Should you use breakout rooms, even if you know people will drop off your presentation?

The short answer is: yes.

The longer answer is: I honestly didn’t even know that dropping off a virtual session because the presenter uses breakout rooms was a thing. But several months ago I was scrolling through my Twitter feed and noticed that someone in higher ed posted a question about whether people stayed on their virtual meetings if a facilitator used breakout rooms.

I scoffed at the post and quickly clicked on the comments. I was sure I’d find a sea of responses from people saying that breakout rooms were the best and most engaging part of a virtual session.

I did not see any comments to this effect.

I was aghast to see comments to the effect of: “Look, I’m working from home. I have laundry to do and kids to help with schoolwork. So if someone puts me into a breakout room, I drop off.”