Breakout sessions in meetings and webinars
Breakout sessions are smaller groups that are split off from the main meeting or webinar. Use breakout sessions for workshops, classrooms, or for when you need a moment to talk privately with a few participants outside of the main session.
This feature is supported on Webex Meetings and Webex Webinars. On Webex App, this feature is available on our Webex Suite meeting platform. Find out if your meetings use the Webex Suite meeting platform.
If you use Webex Meetings or Webex Webinars on Linux, use our web app for breakout sessions.
Known issues and limitations
Learn about known issues and limitations for breakout sessions.
Roles in a breakout session
In meetings, hosts and cohosts create breakout sessions, assign participants, and start the sessions when they're ready.
Attendees can share content and use collaboration tools such as chat to collaborate in smaller, more focused discussion groups. See Best practices for participating in breakout sessions.
Audio and video in breakout sessions
Each breakout session is a separate audio and video conference. If you connected to audio when you joined the meeting or webinar, it switches over automatically when you join a breakout session. In meetings, you can mute or unmute your audio and start or stop your video at any time during the breakout session, just like you would in the main meeting.
If you join a meeting from a room device, pressing Mute device or Unmute device mutes or unmutes the entire room.
When all breakout sessions end, your audio switches to the main session automatically. In meetings, if your video was on during the breakout session, it remains on when all breakout sessions end and you return to the main session.
|
Feature |
Host |
Cohost |
Attendee |
|---|---|---|---|
|
✓
|
|
| |
|
Allow anyone to join breakout sessions | ✓ | ✓ |
|
|
Create and start breakout sessions
|
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
✓ |
✓ |
| |
|
✓ |
✓ |
| |
|
✓ |
✓ | ||
|
✓ |
✓ |
| |
|
Ask all participants to return to the main session If the breakout sessions are still in progress, attendees' audio is muted when they return to the main session. In meetings, remind attendees to unmute themselves if they want to speak in the session. |
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
✓ |
✓ |
| |
| Lower participants' hands | ✓ | ✓ |
|
Feature |
Host |
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 |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
Use Chat to message others in your breakout session
|
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
|
✓ | |
|
✓ |
|
| |
|
✓ |
|
| |
| 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
Hosts and cohosts can preassign panelists and attendees to breakout sessions in webinars. They can't assign attendees to breakout sessions during a webinar. Once breakout sessions have started, attendees can choose which breakout session they want to join.Audio and video in breakout sessions
Each breakout session is a separate audio and video conference. If you connected to audio when you joined the webinar, it switches over automatically when you join a breakout session. When you return to the main webinar, your audio automatically switches to the main session.
During the breakout session, only panelists can mute or unmute their audio. All attendees are muted and do not have the option option to unmute themselves. Attendees can only be unmuted by a panelist in their breakout session.
|
Feature |
Host |
Cohost |
Panelist |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Preassign participants to breakout sessions In webinars, you can preassign panelists and attendees to breakout sessions. You can't assign attendees to breakout sessions during a webinar. Attendees can choose which breakout session they want to join after they start. |
✓
|
|
|
|
Allow anyone to join breakout sessions |
✓ | ✓ |
|
|
Create and start breakout sessions
|
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
|
Move or exchange panelists in breakout sessions In webinars, attendees cannot be moved or exchanged between breakout sessions. |
✓ |
|
|
|
Remove a panelist from a breakout session In webinars, attendees cannot be removed from a breakout session. |
✓ |
|
|
|
Ask all participants to return to the main session If the breakout sessions are still in progress, attendees' audio is muted when they return to the main session. In webinars, attendees remain muted; panelists can be unmuted by the host. |
✓ |
|
|
|
✓ |
|
|
|
| Lower participants' hands | ✓ | ✓ |
|
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 can only chat to others within your breakout session, not across all breakout sessions. |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
|
| ||
|
✓ |
|
| ||
|
✓ |
|
| ||
| Raise your hand during a breakout session | ✓ | ✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
| Sort by raised hands | ✓ | ✓ |
