Abstract: A meeting host or moderator can control communications among participants in virtual breakout rooms without requiring the host to join a breakout room as a participant. The host can run conferencing software to instantiate a meeting room and breakout rooms associated with the meeting room. The host can control communications in the breakout rooms, such as by transmitting and/or receiving content through one or more channels established by the conferencing software. The host can transmit and/or receive content such as a real time audio stream, a transcription of the audio stream, a screen or window being shared, chat messages, and the like, without joining the breakout room.