Zoom News: Broadcast to Breakout Rooms

Zoom News

If you are using breakout rooms in Zoom, there are some new features that will help you stay connected to participants in their individual rooms. One of these features is the ability for hosts to share their screen from the main session into all breakout rooms allowing them to share visual information or guide students. Hosts can also view the activity statuses of participants in their breakout room, allowing them to monitor the level of engagement of students in breakout rooms. With this feature an instructor can see if participants are sharing their screen, using reactions, and whether their audio or video is turned on (although this feature will not work if the participant is joining on their phone).  Additionally, hosts also can broadcast a written message to participants in all breakout rooms.

After a recent update to the Zoom desktop application, hosts can also now broadcast their microphone audio to all breakout rooms. This feature is helpful if you want to give verbal guidance or instructions to the participants, or if you want to call participants back into the main room without closing the breakout room. In order to use these features, it is important to first update Zoom to the latest version and instruct your students to also do so as well. In addition to updating your zoom application, a couple of these features need to be enabled on the Zoom web portal. The directions below will guide you on how to do so.

Changing Breakout Room Settings

To change your Zoom Settings (web portal):

  1. Visit https://nova.zoom.us/.
  2. Click on Sign In and sign in using your NSU credentials.
  3. Once logged in, click on the “settings” option.
  4. Select the “In Meeting (Advanced) option.

5. Find the section for “Breakout Rooms” and enable the settings to broadcast messages and view the activity statuses of participants.

A picture of the Zoom web portal, pointing to the Settings option on the left hand menu.

A picture of the Zoom web portal, with Settings selected, pointing to the In Meeting (Advanced) section.

A picture of the Zoom web portal, in the In Meeting settings, pointing to the options under Breakout room, to allow host to broadcast message to participants and allow host to view activity statuses of participants in breakout rooms.

Once your settings are updated, you can use these features in your Zoom sessions.

To share your screen to participants in breakout rooms:A picture of the Share Screen button, within the Zoom desktop application interface.

  1. Click the Share Screen button in your meeting controls
  2. Enable the Share to breakout rooms options
  3. Choose what you would like to share
  4. (optional) Click the Share Sound option to include audio with the shared content
  5. Click Share

A picture of the Share Screen options in the Zoom desktop application, showing selectable applications to share. Arrows are pointing to click the Share to breakout rooms checkbox, click one of the application windows to share, optionally click the Share sound checkbox, and finally clicking the Share button.

To view the status of participants in breakout rooms:

  1. Open the Breakout Rooms Panel
  2. On the “Rooms” tab, you can see details about the status of participants.

A picture of the Zoom desktop application interface, pointing to the Breakout Rooms button.

A picture of the Breakout Rooms window in the Zoom desktop application, pointing to the Room list count, and the details to the right of each room name.

To broadcast a message or your mic to all breakout rooms:

  1. Open the Breakout Rooms panel
  2. Click the Broadcast Button
  3. To broadcast a message, choose that option. Enter your message and click the Broadcast button.
  4. To broadcast your mic audio, choose Broadcast Voice. Click the broadcast voice button and begin talking. Click the stop button to stop the broadcast.Note: You can press and hold the B key on your keyboard to broadcast your voice as needed.

A picture of the Zoom desktop application interface, pointing to the Breakout Rooms button.A picture of the Breakout Rooms window in the Zoom desktop application, pointing to the Broadcast button, which then shows an option to either broadcast message or broadcast voice.e.

A picture of the Breakout Rooms window in the Zoom desktop application, when the Broadcast message options has been selected, pointing to the text area to type the message, and then the Broadcast button to send the broadcast..A picture of the Breakout Rooms window in the Zoom desktop application, when the Broadcast Voice options has been selected, pointing to the button to broadcast voice.

For more information on broadcasting to breakout rooms, participant statuses in breakout rooms, sharing your screen to breakout rooms, or breakout rooms in general, please visit:

Sharing screen and broadcasting to breakout rooms – Zoom Support

Managing breakout rooms – Zoom Support