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.

Applies to:  Breakout rooms work the same way in Bevy Virtual Meetup and Bevy Virtual Conference. The only difference is capacity, covered under Limits. In this article, the main room means your meetup (Bevy Virtual Meetup) or your session (Bevy Virtual Conference).

Hosts and moderators can split a live meetup or session into breakout rooms. The first round always assigns people at random. After that round ends, you can either randomize again or keep the same groups for the next round.

A few terms to know:

• 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.
• 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.
2. Choose the Number of rooms.
   Bevy shows an estimated attendees-per-room count, calculated from how many people are in the main room, and starts each room with at least two people.
3. Set a Time limit of 2 to 15 minutes.
   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 icon in the bottom navigation bar. 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 sidebar. When the time is up, attendees return to the main room.

You need at least one other participant in the main room to create rooms.

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 to join.

Create another round

Before a new round, you can shuffle everyone again or reuse the last grouping. The Assignment choice appears only after a first grouping exists. To create another round:

1. End the current breakout by selecting Close all rooms.
2. Open Breakout rooms again. The Assignment choice now appears.
3. Choose one option:

• Randomize every time—mixes people into new groups. You can also change the number of rooms.
• 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.

Randomize every time is the default. Your choice applies only to the round you are about to create, and you can switch it between rounds.

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. To end the rooms:

1. Open the Breakout rooms panel.
2. Select Close all rooms.
3. Confirm 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 rooms, or wait until the time limit ends.
2. Open Breakout rooms and start a new round.
3. Choose an assignment option:

• 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

What a person can do from the Breakout rooms panel depends on who they are and when they arrived:

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

Limits

Keep these limits in mind when you create and assign 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 the number of attendees per room automatically 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. 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 15 minutes. When the time is up, attendees return to the main room. You can end a round sooner with Close all rooms.
• 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 session. People who join during an active breakout are not assigned to a room and cannot join one from the Breakout rooms panel. To include them, end the breakout and start a new round — choose Keep same groups if you want returning people together.
• 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

What an attendee sees depends on the round:

• First round—a notification and the Breakout rooms panel let them join their assigned room.
• 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.

Breakout rooms FAQs

When you create breakout rooms, how are attendees assigned?

The first round is always random. After that round ends, the host can choose Randomize every time or Keep same groups.

Can you keep the same people together across multiple rounds?

Yes. End the current breakout, then choose Keep same groups before you create the next one. New attendees are added to an existing room, the smallest group. People who left are not replaced, and the remaining members stay in that group.

Can you make sure the next round has different people?

Choose Randomize every time. Assignments are shuffled again, but there is no guarantee everyone gets all-new partners. Changing the number of rooms between rounds usually increases the mix.

Can you manually assign attendees?

No, not at this time. Hosts and moderators can still join a specific room themselves.

What happens if someone joins after breakout rooms have started?

They stay in the main room. They are not assigned to a room and cannot join one until the host ends the current breakout and starts a new round.

Can attendees choose a breakout room from the panel?

No. Attendees can only join the room they were assigned to. Hosts and moderators can join any room from the Breakout rooms panel.

How do you get late joiners into a breakout?

End the current breakout and start a new one. Use Keep same groups to keep returning people together and add newcomers to existing rooms, or Randomize every time to shuffle everyone again.