You may start to learn more about our Networking Hub component and our Breakout Room feature and begin wondering what is the difference and when to use each. Learn more about both, and when to use one over the other, below:
Breakout Room
A Breakout Room can only be enabled and accessed through a Virtual Stage. When using Breakout Rooms, a Host will enable this feature within the Settings icon of a Virtual Stage, select the Breakout button in the top right corner, and then select Yes, Start Breakout. A Breakout Room allows for the following:
Starting a Breakout will automatically prompt your entire audience to configure their camera and microphone. This is done within the same Virtual Stage that is embedded on your webpage i.e. enabling a Breakout does not send your audience to a different URL or webpage.
After you enable a Breakout, your entire audience joins one large networking room, and then can be automatically dispersed across a custom number of Breakout rooms that you configure. You can also assign each attendee into individual rooms.
Breakout rooms are not automatically recorded. A Host can select the record button in any Breakout room to capture that recording.
When finished, a Host can end Breakouts and automatically bring the audience back to the main Breakout room or back to the Virtual Stage (revoking access to their camera and microphone).
Networking Hub
A Networking Hub is a stand alone component, completely separate from the Virtual Stage experience. You can create a Networking Hub in your Sequel Admin Dashboard, and create pre-defined Circles (similar to Rooms), with custom number of seats in each room. A Networking Hub allows for the following:
The audience can choose to join a Networking Hub experience by registering to enter, and selecting any Circle with an open "seat".
The audience can jump in and out of Circles as they please, as long as there is an open seat available.
A Networking Hub has an additional role, called a Circle Owner, which provides a user added permissions to moderate a Circle within a Networking Hub.
The audience have options to create ad-hoc Circles for 1:1 conversations, select random mingle to connect with a random user within the Networking Hub, or random Circle mingle to join any Circle.
Circles can have anywhere between 2-100 seats and assigned names to promote discussion around certain topics.
A Host cannot automatically remove the audience from Circles or a Networking Hub experience, or close a Networking Hub. They can block users from a Networking Hub.
When should I use a Breakout Room or a Networking Hub?
A Breakout Room is a great option to allow for small group discussions in between a Virtual Stage presentation. A Breakout Room also allows a Host more control and moderation over the audience by assigning the audience to rooms and automatically pushing them in and out of the Breakout room experience.
A Networking Hub is best used for its name-sake — networking! Networking Hubs are commonly used for optional networking before or after sessions on a Virtual Stage. For example, if a customer is running a 1-day virtual conference with a total of 5 back-to-back sessions, they may do the following:
Embed a Networking Hub on its own landing page for 'Morning Coffee Chat' before they launch their first session. This is a low-pressure way for your audience to get to know each other and simulate the experience of bumping into someone new or old like they would at an in-person conference! You could also name the Networking Hub 'Cocktail Hour' for a post-sessions optional networking that users can jump in and out of as they please. The added features such as ad-hoc Circles and random mingle promotes the networking aspect!
Create a Sponsor Hall by creating Circles for each Sponsor and adding a spokesperson as a Circle Owner for their Circle. You can leave a Sponsor Hall open throughout the entire event so people can jump in and out as they please if they want to learn more about any specific solution or product.
If you have any additional questions on your use case and whether you should use a Networking Hub or Breakout Rooms, please reach out to support at support@sequel.io!