Breakout sessions in meetings and webinars in Webex
Breakout sessions are meetings or webinars that are held by smaller groups that are convened separately from the primary event. When you need a moment to speak privately with a few participants outside of the main session, use breakout sessions. You can use them for workshops, classrooms, or any time you need a break from the main session.
Both the Webex Meetings and the Webex Webinars platforms have support for this functionality. This functionality is accessible through the Webex App and can be found on our Video Mesh-ready meeting platform.
Only participants are allowed to participate in webinars from a video device. Attendees will not be able to attend the event using a video device.
Known issues and limitations
Learn about known issues and limitations for breakout sessions.
Roles in a breakout session
During meetings, the hosts and cohosts are responsible for creating separate sessions, assigning participants, and starting the sessions at the appropriate time for the participants.
Attendees can collaborate in smaller groups that are more narrowly focused by sharing material with one another and making use of collaboration tools such as chat. See Best practices for participating in breakout sessions.
Audio and video in breakout sessions
Separate audio and video conferences will be held for each individual breakout gathering. If you were already connected to the audio system when you entered the meeting or webinar, the connection will be automatically switched to the breakout session when you enter it. You have the ability to mute or unmute your audio as well as start or stop your video at any moment during the breakout session of meetings, just as you would in the main meeting.
If you attend a meeting from a room device, pressing the device’s silence button will silence the entire room, and pressing the Unmute button will unmute it.
Once all of the breakout sessions have concluded, the audio will automatically switch back to the main program. If you had your movie playing during one of the meeting’s breakout sessions, it will continue to play once all of the breakout sessions have concluded and you return to the main session.
Manage breakout sessions in meetings
|
Feature |
|
Cohost |
Attendee |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Preassign participants to breakout sessions |
✓
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Allow anyone to join breakout sessions |
✓ | ✓ |
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Create and start breakout sessions
|
✓ |
✓ |
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|
✓ |
✓ |
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|||
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Move or exchange attendees in breakout sessions |
✓ |
✓ |
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||
|
✓ |
✓ |
||||
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Remove a participant from a breakout session |
✓ |
✓ |
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Ask all participants to return to the main session
|
✓ |
✓ |
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||
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|
✓ |
✓ |
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||
| Lower participants’ hands | ✓ | ✓ |
Participate in breakout sessions in meetings
|
Feature |
|
Cohost |
Attendee |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Join or leave a breakout session from your computer, mobile device, video device, or phone |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
||
|
Start or stop your video during a breakout session |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
||
|
Mute or unmute your audio during a breakout session |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
||
|
Share content during a breakout session |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
||
|
Make use of the chat feature to communicate with participants in your breakout gathering.
|
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
||
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|
|
✓ |
|||
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Respond to a request for help in breakout sessions |
✓ |
|
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||
|
✓ |
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|
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| Raise your hand during a breakout session | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Sort by raised hands | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Known issues and limitations
Learn about known issues and limitations for breakout sessions.
Roles in a breakout session
In webinars, the hosts and cohosts have the ability to pre-assign attendees and panelists to specific breakout segments. During a webinar, they are unable to place participants in the appropriate breakout sessions. After the breakout sessions have begun, participants will be given the opportunity to select the breakout session(s) that they wish to attend.
Audio and video in breakout sessions
Separate audio and video conferences will be held for each individual breakout gathering. If you were already connected to the audio when you entered the webinar, the connection will be transferred over to the breakout session automatically. When you go back to the main section of the webinar, the audio will automatically switch to the primary presentation.
Only those who are participating in the breakout gathering have the ability to mute or unmute their own audio. Everyone who is present has their voices muffled, and they do not have the ability to unmute themselves. Only a panelist who is currently leading a breakout discussion has the ability to unmute attendees.
If you are a panelist who is attending a webinar from a room device, selecting the Mute device or Unmute device button will mute or unmute the entire room, depending on which option you select.
Manage breakout sessions in webinars
|
Feature |
Host |
Cohost |
Panelist |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Preassign participants to breakout sessions You are able to pre-assign attendees and panelists to different breakout sections when using webinars. During a webinar, you will not be able to place participants in any specific breakout sessions. After the separate sessions have begun, attendees will have the opportunity to select the one they wish to participate in. |
✓
|
|
|
|
Allow anyone to join breakout sessions |
✓ | ✓ |
|
|
Create and start breakout sessions
In webinars, hosts and cohosts do not have the ability to allocate participants to breakout sessions. After the breakout sessions have begun, participants will be given the opportunity to select the breakout session(s) that they wish to attend.
|
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
Add, rename, or delete a breakout session |
✓ |
✓ |
|
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Move or exchange panelists in breakout sessions Webinar participants cannot switch between different breakout sections nor can they switch with other attendees. |
✓ |
|
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Remove a panelist from a breakout session Attendees cannot be ejected from a breakout gathering while participating in a webinar. |
✓ |
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Ask all participants to return to the main session When attendees return to the main session, the audio for those attendees is muted if the breakout meetings are still being held at the same time. Attendees of webinars keep their microphones muted, while the host has the ability to unmute participants. |
✓ |
|
|
|
|
✓ |
|
|
| Lower participants’ hands | ✓ | ✓ |
Participate in breakout sessions in webinars
|
Feature |
Host |
Cohost |
Panelist |
Attendee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Join or leave a breakout session from your computer, mobile device, or phone |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
| Join or leave a breakout session from a video device | ✓ | |||
|
Start or stop your video during a breakout session |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ | |
|
Mute or unmute your audio during a breakout session |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
Share content during a breakout session |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
Use Chat to message others in your breakout session You are only able to communicate with people who are in the same breakout session as you, rather than across all breakout meetings. |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Respond to a request for help in breakout sessions |
✓ |
|
|
|
|
Broadcast a message in breakout sessions |
✓ |
|
|
|
| Raise your hand during a breakout session | ✓ | ✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
| Sort by raised hands | ✓ | ✓ |