Split a live meetup or session into breakout rooms. The first round is always random. After it ends, you can shuffle everyone again or keep the same groups when Assignment is available.

Hosts and moderators can split a live meetup or session into breakout rooms from the Breakout rooms control in the bottom tray. The steps are the same in Bevy Virtual Meetup and Bevy Virtual Conference. The only difference is how many people the main room can hold — breakout rooms do not raise that limit. Details are under Limits. In this article, the main room means your meetup (Bevy Virtual Meetup) or your session (Bevy Virtual Conference).

You create breakouts only while the meetup or session is live. There is no way to set them up in the dashboard before the event starts.

• Breakout room — a smaller space within the main room where a subset of attendees meets for a set time.
• Randomize every time — shuffles everyone into a new set of rooms for the round you are about to create.
• Keep same groups — returns attendees to the same people they were with in the last round (when Assignment is available).
• Time limit — how long a round runs before attendees return to the main room.

Create the first breakout

The first breakout is always random. To create it:

1. As a host or moderator, open Breakout rooms in the sidebar or tray.
2. Choose the Number of rooms. Bevy shows an estimated Attendees per room count from how many people are in the main room, and starts each room with at least two people.
3. Set a Time limit from 2 to 60 minutes (1-minute steps up to 15 minutes, then 5-minute steps). Attendees return to the main room when the time is up.
4. Select Create.

After you create the rooms, attendees get a notification to join and can also join from the Breakout rooms panel or the Breakout rooms control in the bottom tray. Bevy assigns attendees at random, so you cannot choose who goes where.

While rooms are running, hosts and moderators see a countdown of the time remaining in the panel. When the time is up, attendees return to the main room.

Join a breakout room as a host or moderator

Hosts and moderators can join a breakout room in one of two ways:

• Automatically — Bevy places you in a room by default.
• By choice — select a specific room and select Join now.

Create another round

Before a new round, end the current breakout first. After a first grouping exists in this meetup or session, the panel can show an Assignment choice so you can shuffle everyone again or reuse the last grouping.

1. End the current breakout by selecting Close all, then confirm with End.
2. Open Breakout rooms again.
3. If Assignment appears, choose one option:
   • Randomize every time — mixes people into new groups. You can also change the number of rooms. This is the default.
   • Keep same groups — reuses the last grouping. The number of rooms is locked, and the panel shows: Reusing the [N] groups from your last breakout. New attendees are added to existing rooms.
4. Set a time limit, then select Create.

Your Assignment choice applies only to the round you are about to create. If Assignment does not appear, Bevy still assigns the next round at random.

Keep the same groups

When you choose Keep same groups, Bevy places attendees based on who is still in the main room:

Keep same groups only remembers groupings within the current meetup or session. It does not carry groups to another meetup or session.

End all breakout rooms

The host or a moderator can end every breakout room at any time:

1. Open the Breakout rooms panel.
2. Select Close all.
3. Confirm with End in the popup that appears.

Closing rooms ends the current round for everyone, whether or not a time limit was set. Attendees return to the main room. To run another round, create a new breakout.

Late joiners

People who join the meetup or session after a breakout has already started stay in the main room. They are not assigned to a room, and they cannot join one from the Breakout rooms panel.

To include late joiners in a breakout:

1. End the current breakout by selecting Close all, or wait until the time limit ends.
2. Open Breakout rooms and start a new round.
3. Choose an assignment option when available:
   • Keep same groups — puts returning attendees back with the same people. Anyone new is added to an existing room, the smallest group.
   • Randomize every time — shuffles everyone, including late joiners, into new groups.

Until you start a new round, late joiners remain in the main room.

Who can join a room from the Breakout rooms panel

Hosts and moderators cannot move an attendee into a room that is already in progress.

Limits

Keep these limits in mind when you create breakout rooms:

• Number of rooms. Hosts and moderators can create up to 30 breakout rooms in a session (Bevy Virtual Conference) or meetup (Bevy Virtual Meetup).
• How people are split. Bevy calculates attendees per room from how many people are currently in the main room. For example, 201 attendees across 20 rooms is about 10 people per room.
• No one is left alone at create time. The dropdown does not offer more rooms than half the people present, so each room starts with at least two attendees. With an odd number, some rooms get one extra person — for example, 11 attendees in 5 rooms means some rooms have 3.
• Time limit. Each round runs 2 to 60 minutes. Options step by 1 minute up to 15 minutes, then by 5 minutes up to 60. When the time is up, attendees return to the main room. You can end a round sooner with Close all.
• Camera and microphone. Everyone in a breakout room can use audio and video. For a comfortable discussion, keep rooms small — a handful to a few dozen people, not hundreds.
• Parent-room capacity still applies (this is the one place the two products differ). Breakout rooms do not increase how many people can be in your meetup or session. Bevy Virtual Meetup events default to 1,000 attendees. Bevy Virtual Conference session capacity follows the presenter and viewer limits in Capacity and limits in Bevy Virtual Conference.
• No manual assignment. You cannot pre-assign people or move them between rooms. Hosts and moderators can only place themselves.
• Late joiners stay in the main room until you end the breakout and start a new round.
• Randomize every time does not guarantee new partners. People may land with some of the same attendees. Changing the number of rooms between rounds usually mixes groups more.
• Empty rooms can happen. If everyone from a previous group has left, Keep same groups can still recreate that room empty.

What attendees see

• First round — a notification and the Breakout rooms panel let them join their assigned room with Join now.
• Later rounds with Keep same groups — they return to the same people, plus anyone new added to that room.
• Later rounds with Randomize every time — they are assigned to a new room at random.

Attendees leave a breakout with Leave room, then confirm with Leave.