Microsoft Teams breakout rooms might actually be useful now

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Getting the most out of breakout rooms on Microsoft Teams may soon be easier than ever after a series of new updates and upgrades to the platform.

The video conferencing service is hoping to make breakout rooms a more useful part of online calling for businesses everywhere.

Among the new features coming to Microsoft Teams are more customization, manager delegation, and bulk creation and deletion of rooms.

Breakout rooms

Breakout rooms were first introduced to Microsoft Teams last year, with an initial round of updates coming earlier in 2021.

The latest upgrades will hopefully make Microsoft Teams breakout rooms more flexible and accessible - firstly through the ability for meeting organizers to assign managers to specific rooms.

Organizers will also be able to bulk create or delete rooms, and add/rename individual rooms, and users will also be able to configure meeting options for each room or adjust settings using a timer.

Along with these additions, Microsoft Teams will soon allow attendees to pin their own video on the front page of the Teams meeting - which will now appear alongside other participants.

Users will soon be able to hide their own video preview which appears at the bottom right corner of the meetings before joining a call - although users will be able to turn off this self-view from the Teams meetings settings.

The company has also recently upgraded its Presenter View and Breakout Rooms in Teams. Once enabled in Teams, Presenter View allows presenters to view slide notes and upcoming slides while discussing meeting notes, as well as navigating between slides more quickly.

Users can also set a timer for Breakout Rooms, with rooms closing automatically once the timer expires. After this, participants will then be returned to the main meeting room automatically which can be useful for wrapping up a meeting as a group after a breakout session.

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Via WindowsLatest

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Mike Moore is Deputy Editor at TechRadar Pro. He has worked as a B2B and B2C tech journalist for nearly a decade, including at one of the UK's leading national newspapers and fellow Future title ITProPortal, and when he's not keeping track of all the latest enterprise and workplace trends, can most likely be found watching, following or taking part in some kind of sport.