Microsoft Teams: Creating Breakout Rooms Prior to a Meeting

Overview

You can create breakout rooms either before or during a meeting in Microsoft Teams. These instructions help you create the rooms before the meeting.

Instructions

Note: Create the meeting from the channel in the Team where you want to host the meeting. (If you create the Team through Outlook or outside the channel, you may need to add students individually. Using the channel will allow you to add everyone who has access to the channel.)

1. In the channel for the Team, select the down arrow next to Meet now and choose Schedule a meeting
   
2. Select send personal invites - this will ensure the meeting is sent to the attendees and appears on their personal calendars. Otherwise, the meeting will only be scheduled, but attendees will not get an invitation in email or on their personal calendar
   
3. Select Send to create the meeting
4. Go to your calendar in Teams and double click on the meeting. (Note: this works best when using the desktop app on Mac or Windows rather than the online Teams app)
5. Select the option for Breakout Rooms (you may need to adjust the width of your window to see the option)
   
6. Select Create rooms or Import from CSV (these instructions will show selecting the Create Rooms option)
   
7. Choose how many breakout rooms you wish to have and select Add rooms
   
8. Select Assign participants
   
9. Choose how you want to assign participants: Automatically, Manually, or Let people choose their own room. Then, choose Next. 
   
10. Participants will be assigned 
11. Select Breakout room settings to adjust options for the room
    
12. After adjusting options, choose Save
    
     
13.