Create and join an ad-hoc breakout room
An ad-hoc breakout room is a private channel you create on the spot inside a Virtual Emergency Operations Centre (VEOC) session. Name it, invite who you want, and start talking. The main Forum stays readable, and everything said in the room stays on the official record.
A large response puts dozens of people in one session. Field updates, incident command, and corporate advisory all post into the same Forum, and the signal that matters gets buried. Spin up ad-hoc rooms as the incident evolves: legal, communications, corporate advisory, roadblock crews, rovers, or a scribe pulled into a command discussion. For rooms that mirror your ICS org chart, see Activate a structured breakout room.
Before you start
You need to be in an active session with the Forum open. Any user can create an ad-hoc room. A session allows a maximum of three ad-hoc rooms, open and closed combined.
Create a room
In the Forum, click the message bubble icon in the top-right corner. The breakout room panel opens with open and closed rooms, rooms you are in, and rooms you can request to join.
Click Create Breakout Room.
Name the room. Choose carefully; the name cannot be changed after creation.
Add participants. Any participant can add or remove others later; non-members must request access.
Confirm. The room appears as its own space in the Forum and invited users are notified.
Hit the three-room limit and an error message appears. Close an existing room first; closed rooms still count toward the limit.
Join a room you are not in
Open the breakout room panel from the message bubble icon.
On the room you want, click the 3-dot menu and select Request to Join. The room's participants see a message that you have requested access, and a participant can add you.
On mobile: open the left-hand menu and select Breakout Rooms. Tap the (+) icon to create an ad-hoc room, name it, and add participants. To join a room you are not in, tap the room and select Request to Join Room.
After you create a room
Run it, share decisions back to the main Forum, and close it when the conversation is done: Manage and close a breakout room.