Breakout rooms are video rooms for workshops, round tables, Q&A and lounges. Attendees join them from the Breakout Rooms page (or the name you gave it) in the mobile app and the web app. The calls run on Whereby inside Brella.
Before you start
You need to be an organization admin or an event admin.
Decide the dates and hours of each room. Attendees can enter a room from Brella only between its start and end time.
If you reach the event's room limit, contact Brella through Support.
Where to find it
Content > Breakout rooms in the admin panel. The page has two tabs: Breakout Rooms and Settings.
Turn breakout rooms on
If the page shows "You haven't enabled breakout rooms yet!", select Enable breakout rooms. If it shows "You have disabled breakout rooms!", select Re-enable breakout rooms. The Breakout Rooms page then appears in the app, even before you create a room.
Create a room
On the Breakout Rooms tab, select Create new (or Create first room on an empty list).
Under Cover image (optional), upload a JPEG or PNG. The image is cropped to 16:9.
Enter the Room name (up to 75 characters).
Enter a Description (optional) (up to 100 characters). Attendees see it on the room card.
Under Date, pick the first and last day. Only days within the event dates can be chosen.
Under Time, pick Start time and End time, or select All day. All day opens the room at 00:00 and closes it at 23:59. The end time must be later than the start time. Times are in the event's time zone.
Select Create room. Exit without saving discards the form.
The new room appears first in the list and is switched on. Brella creates the Whereby room in the background. Until it is ready, the card shows "URL will be here soon, refresh the page" in Speaker URL. Refresh the page.
If "Failed" appears, Brella did not create the room. One cause is the room limit: delete a room you no longer need, or contact Brella through Support.
Edit a room
Select the room's title on its card.
Change the fields and select Save changes. Cancel leaves the page without saving.
Saving an edit moves the room to the top of the list and switches it on, even if it was switched off. Drag it back and turn the switch off again if needed.
Editing keeps the room's Speaker URL and Host URL. Changing the dates changes when attendees can enter from Brella. Editing the opening hours does not expire the Whereby room.
Warning: Moving the event's end date later in Details replaces every breakout room with a new Whereby room, with new private links. Each room gets a new Speaker URL and Host URL. Attendees who enter from Brella go to the new room, so send the new Host URL to your hosts. Moving the end date earlier changes nothing.
Order the rooms
Drag a card by the handle in its top-left corner and drop it in the new place. The order is saved when you drop the card. Attendees see the rooms in this order.
Hide a room
Turn off the switch in the top-right corner of the card. The change is saved at once ("Updated successfully").
A switched-off room is not sent to attendees. It disappears from the Breakout Rooms page on their next refresh. An attendee with a direct link sees "Room not found".
The card is shown faded in the admin panel. Turn the switch on to show the room again.
The room still counts toward the room limit.
People already in the call are not removed. The Speaker URL and Host URL keep working outside Brella until the Whereby room expires.
If "Update failed" appears, the change was not saved and the page reloads after 3 seconds. Try again.
Hide all rooms
Open the Settings tab.
Turn off Enable breakout rooms.
As the setting says, "Turning off breakout rooms will deactivate them for all attendees": the Breakout Rooms page disappears from the app. Rooms and their settings are kept. Turn the switch on again, or select Re-enable breakout rooms on the empty page, to bring the page back.
Delete a room
Warning: Deleting is permanent. The room, its cover image and its position are removed. To take a room offline temporarily, hide it instead.
Select the room's title on its card to open the edit page.
Select Delete at the bottom of the form.
Confirm "Are you sure?".
"Deleted successfully" confirms. Attendees with the room open see "Room not found" on their next refresh.
Note: Deleting the room in Brella does not end the Whereby room. Anyone who saved the Speaker URL or Host URL can still open it in a browser until the Whereby room expires.
What attendees see
Breakout Rooms (or the name you gave it): Menu > Breakout Rooms in the mobile app, Breakout Rooms in the web app's left menu (or Menu on narrow windows). Rename the page in the Breakout Rooms row of Customization > Tabs.
One card per switched-on room, in your order, with cover, date, status (Open, Starts … or Closed), name, description and hours.
Selecting a card opens the room. Outside its hours the screen reads "This room isn't open yet — it opens …" or "This room is closed." Brella does not end a call at the end time; people in the room stay until they leave.
With no switched-on rooms, the page reads "No breakout rooms yet" (the words follow the page name) and "Check back later — rooms will appear here once they are set up."
For what happens inside the room and how hosts join, see Host and join breakout rooms.
Limits
Hidden rooms count towards the event's room limit. Contact Brella through Support if you need more rooms.
Room name up to 75 characters, Description (optional) up to 100 characters.
Dates only within the event dates. Hours in the event's time zone.
The admin panel has no file size limit for the cover image. It crops the image to 16:9 before uploading it.