may want to discuss a case with a defendant in one breakout room and with judicial assistants in another room.

Configure breakout rooms (for on-premises only)

Breakout rooms must be enabled from the infrastructure components (VidyoPortal, Vidyo Event Service, and Vidyo Discovery Service) in the proper order. The steps are outlined below.

Configure breakout rooms on the VidyoPortal (step 1)

As a VidyoPortal Super admin, you can enable the breakout rooms feature on any of your tenants. As a Tenant admin, you can enable breakout rooms on your tenant.

To configure breakout rooms on the VidyoPortal:

1. To enable the breakout room feature on a specific tenant, use the next request:
2. Configure the event server on the tenant.
3. Configure the same Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size for the VidyoPortal and Vidyo Event Service using the System Console. To do so:
1. Log in to the System Console of your Vidyo Server using SSH. The System Console menu appears.
2. Enter 5 to select Configure Ethernet Options.

Note Press the Enter key after each prompt.

3. In the MTU Size field, change the MTU size so that it is the same size for the VidyoPortal and the Vidyo Event Service.
4. Return to the System Console menu.
5. Enter 14 to select Reboot system.

Configure breakout rooms on the Vidyo Event Service (step 2)

To configure breakout rooms on the Vidyo Event Service:

1. Log in to the Root console via SSH.
2. On the Root console, enter the following command, which specifies the new MTU size that you configured in the previous section:

sudo ifconfig eth0 mtu <new-mtu-size>

3. Add the Vidyo Discovery Service URL to the custom parameters using the VidyoPortal Admin portal. To do so:
1. Log in to the VidyoPortal Admin portal using your Admin account. The Users page displays by default.
2. Click the Settings tab. The License page displays by default.
3. Click + to the left of Feature Settings on the left menu.
4. Click Custom Parameters from the submenu. The Custom Parameters page displays.
5. Select the Enable Custom Parameters checkbox and click Save.
6. Click Add Custom Parameters at the bottom of the page. The Add Custom Parameters pop-up appears.
7. In the Add Custom Parameters pop-up, do the following:
• Auth Type - Select Registered to indicate that this parameter pertains to registered users
• Key - Enter vidyoCloudServicesURL
• Value - Enter the URL for the Vidyo Discovery Service
8. Click Save.
9. Click Add Custom Parameters at the bottom of the page again. The Add Custom Parameters pop-up appears.
10. In the Add Custom Parameters pop-up, do the following:
• Auth Type - Select Unregistered to indicate that this parameter pertains to unregistered (guest) users as well.
• Key - Enter vidyoCloudServicesURL.
• Value - Enter the URL for the Vidyo Discovery Service.
11. Click Save.

Configure breakout rooms on the Vidyo Discovery Service (step 3)

To configure the Vidyo Discovery Service:

1. Ensure that the event server URL is added to the services.json file on the VidyoDiscoveryService.
2. services.json example:

code snippet goes here

About breakout rooms roles

As a call moderator, once you create the breakout rooms either pre-call or during a call, you can:

• Assign participants to the rooms and move the participants among the rooms
• Broadcast messages to the participants
• Record the calls in the rooms
• Respond to participants’ requests for help
• Create moderators for the main conference and separate moderators for breakout rooms

A new role has been added for the breakout rooms feature: the breakout room moderator. This new role, and a basic outline of the existing roles, follows below (see the FAQ for more information):

• Room owner (also called conference owner)
• Owner of the room. This role is the same as it was before the breakout rooms feature was introduced.
• Room moderator (also called conference moderator)
• Registered user who becomes a conference moderator by using a moderator PIN. This role is the same as it was before the breakout rooms feature was introduced.
• Breakout room moderator
• Moderator for a breakout room ONLY. This person becomes a moderator by using a breakout room moderator PIN. This is the only new role that is available with breakout rooms only.
• Registered user
• A user who has a sign-in on their tenant. This can be a SAML-authenticated user or a user who logs in with their regular portal credentials. This role is the same as it was before the breakout rooms feature was introduced.
• Guest user
• A user who has no verifiable method of identification on the system, and is therefore treated as a guest user. This role is the same as it was before the breakout rooms feature was introduced.

