During wireless communication with a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) group, a transmitting device may exclude a receiving device from a subset of the multi-user MIMO group to which it communicates data. In particular, based on responses from receiving devices to sounding packets with beamforming information for the receiving devices, the transmitting device calculates beam-pattern settings for a set of antennas so that, when communicating with the subset, receiving devices in the subset are located on beams within beam patterns formed by the set of antennas while a remainder of the receiving devices (including the receiving device) are located at exclusion zones in the beam patterns. Moreover, a beam pattern for a given receiving device in the subset provides a beam at a location of the given receiving device and provides exclusion zones at locations of the other receiving devices in the multi-user MIMO group.