Breakout Rooms in Teams – how to create more engaging meetings
Breakout Rooms are one of the meeting features in Microsoft Teams that can make the biggest difference when it comes to engagement and participation. Yet many people either forget to use them or only use them occasionally. The result is Teams meetings where participants listen more than they contribute.
Used correctly, Breakout Rooms can transform a one‑sided Teams meeting into a more active and dynamic collaboration where everyone gets involved.
What are Breakout Rooms in Microsoft Teams?
Breakout Rooms are a feature in Microsoft Teams that allows you to divide a meeting into smaller groups during the meeting itself. Instead of everyone remaining in the main session, the meeting organizer can split participants into separate breakout rooms, where they work in smaller groups before being brought back together in the main meeting.
This makes Breakout Rooms particularly well suited for Teams meetings where dialogue and active participation are important.
When do Breakout Rooms add value to Teams meetings?
Breakout Rooms are most valuable in meetings where dialogue and collaboration matter more than one‑way communication.
This includes, for example:
- Workshops and idea generation
- Onboarding programs
- Skills development
- Project kickoffs
- Training and education
In short: Breakout Rooms work best in Teams meetings where participants need to actively engage with the content rather than just listen.
How to use Breakout Rooms in Microsoft Teams
As a meeting organizer in Teams, you have several options that make Breakout Rooms easy to manage. You can create rooms either before the meeting starts or during the meeting, and you can choose whether participants are assigned automatically or manually.
During the meeting, you can send messages to all Breakout Rooms, move in and out of groups to support discussions, and bring everyone back to the main meeting with a single click. This flexibility makes it easier to maintain overview and structure even when many groups are working simultaneously.
Good activities for Breakout Rooms
Brainstorming
Each group works on a specific problem or question – optionally supported by a whiteboard.
Case work
Ideal for onboarding, training, or IT workshops, where theory needs to be translated into practice through realistic cases.
Debate or perspective sharing
Ask groups to discuss a statement or question and return with their key insights.
Role play
Useful in HR, leadership, or customer service training to practice real‑life scenarios such as difficult conversations or customer dialogues in a safe environment.
Tips for more engaging Teams meetings with Breakout Rooms
Although Breakout Rooms are easy to use, the structure around them determines the quality. A clear agenda and a well‑defined task give participants a shared focus. It’s also helpful to set a clear time limit and provide relevant documents or templates so everyone works from the same starting point.
When groups return to the main meeting, it’s important to follow up in plenary and actively use their input. This ensures that work done in Breakout Rooms feels meaningful and integrated rather than just a break from the meeting.
Better meetings in Microsoft Teams require more than just features
Breakout Rooms can transform a passive Teams meeting into a more dynamic and engaging collaboration. They make it easier to activate participants, work more focused in smaller groups, and create better meetings in both online and hybrid formats.
As a feature, Breakout Rooms are simple to use, but the impact depends on how they’re applied. When used deliberately as part of a well‑structured meeting design with clear frameworks and consistent practices, they help create better dialogue, higher participation, and greater value from the time you already spend in meetings.
They can be the difference between meetings that simply take place, and meetings that actually move things forward.