Recent Updates Add More Flexibility for Zoom Layout & Breakout rooms

Zoom has introduced some useful new features in the most recent updates 5.2.2 and 5.3.0. To use these features, all meeting attendees must update their Zoom desktop client to the most recent version. Instructions for doing so are available here.

Choose Your Breakout Room

With the new update, meeting hosts may now give participants the option to choose their breakout room. Once opened, the host may keep the setting enabled, allowing users to switch rooms freely, or disable it, restricting participants to the rooms they have chosen.

Video reordering, multi-pin, and multi-spotlight

Host and co-host can now re-order the gallery view to suit their needs, and choose whether to deploy this view to participants, or allow participants to create their own custom views. Simply click and drag videos to the position you want them in gallery view, and this layout will remain in place until released.

Additionally, when enabled by the host, users can now pin up to nine participants in their personal view. Likewise, the host can spotlight up to nine participants for everyone in the meeting, ideal for panel discussions or group presentations.

High Fidelity Audio mode

Need better performance for music lessons or classes? Found in the Advanced Audio settings, High Fidelity Audio Mode allows for disabling echo cancellation & post-processing, while raising overall audio codec quality for professional-level audio transmission. Note: high-quality audio interface, microphone, and headphones required.