A Grownups' Guide to Virtual Breakout Rooms
“Uh… what is it we’re supposed to be talking about?”
So begins so many of the Zoom breakout rooms I’ve been in. During the two seconds of cyber-nothingness when Zoom participants wait to land in their breakout rooms, short-term memory seems to take a vacation. I have a few theories about why this happens. It could be the abrupt shift from being a passive listener to part of a collaborative group. Or it could stem from a reluctance to sound too bold; asking the group what’s supposed to be talked about can be a signal that you’re open to conversation but don’t plan to dominate the virtual space. The explanation might also be a simple one: our minds were wandering just a minute before, and being thrown into a breakout room snapped us back into the present.
Something about this image seems to erase short term memory.
I’ve taken a personal interest in breakout rooms lately, both as a presenter and a participant. I was shuffled in and out of breakout rooms years before the pandemic during my time as an online graduate student, but those rooms were filled with a small group of adults I’d known for months. Recently, however, as Zoom rooms have replaced classrooms and large conference halls, I’ve noticed a wide range of routines and “flows” presenters use. There are some mistakes that are easy to avoid (I’ve made many of them), as well as some simple techniques that experts use to help guide the room. The best ones come from a group of professionals accustomed to problem-solving for group dynamics and maximum learning gains: teachers.
Repeat, repeat.
It’s a step that literally takes seconds. After participants are informed that they’re about to be placed in breakout rooms, tell them once again what it is they are being asked to discuss. That simple step will help support those participants who might be lost in thoughts about the last great thing they heard.
Just hearing breakout rooms is enough to alert Zoom participants that they’re about to move from passive to active role. But once the alarm bell has been sounded, it’s nice to hear once again what the alarm has been sounded for. And if you really want to tap into a set of skills the best teachers use, wrap it all up with, “What questions do you have before we join our breakout groups?” Here’s what it looks like: “We’ve been talking a lot about x. Now I’m going to put you in breakout rooms, and while you’re there, I’d like you to talk about y. So again, when you’re in you rooms, discuss these two questions about y. What questions do you have before we begin?” Taking time to repeat the prompt will provide much-needed clarity to participants.
2. Use a visual.
Let participants hear the prompt a second time, but let them see it too. Any teacher who has slugged her way through a credential program knows that the more ways learners encounter information, the more likely they are to remember it. (There are plenty of studies confirming the importance of multimodality in learning, this one from National Geographic is quite palatable.) One slide with big, clean letters will do the trick.
A simple visual will help participants mentally prepare for the breakout room.
Another approach to add is enabling participants to create their own visual. A presenter asked me to write down the discussion prompt in a workshop I recently attended, and I found that it was surprisingly calming to jot down the note on paper before we were put in breakout rooms. It gave me something to reference when I was thrust into a virtual space with strangers, and the time it took to write the question down also gave me a few seconds to think about how I might answer. Although the evidence is strictly anecdotal, the other people in my breakout room seemed to arrive with more calm and focus themselves, which made for a more productive conversation.
Finally, there are some savvy presenters out there who like to send a chat message to breakout rooms, showing the discussion prompt once more after breakouts have begun. Again, this method allows participants to see with their eyes what they’ve heard with their ears, and direct conversation to the intended purpose.
3. Be clear on time.
“How long does this have to be?” said every middle school student, since the invention of the constructed response in school.
“As long as it needs to be, to tell the whole story,” is a sufficient (and snarky) enough answer for essay writing. But in online discussions that will be force-quit after a certain period of time, it’s only fair to let participants know how much output they should be prepared for. In this case, being clear is being kind. Should each person in the breakout room be ready to explore and challenge their deepest thoughts on the subject, or is this just a three minute idea swap? Great presenters let their participants know about how long the breakout rooms will last. It’s a gracious way of setting expectations, to allow for adequate turn taking and expository thought.
4. Plant your debrief discussion.
This is something top-notch presenters and teachers do to both make sure learners feel supported, and also to build the foundation for a breakout debrief. It’s not uncommon to bring participants out of their breakout discussions to ask the whole group to reflect on the takeaways. Unfortunately, it’s also not uncommon for “Who would like to share…” to be met with deafening silence. I’ve observed master teachers, especially those who work with students with disabilities or language barriers, visit each group and plant a few promising volunteers before everyone reconvenes for a class discussion. It’s a technique that can easily be adapted to the virtual space.
During small group discussions in a school, ta teacher might join up with a group and say: “Group 4, I like the points you’re bringing up about the difficulty of recycling film plastic. Jasmine, when we come back together as a whole group, I’m going to ask you to share that with everyone. It’s such a great thought, I’d like the rest of the room to hear it.” That ensures that there will be contributions to the class debrief, and it also gives chosen students time to mentally prepare, and confidence that what they will say is worth sharing out. Sometimes a few of these plants are all it takes to nudge a more open whole-group discussion after breakouts.
