How breakout sessions can boost your event?

Tags:
Blog EN
Events & Meetings
13-02-2024

 

Breakout sessions are an effective way to enhance engagement and facilitate knowledge sharing at conferences. However, they are often overlooked. If your event will have a significant number of participants, it is advisable to reserve one or more rooms for breakout sessions. Doing so can generate more interest in attending your event and improve the overall experience for your participants.

Breakout sessions have become a fundamental component of any self-respecting modern conference. According to a study carried out by Event MB, 70% of event organisers consider breakout rooms to be an essential component of their event. And there are many reasons for this, as you will see.

 

Explore the well-organized layout of BluePoint's conference spaces, which feature multiple breakout areas

 

7 reasons to book one or more breakout rooms during your conference

Meeting rooms for sub-committee sessions offer several advantages:

  1. Improve participant engagement: Breakout rooms enable participants to interact with like-minded individuals and discuss topics of interest.
  2. Facilitate collaboration: Smaller meeting rooms are more conducive to bringing people together and fostering new collaborations.
  3. Offer a more personalized experience: By incorporating breakout sessions into the program, participants can customize their experience and choose sessions that align with their interests.
  4. Encourage networking: While closing drinks are great, major events should set aside dedicated time and areas for networking. This helps break the ice and promotes connections.
  5. Improve knowledge sharing: Sub-group sessions are an excellent way to address questions and foster learning beyond what's covered in plenary sessions.
  6. Debrief during the day: Participants appreciate taking a break to summarize and debrief small group sessions.
  7. Enhance the overall conference experience: Participants will remember more of an event that offers thematic breakout sessions and opportunities for active engagement.

 

How many breakout rooms should you book for your conference?

Unfortunately, there is no clear answer, since the number of breakout rooms required for an event depends on various factors. The most crucial factor is the number of participants, but there are others to consider.

  1. The greater the number of participants, the more breakout rooms are needed.
  2. The duration of the event: For short events, it's better to limit the number of breakout rooms to keep the participants together.
  3. The objectives of the event: If the focus is on promoting interaction and collaboration between participants, more breakout rooms may be required.
  4. The theme of the event plays a significant role in determining the number of breakout rooms required. For events that involve multiple profiles and professions, breakout rooms are often useful.
  5. Finally, the format of the event can be crucial. If the event is structured around presentations, a limited number of breakout rooms is needed.

 

How do you organise breakout sessions at a hybrid event?

1. Start by clearly defining the objective of the breakout sessions: what does the program include for the face-to-face and virtual sessions? It is important to have a clear view of each component and the expected target audience.

2. Select the most suitable live-streaming videoconferencing platform: There are many platforms available for organising sub-group sessions for hybrid events. The difficulty lies mainly in the equipment available at the conference venue: do the rooms have collaboration and screen-sharing features to facilitate communication between participants? Will you have a dedicated private network?

 

Find out how BluePoint has equipped its meeting rooms with the latest technology

 

3. Provide participants with a clear overview of the breakout sessions: Breakout sessions should be organised around explicit and clearly labelled topics. Participants should also be informed in advance of the subjects to be discussed and the format to be used, and it is also preferable to provide a system of advance registration.

4. Encourage communication between participants: Participants should be encouraged to share their ideas and perspectives, and facilitators should be ready to answer questions and guide the discussion whether in a virtual or face-to-face breakout room.

 

Organise your virtual breakout sessions on Teams

Microsoft Teams offers the breakout rooms feature, which can be incredibly useful. Here are the steps to create breakout rooms via Teams:

  1. Open the meeting invitation in your Teams calendar.
  2. Click on "Breakout rooms".
  3. Choose "Create rooms".
  4. Select the number of breakout rooms you require.

And that's all! You can also create breakout rooms during the meeting by clicking on "Breakout rooms" in the meeting toolbar and selecting "Create rooms".

 

 

5. Help participants prepare with digital content: it can be useful to provide participants with additional resources to help them prepare for the breakout sessions. This can include reference documents, video guides or tutorials.

6. Gather feedback from participants: It is important to gather feedback from participants after the breakout sessions to assess their effectiveness and identify areas for improvement for future hybrid events.

Conclusion

Breakout rooms are a crucial aspect for conference organizers who aim to enhance participation, create a unique and interactive experience, and tailor the event to the participants' needs. By incorporating breakout rooms into your conference, you can provide more value, increase engagement, promote collaboration, and encourage networking among participants. Therefore, why delay any further? Begin planning your breakout sessions today and take your conference to the next level!