About breakout rooms and the breakout rooms control panel

The breakout room feature allows users to truly enable the next level of collaboration within their conferences. This section provides an overview to help familiarize you with how we’ve designed the feature. The following subsections will elaborate on each of those features in detail.

We have kept the user experience design front-and-center for breakout rooms. To support this, you can access the Breakout rooms control panel as part of your moderation suite or directly from the in-call tool bar.

The Breakout rooms control panel is your command center for all breakout room journeys as a moderator.

The breakout room user journeys, for you as a moderator, are structured into three key functional zones:

• All transactions and controls that pertain to a particular user can be accessed next to the user’s name in the Breakout rooms control panel.
• All transactions and controls that pertain to a particular room can be accessed next to the room name in the Breakout rooms control panel. More functions are available by clicking the three dots.
• All transactions that affect all rooms can be accessed from the Options button at the bottom of the Breakout rooms control panel.

Create breakout rooms

As a moderator, you can create breakout rooms in-call.

To create breakout rooms:

1. Do one of the following depending on whether you are pre-call or already in a call:
2. Pre-call: On the Rooms tab in the VidyoConnect desktop app, select the room for which you want to create breakout rooms, and click Breakout rooms.
   
3. For example, if you want to create breakout rooms for a consultation with Dr. Brown and his patient and associates, you would select Dr. Brown’s room (Brown room) on the Rooms tab, and then select Breakout rooms on the Brown room beauty screen. The Breakout rooms control panel then appears.
4. In-call: Either click the Breakout rooms button in the toolbar along the bottom of the VidyoConnect desktop app or click Moderate call and then select Breakout rooms from the Moderate call menu. The Breakout rooms control panel then appears.
   
5. From the Breakout rooms control panel, select the number of rooms to create from the Rooms field, and then click Create breakout rooms. You can create one room at a time or create rooms in bulk—up to 20 breakout rooms at a time besides the main room.
   
6. When VidyoConnect creates the breakout rooms (either singular or in bulk), it automatically names the rooms using the generic format “Breakout Room <number>”. You can use the autogenerated names, or you can click in the field and rename the rooms. Either way, you can continue with your breakout rooms journey.
7. A breakout room moderator PIN is automatically generated when the room is created. You can use the auto-generated PIN, or you can click in the field and enter a new PIN.

   Note For security and privacy reasons, you cannot have a breakout room without a moderator PIN.

8. Click Add room if you want to add more rooms.
   
9. Click Create breakout rooms to create the rooms. The number of rooms you created appears in parentheses beside the Breakout rooms button under your room. You can click this button again to view the newly created rooms along with their moderator PINs.

As the moderator, you can now join any room you want during a call by clicking the Join button in the Breakout rooms panel to the right of the room you want to join. Additionally, you can now:

• Move participants among the breakout rooms.
• Delete one or all breakout rooms.
• Broadcast to one or all breakout rooms.
• Record one or all breakout rooms.

Move participants among breakout rooms

To move participants among the breakout rooms:

1. Access the Breakout rooms panel by clicking Moderate call and then selecting Breakout rooms from the Moderate call menu or by clicking Breakout from the in-call toolbar.
2. Click the drop-down arrow > near the room name to see the list of participants in that room. If you’ve just created the rooms, all of the participants will be listed under the main conference name.
3. To move one participant to a breakout room:
1. Hover on the participant’s name until "Move to..." appears to the right of the name.
2. Click Move to... to the right of the name of the participant you want to move. A menu appears listing the breakout rooms you can move the participant to.
3. Select the desired breakout room. The participant will be moved to that room.
   
4. To move multiple participants to the same breakout room:
1. Select the checkbox to the left of the names of the participants you want to move. A Move participants (#) to... button will appear at the bottom of the list of names in that breakout room.
2. Click Move participants (#) to... and then select the breakout room you want to move those participants to from the Move participants (#) to menu.
   
