Do you have a session in which you’d like to split up the agenda into multiple rooms running in parallel? Adding breakout sessions (also known as parallel rooms) into your session will allow you to show this.
After a recent update, any already existing breakout will keep the name ‘Track’, but any new breakout track will have the name ‘Room’.
How to create parallel rooms
Breakout sessions (a.k.a. Parallel rooms) can be created with the Breakout session button: Move your mouse over any block in your session plan, and you will see the plus icon appear on the left of that block.
When you click on the Breakout session button, a new Breakout session will be created in your session plan.
The Breakout session is created with two parallel rooms by default, but you can easily add (and remove) rooms. The rooms inside the Breakout session behave the same way as the rest of the session planner tool; you can create blocks and groups inside each room, and move blocks into your rooms by dragging and dropping them.
The overview bar on the left side will always represent the room that you currently have active, which is the room currently being viewed on your screen.
If you have empty gray space in the left side overview bar in your breakout session, it means that one of your rooms within the breakout session takes longer time than the one you currently have open.
How can I rename rooms in my breakout session?
You can rename the rooms of your breakout session by clicking on the title of the room:
Move blocks between rooms
If you click on the Overview button next to the list of your rooms in a breakout session, then you will get a zoomed out view where you see all rooms next to each other. Here you can move blocks between the rooms by dragging and dropping them, or copy a block from one room to another by holding down the ALT key on your keyboard while dragging and dropping. This way, the source block will stay in the original room.
If you have more rooms than fit on your screen, you will have a horizontal scrollbar at the bottom of your breakout session to help navigate among the columns representing your rooms.
If you want to create more space for your overview, you may also hide the right sidebar, by clicking in the uppermost button in the right side menu. To return to the single-room view, simply click on the title of any of your rooms.
Adjusting the timing of your breakout session
Each room of your breakout session has its length marked next to the name of the room. The length of your breakout session – counted in the overall length of your whole session – will always equal the longest room you have in the breakout session.
When you’re finished designing your session, you may take a final look at your breakout rooms to double check that they have equal length so you don’t have unused time in any of your rooms.
Breakout sessions in Overview and on your exports
Your breakout sessions will also be visible and editable in the Overview (if you click on the Overview button in your session’s header).
Here you will have a zoomed out view of your breakout session, and you can navigate with arrows between the different rooms.
Breakout sessions on your export / printout
Your breakout sessions will appear also on your PDF or Word export. The rooms will be listed under each other, and a visual mark will indicate the scope of the whole breakout session.