Breakout Groups

During a large meeting or workshop, splitting the participants into smaller groups will ensure that everyone can be involved in the discussion. As the facilitator you might pose a question to come up with answers to, or a topic to generate ideas around. Each smaller group can discuss and then present their findings or ideas back to the whole group.

In a physical meeting or workshop, breakout groups can be managed by having each group in a different area of the room. In a remote workshop, you can use the breakout feature in Zoom or Teams, but this lacks a spatial element. You can use this Ideaflip board template to manage the organization into groups and give everyone a physical space to be part of.

There are many ways to split up into breakout groups:

• Let participants self-organize by each having a sticky note or image with their name on, which they can move onto chairs to form groups organically.
• Assign members randomly, or in turn
• Make sure that each group has a representative from each department or team in your organization

However you organise your groups, giving each group a space on the same Ideaflip board to capture their thoughts and ideas helps the session to feel like an in-person session with sticky notes on a wall. Groups will mainly be focused on their own area of the board, but being able to browse other groups' sticky notes will help to inspire new ideas and creativity. Just like walking past a wall of sticky notes in real-life!