3. The Breakout rooms control panel updates to show the participants in each room.
4. Note: you can only move the participants from one room at a time. For example, if you want to move participants from Breakout room 1 and Breakout room 2 to the main conference room, you will have to move the participants from one breakout room to the main conference room first, and then do the same for the other breakout room(s).

Delete one or all breakout rooms

To delete one or all the breakout rooms:

1. Access the Breakout rooms panel by clicking Moderate call and then selecting Breakout rooms from the Moderate call menu or by clicking Breakout rooms from the in-call toolbar.
2. To delete a particular breakout room:
1. Click the three dots to the right of the breakout room you want to delete.
   
2. Select Delete room from the [Breakout room name] options menu. A message appears asking if you are sure you want to delete the breakout room.
3. Click Delete.

   Note If there are participants in the breakout room you’re trying to delete, you cannot delete the room. However, a prompt will appear asking you to move the participants to a different room prior to deleting.

3. To delete all the breakout rooms:
1. Click Options at the bottom of the Breakout rooms panel.
   
2. Select Delete all rooms from the Breakout rooms options menu. A message appears asking if you are sure you want to delete all the breakout rooms.
3. Click Delete.

   Note As with deleting a single room, you cannot Delete all rooms if they have participants in them. You must move the participants out of the breakout rooms before deleting them.

Broadcast to one or all breakout rooms

The broadcast feature allows you, as a moderator, to send important messages to the breakout rooms without leaving the room you are in.

To broadcast to a particular breakout room:

1. Access the Breakout rooms control panel by clicking Moderate call and then selecting Breakout rooms from the Moderate call menu or by clicking Breakout rooms from the in-call toolbar.
2. To broadcast to one particular breakout room:
1. Click the three dots to the right of the breakout room you want to broadcast to.
   
2. Select Broadcast message from the [Breakout room name] options menu. A Broadcast to [name of breakout room] pop-up appears at the bottom of the panel with a text input field.
   
3. Type the message you want to broadcast to all the rooms.
4. Click the right-facing arrow. When the message is successfully sent:
5. “Message sent” appears at the bottom of the Breakout rooms panel.
6. The broadcast message you sent appears on the upper-right corner of the VidyoConnect screens of the participants in that breakout room. This broadcast message is persistent; it must be dismissed by clicking the Dismiss button.
   
3. To broadcast to all breakout rooms:
1. Click Options at the bottom of the Breakout rooms control panel.
   
2. Select Broadcast to all rooms from the Breakout rooms options menu. A Broadcast to all rooms pop-up appears at the bottom of the panel with a text input field.
   
3. Type the message you want to broadcast to all the rooms.
4. Click the right-facing arrow. When the message is successfully sent:
5. “Message sent” appears at the bottom of the Breakout rooms panel.
6. The broadcast message you sent appears on the upper-right corner of the VidyoConnect screens of the participants in that breakout room. This broadcast message is persistent; it must be dismissed by clicking the Dismiss button.
   

Record one or all breakout rooms

You can record rooms (the main conference room as well as the breakout rooms) regardless of which room you are in for the conference.

To record one, more than one, or all the breakout rooms:

1. Access the Breakout rooms panel by clicking Moderate call and then selecting Breakout rooms from the Moderate call menu or by clicking Breakout rooms from the in-call toolbar.
2. To record one or more (but not all) breakout rooms, click the Record button to the right of the breakout room(s) you want to record.
   
1. The Record button to the right of the room(s) changes to red to indicate that recording is underway. In addition, the message “Recording [Breakout room name]” appears above the Options button at the bottom of the panel. If you are recording more than one room, the message indicates the number of rooms, such as ”Recording 2 rooms”.

   Note The Record button will not show for rooms that are empty because you cannot record empty rooms.

3. To record all the breakout rooms:
1. Click Options at the bottom of the Breakout rooms panel.
2. Select Record all rooms from the Breakout rooms options menu.
   
3. The Record button to the right of each room in the Breakout rooms panel changes to red to indicate that recording is underway. In addition, the message “Recording all rooms” appears above the Options button at the bottom of the panel.

