Connect will do a great job of breaking users out into Breakout Rooms in a *visual* manner right out of the box
Audio has a few more options ad considerations depending on the integration you have chosen
Option 1 (VoIP through the computer) – If the user uses VoIP then the VoIP audio will split into sub-conferences that match the same Breakout Room split, so Fred goes to Breakout Room 1 and Fred is put into a VoIP-sub-conference for Breakout Room 1 at the same time
Option 2 (Fully Integrated Phone Conferencing) – If you use the *fully-integrated* audio from one of the three providers we use (Meeting One, Intercall, PGi), then this will split the audio automatically into phone-sub-conferences to match the Breakout Room split
Please Note – at the time of writing this post (October 21st 2011), there appears to be some issue with PGi conferencing separating successfully into Breakout Rooms
Option 3 – If you use your own toll-free number then there is *no* automated split of the audio to Breakout Rooms. Even though the toll-free number is integrated into the main Connect Meeting Room using the Universal Voice (UV) capabilities, this integration is just to the main Meeting Room. In order to get dedicated audio in the Breakout Rooms, each Breakout Group would need to dial into a separate conference number…this is nothing to do with Connect and we have no control over this functionality. The dial-in information and codes for the calls can be listed in the Breakout Rooms of course
From a workflow and ease-of-use perspective, in the first two options, the Host of the Meeting or other attendees can move (or be moved) between Breakout Rooms and they will automatically be dropped into the correct audio-sub-conference, similarly, when the Breakouts are ended and the main Meeting Room reconvenes, the participants will automatically be added back to the main audio-conference
In the case of the third option above, the movement between rooms requires the Host or attendee to manually hang up on one conference call and dial into another conference call, similarly, when the Breakout Rooms are over, everyone would need to hang-up on the audio-sub-conferences and dial into the main audio-conference again