A feature for Zoom and Teams are "Breakout Rooms"

These rooms will allow for a "off air" conversation between operator and one or more remote callers, very similar to our TalkBack feature in a SkypeTX call. 

TC2's Live Call Connect provides TalkBack support for other conferencing apps, with the caveat that in these cases (e.g., Teams, Zoom) it’s not possible to isolate sound from a single remote caller.  In all such apps, sound from all remote callers is mixed;  if you don’t want a caller’s audio heard when the mix is sent to air, that caller must be individually muted in the conferencing app.

(This is not a TriCaster limitation but notes on how these applications work.)

Setup

1. External meeting host system (e.g., laptop):
   1. Launch NDI Webcam Input
      1. Select TriCaster’s Mix 1 as the NDI source.
      2. Set Webcam Input’s Audio level to +20dB
   2. Zoom Preparations
      1. Set Zoom’s camera and microphone to “NewTek NDI Video” and “Line (NewTek NDI Audio).”
      2. Start your meeting.

• Name the local Host connection “Program”, and ‘Spotlight’ it (this is your show).

1. Open a breakout rooms and name it “Green Room.”

2. TriCaster
   1. Launch Zoom on the App Desktop
   2. Connect to the meeting.

3. Zoom configuration (meeting host system, i.e., laptop):
   1. Give the TriCaster connection a suitable Zoom name (e.g., “Operator”).
   2. Make “Operator” a co-host (so he can mute/unmute callers in the “Green Room”)
   3. Assign program participants and “Operator” to the “Green Room” (using the Breakout Room option that moves them automatically).

Different Rooms for Different Purposes

• Callers in the main meeting see TriCaster’s program (Mix 1) from Webcam Input.
• Callers in the “Green Room” see and hear a) each other and b) Program output.
• As a co-host, the “Operator” can selectively mute/unmute any caller in the “Green Room.”

Note: Zoom has a “pre-approved consent to be unmuted” feature (Meeting Options>Request permission to unmute participants).  When enabled, callers are prompted to let the host mute/unmute them.  Permission persists for any future meeting with the same ID, and is particularly useful for callers in the “Green Room.”

Displaying a Caller in Your Show

• Either the Host or TriCaster “Operator” can assign program participants to the “Green Room”.
• The “Operator” can selectively mute/unmute callers in the “Green Room”, and use TalkBack to address them without disrupting program audio.
• The “Operator” assigns callers in the “Green Room” to TriCaster ‘s Switcher inputs.
• And can display them in the program, and mix “Green Room” caller sound into the show.

(Note that adding or removing a caller to/from the “Green Room” may require a “Relearn” operation, so changes to “Green Room” assignments should not be performed when a caller is on air.)

TriCaster 2 Elite software from Nov. 9, 2021 or newer is required to use Zoom breakout rooms in LCC