   Note When you start recording all rooms, empty rooms will not be recorded.

4. To pause the recording of one, more than one, or all breakout rooms, click the Pause button in the pop-up above the Options button.
   
1. The pop-up above the Options button then indicates that the recording is paused.
5. To stop recording:
1. For one or more (but not all) breakout rooms, click the Stop button in the recording indicator dialog for the room that you want to stop recording.
2. For all breakout rooms, click the Stop button in the pop-up above the Options button or click Options and select Stop recording from the Breakout rooms options menu.
   
3. The pop-up above the Options button then indicates when the recording was stopped and provides a link where you can view your call recordings.
   
6. Note: As with our regular conferences (non-breakout room conferences), the recordings are stored in the library of the owner, who can see the link(s) to the recording(s). If a PIN moderator (who is not the room owner) initiates a recording, they can control the recording, but they won't have access to the links.

Respond to requests for help

During a call, participants in breakout rooms can request help from you (the call moderator) by clicking Request help on the VidyoConnect app toolbar. You can respond to help requests from multiple locations.

To respond to a participant’s request for help:

1. A notification appears on your screen when a participant requests help. This notification indicates the participant’s name and the breakout room they’re requesting help from. You can click Join Now to join that participant’s room or click Not Now if you do not want to respond at the current time.
   
2. From the Breakout rooms control panel:
1. If you are viewing the Breakout rooms panel, the Request help icon appears beside the name of the participant who needs help. You can then click Join to join the room of the participant who requested help.
2. You can also click the three dots next to the room name, and then select Decline all hands to dismiss all help requests.
   

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is the minimum version of VidyoConnect that supports breakout rooms?

The minimum version needed to use the breakout rooms feature for VidyoConnect for Desktop, Mobile, and/or WebRTC is version 23.1.0.

What is not supported?

• Epic join/leave call notifications for breakout rooms are not yet supported with version 23.1.0.
• Epic autoprovisioning currently does not work in unison with breakout rooms. Autoprovisioned users will be able to see the breakout rooms buttons, but will receive an error when they click on it. Epic autoprovisioning will be added in a future update.
• VidyoConnect Room and VidyoRoom are not yet supported with version 23.1.0.
• Although VidyoConnect for Desktop, Mobile, and WebRTC versions older than 23.1.0 are considered unsupported for breakout rooms functionality, they are still able to join calls on portals where breakout rooms are enabled. However:
• They will not be able to respond to any breakout room functionality.
• The breakout room moderator will not be able to move the endpoint to different breakout rooms nor will the moderator be able to tell that a particular endpoint is unsupported.
• Participant transfers may fail in the following situations:
• The participant is on an iOS device and the app is in the background or the device is locked.
• The participant is using our web app on Safari (desktop and mobile).
• The legacy lobby room is incompatible with breakout rooms. You will have to disable lobby rooms on the tenant to be able to successfully use breakout rooms.

What roles are supported with breakout rooms?

Role	Description
Room owner (also called conference owner)	Owner of the room. This role is the same as it was before the breakout rooms feature was introduced.
Room moderator (also called conference moderator)	Registered user who becomes a conference moderator by using a moderator PIN. This role is the same as it was before the breakout rooms feature was introduced.
Breakout room moderator	Moderator for a breakout room ONLY. This person becomes a moderator by using a breakout room moderator PIN. This is the only new nuanced role that is available only with breakout rooms.
Registered user	A user who has a sign-in on their tenant. This can be a SAML-authenticated user or a user who logs in with their regular portal credentials. This role is the same as it was before the breakout rooms feature was introduced.
Guest user	A user who has no verifiable method of identification on the system, and is therefore treated as a guest user. This role is the same as it was before the breakout rooms feature was introduced.

Which breakout room features are available for each role?

