Improved virtual collaboration environments allow participants in a primary collaboration session to initiate side conversations with fellow participants based on virtual locations of each participant within a virtual collaboration layout. The virtual collaboration layout defines virtual locations of each participant in the collaboration session. If a virtual distance between two participants a below a threshold, the participants are able to engage in a side conversation. Management information is provided to a collaboration session host. The management information indicates, for example, a volume or frequency of communication occurring on each side conversation, or an elapsed time since the side conversation was initiated. The host is also provided with controls that allow the host to issue a warning to side conversation participants, to mute the side conversation, or to change a participant’s position within the virtual collaboration layout, thus changing the participant’s eligibility to participate in the side conversation.