Presenters can do exactly the same move in breakout rooms. Zoom has made it so easy to jump from one breakout room to another- it can help presenters support those small groups of participants in breakout rooms, and it can also help identify a few key contributors to the post-breakout whole group discussion.
5. Size matters.
In a workshop I facilitated earlier this summer, I agonized about how to structure breakout rooms. I wanted teachers to join grade-alike teams, or content-alike teams, and be grouped according to school. My desktop was littered with CSV templates, survey results, and participant lists. As a result, my thoughts had begun to dwell more on management than instruction. Since then, I’ve participated in a plethora of breakout rooms of various purposes and sizes and realized that my obsession was misplaced. Breakout rooms that are randomly assigned can have unexpected benefits. For one, they are easy and quick for presenters to assign in-the-moment. Also, hearing ideas from strangers, or joining beloved colleagues randomly for a quick chat can make for robust breakout room discussions.
Looking back at my workshop facilitation, my energy would have been better spent thinking about how many rather than who. The number of people in the room is a significant predictor of how much turn-taking will be had, and how the conversation might flow.
Assigning two people per breakout room probably guarantees the most speaking and listening. It’s hard to hide when you’re half of a pair. Between three and five people in a room allows for more diverse input, and also (graciously) allows for someone to remain quiet if they’re feeling shy. In my experience, six folks or more has the potential to set rooms up for a silent majority. And by that I mean, I’ve been a part of a few breakout rooms that have a critical mass of participants going mic-off, screen-off. If that’s what the majority of your breakout room is doing, discussion can start to feel more like a weird soliloquy.
This doesn’t mean that there is a magic number of breakout participants that will solve all problems. Instead, facilitators should be mindful of what they want attendees to get out of their time in breakout rooms. An intimate conversation? Try assigning pairs. A low-stakes chat? Up that number by a few. Does the benefit of diverse perspectives outweigh the risk of a breakout full of wallflowers? Then don’t fear five and above! You get the idea.
6. Time matters too.
Time is another factor that offers no one-size-fits-all solution. But again, presenters should keep their desired outcomes in mind when determining how long breakout sessions should last. At a conference I attended this week, breakout sessions ranged from just a few, to fifteen minutes in length.
Two minutes= too quick. The time it takes to assign rooms, let people get situated in their rooms, account for slow wi-fi signals, and introduce themselves will make for a rushed experience.
Three minutes= bare minimum. This gives breakout groups time to answer 1-2 straightforward questions. In my experience, it kept momentum moving quickly (great!) but didn’t always permit everyone to say their piece (meh). On the flip side, if “always leave them wanting more” is your mantra, three minutes might be ideal.
Five minutes= just enough for a quick introduction, discussing a couple of prompts, and keeping things relatively light.
Fifteen minutes= you’ve got to have a really motivated group, and a really challenging prompt, to make this work. If groups or participants are creating something during their breakouts, fifteen minutes is a good starting point. If they’re simply gabbing… be prepared. Most groups I’ve been in dedicate a solid 8 minutes to discussion, and then get to the real talk. Whatever is on everyone’s mind, is what will surface. In the workshops I attended recently, this was when everyone started asking what they really wanted to know: “Does your district know how they will start school again?” There’s nothing wrong with this very human tendency to swerve off-topic. One could even argue that it builds in time for natural community-building to grow. Just know, if you carve out that much time- it may very well happen.
7. Celebrity visits build connections
In a workshop that is well-attended, it can feel difficult to connect with participants. You’re not alone- it can also make it difficult for participants to feel like they’ve connected with the facilitator. Positive relationships can make up for a multitude of mediocre presenter- and teacher- errors.
Breakout room visits can help presenters and participants build connection.
In a coaching workshop I recently attended, the presenters “popped in” to our first few rounds of breakout rooms, to see how the conversation was going. Knowing that we each of us was one of four squares on a screen, rather than eighty, did wonders for feeling like we’d established a connection with the presenter. And it didn’t take long. The presenter probably joined my breakout for one minute out of fifteen. At that scale, she probably had time to check in with each group, pour a cup of coffee, and reset for the second half of the presentation. But in my mind, the return on that investment was worthwhile. My breakout room felt like we knew the presenter a little better, like she had noticed us, and that overall we could follow her through the rest of the session. Her “celebrity visit” built connections in an otherwise anonymous room.
Likewise, as a workshop facilitator, I have found that popping in to breakout rooms helps me gage the temperature of the group. Were they picking up enthusiasm on the topic at hand? Were there any misconceptions? What questions were coming up? And by the way, Hi and Thanks For Being Here. Visiting breakout rooms can be strengthening for both presenters and participants.
Regardless of why breakouts can get off to a bumpy start, presenters can set their meeting guests- and themselves- up for success. Strategies borrowed from classroom teachers can not only keep the energy moving in the right direction, but that also make participants (their students) feel supported- and help them learn.