Feature	Room/conference owner	Room/conference moderator	Breakout room moderator	Registered user	Guest user
Breakout rooms control panel
Access Breakout rooms control panel before and after calls	Yes	No	No	No	No
Access Breakout rooms control panel during calls	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Breakout rooms creation
Create and delete breakout rooms before and after calls	Yes	No	No	No	No
Create and delete breakout rooms before and after calls	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Breakout rooms transaction
Move participants between breakout rooms	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Record one or multiple rooms within a conference from the Breakout rooms control panel	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Broadcast messages to one or all breakout rooms	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Access the link to the recording	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Standard moderation
Input the moderator PIN to moderator the room they’re in	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes	No
Hard mute all participants in the main conference	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Soft mute all participants in the main conference	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Lock the main conference room	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Hard mute all participants in the breakout rooms	Yes	Yes	Only the room in which they’re a moderator	No	No
Soft mute all participants in the breakout rooms	Yes	Yes	Only the room in which they’re a moderator	No	No
Lock the breakout rooms	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Breakout rooms specific feature
View and respond to requests for help	Yes	Yes	Yes, but only for the current breakout room	No	No
Request help in the main conference room	Not a feature we support	Not a feature we support	Not a feature we support	Not a feature we support	Not a feature we support
Request help in the breakout room	N/A	N/A	Yes	Yes	Yes

Which breakout room features are available for each platform?

Feature	Desktop app	WebRTC desktop and mobile	Mobile app
Breakout rooms control panel
Access Breakout rooms control panel before and after calls	Yes	No	No
Access Breakout rooms control panel during calls	Yes	No	No
Breakout rooms creation
Create and delete breakout rooms before and after calls	Yes	No	No
Create and delete breakout rooms during calls	Yes	No	No
Breakout rooms transaction
Move participants between breakout rooms	Yes	No	No
Record one or multiple rooms within a conference from the Breakout rooms control panel	Yes	No	No
Broadcast messages to one or all breakout rooms	Yes	No	No
Access the link to the recording	Yes	No	No
Standard moderation
Input the moderator PIN to moderator the room they’re in	N/A	No	No
Hard mute all participants in the main conference	Yes	No	No
Soft mute all participants in the main conference	Yes	No	No
Lock the main conference room	Yes	No	No
Hard mute all participants in the breakout rooms	Yes	No	No
Soft mute all participants in the breakout rooms	Yes	No	No
Lock the breakout rooms	N/A	N/A	N/A
Breakout rooms specific feature
View and respond to requests for help	Yes	No	No
Request help in the main conference room	Not a feature we support	Not a feature we support	Not a feature we support
Request help in the breakout room	Yes	Yes	Yes

Desktop app

Does VidyoConnect for Desktop version 23.1.0 support all provisioned providers, such as Epic?

Provisioned providers, such as Epic, are not supported in version 23.1.0; however, we plan to provide support in a future release.

Before or after calls: why can’t I see the breakout room option on my VidyoConnect rooms screen before or after calls when I am the room owner?

• Make sure you’re using the correct version of the VidyoConnect app (version 23.1.0 or later).
• Make sure you’re using the correct version of infrastructure components (VidyoPortal and VidyoRouter version 23.1.0 or later).
• Make sure breakout rooms are enabled on your portal.
• Make sure you own the room and don’t have it added to your VidyoConnect desktop app as a saved room with someone else as the owner.
• If all of the above check out, this is a bug and should be reported as such.

Before or after calls: why can’t I create rooms before or after calls?

• Make sure you own the room and don’t have it added to your VidyoConnect desktop app as a saved room with someone else as the owner.
• Make sure you see the Breakout rooms button in your VidyoConnect app and that you can access the Breakout rooms control panel. If you can’t see the button or access the panel, go to the previous question and review the bullets for that question.
• Keep in mind that if you are a PIN moderator, you are not allowed to access any breakout room flows outside the call for someone else’s room.
• If all of the above check out, this is a bug and should be reported as such.

During calls: why can’t I see the breakout room option on my in-call toolbar when I am the room owner or moderator?

• Make sure you’re either the room owner or conference moderator.
• Make sure you’re using the correct version of the VidyoConnect desktop app (version 23.1.0 or later).
• Make sure you’re using the correct version of infrastructure components (VidyoPortal and VidyoRouter version 23.1.0 or later).
• Make sure breakout rooms are enabled on your portal.
• If all of the above check out, this is a bug and should be reported as such.

During calls: why can’t I see the breakout room option on my moderation panel when I am the room owner or moderator?

• Make sure you’re either the room owner or conference moderator.
• Make sure you’re using the correct version of the VidyoConnect desktop app (version 23.1.0 or later).
• Make sure you’re using the correct version of infrastructure components (VidyoPortal and VidyoRouter version 23.1.0 or later).
• Make sure breakout rooms are enabled on your portal.
• If all of the above check out, this is a bug and should be reported as such.

During calls: why can’t I create rooms during calls when I am the room owner or moderator?

• Make sure you own the room or that you are the conference moderator using the moderator PIN for the main room (not for a breakout room).
• Make sure you see the Breakout rooms button in your VidyoConnect app and that you can access the Breakout rooms control panel. If you can’t see the button or access the panel, go to the previous question and review the bullets for that question.
• If all of the above check out, this is a bug and should be reported as such.

During calls: why can’t I move participants from one room to another when I am the room owner or moderator?

• Make sure the participant has the correct version of the VidyoConnect app installed (version 23.1.0 or later).
• If the bullet above checks out and the issue persists, this is a bug and should be reported as such.

During calls: why can’t I broadcast to room(s) when I am the room owner or moderator?

• Make sure you have the correct version of the VidyoConnect app installed (version 23.1.0 or later), you have the correct infrastructure version installed (VidyoPortal and VidyoRouter version 23.1.0 or later), and you can access the Breakout rooms control panel.
• If the bullet above checks out, this is a bug and should be reported as such. Please note, however, that if a remote participant is unable to receive broadcasts, this is a separate issue and is addressed in the “During calls: why can’t the breakout room participant receive broadcast messages” FAQ.

During calls: why can’t I record room(s) when I am the room owner or moderator?

• Make sure you have the correct version of the VidyoConnect app installed (version 23.1.0 or later), you have the correct infrastructure version installed (VidyoPortal and VidyoRouter version 23.1.0 or later), and you can access the Breakout rooms control panel.
• If the bullet above checks out, this is a bug and should be reported as such.

During calls: why can’t the breakout room participant receive broadcast messages?

• Make sure the participant has the correct version of the VidyoConnect app installed (version 23.1.0 or later). An indicator that the participant is not on the correct version is that the moderator of the conference cannot move them to breakout rooms.
• Make sure the moderator actually sent a broadcast to the participant’s room. Check if the broadcast was sent directly to the room they’re in or was sent to all rooms.
• If the bullets above check out, this is a bug and should be reported as such.

WebRTC (desktop and mobile)

Before or after calls: why can’t I use the breakout room feature before or after calls?

• There are no supported flows for breakout rooms on WebRTC when you’re not in an active call regardless of your role.

During calls: why can’t I see the Request help button during calls when I am not the moderator?

• Make sure the user has the correct version of the VidyoConnect app installed (version 23.1.0 or later).
• Make sure the user is using the correct version of infrastructure components (VidyoPortal and VidyoRouter version 23.1.0 or later) and that breakout rooms is enabled on the portal.
• If the bullets above check out, this is a bug and should be reported as such.

Mobile app

Before or after calls: why can’t I see breakout rooms under a room before or after calls when I am the room owner?

• Make sure you have the correct version of the VidyoConnect app installed (version 23.1.0 or later).
• Make sure you own the room.
• Make sure the room actually has breakout rooms created.
• If the bullets above check out, this is a bug and should be reported as such.

During calls: why can’t I see the Request help button during calls when I am not the moderator?

• Make sure the user has the correct version of the VidyoConnect app installed (version 23.1.0 or later).
• Make sure the user is using the correct version of infrastructure components (VidyoPortal and VidyoRouter version 23.1.0 or later) and that breakout rooms is enabled on the portal.
• If the bullets above check out, this is a bug and should be reported as such.