Zoom's first virtual sales onboarding
Transforming a one-week, in-person event into a global 6-week program for 2,000+ new hires.
Transforming a one-week, in-person event into a global 6-week program for 2,000+ new hires.
Role
Lead Program Manager
Goal
Scale onboarding to meet 10x hiring volume while delivering a meaningful, engaging experience.
Year
2020 – 2022
When I took over Zoom's sales onboarding program in April 2020, the world—and the way we worked—changed overnight. As the pandemic hit, Zoom became a household name almost instantly. That explosive growth came with a massive spike in new hires—on average, 10 times the typical volume—for nearly two years straight.
Our lean enablement team was tasked with a huge challenge: how do we scale onboarding to meet this demand while still delivering a meaningful, engaging experience? In just a few short weeks, we completely reimagined onboarding—transforming it from a one-week, in-person event into a global, 6-week, fully virtual, segment-specific program.
Before Zoom was a global go-to for virtual connection, onboarding looked very different. It was a four-day, in-person training for 20 to 40 people. An onboarding coordinator would line up subject matter experts to lead sessions, mix in a few structured activities, and then hand new reps off to their segment leaders for deeper training.
The surge in hiring during the pandemic changed everything. We began welcoming classes of up to 150 new sales reps at a time, and the pressure on sales and product enablement teams skyrocketed. The personal touch that once defined onboarding was stretched thin. Our enablement team suddenly became not just the introduction to Zoom's culture, but also responsible for designing custom learning paths across seven unique sales segments—something that hadn't existed before.
I led the program from strategy through delivery—branding, content, tooling, and culture. Here's how we approached it.
We knew from the start that translating Zoom's culture into a virtual experience would be critical. This was now the first and often most memorable impression new hires would have of the company. It wasn't just about maintaining quality—it was about making it better than what they would've received in person.
One of the most impactful ways we achieved that was through consistent, intentional internal branding. It became a key differentiator—what turned onboarding from just a training program into a full-fledged experience. Every element, from resources and learning modules to live training decks, needed to reflect Zoom's voice and values.
To bring that sense of connection and clarity to life, we introduced a Basecamp theme—a playful, approachable concept that gave the program a cohesive identity and added a sense of adventure and purpose to the journey.
Creating a world-class onboarding experience meant building an entire ecosystem of content that could scale, engage, and educate across multiple roles and experience levels. In total, we developed over 80 hours of live and virtual training content, all tailored to support Account Executives, Customer Success Managers, Channel Partners, and Sales Engineers.
We built a six-week, modular program: Trek Prep, Basecamp, Camp Discovery, Camp Demo, Camp Closer, and Zoom Sales Summit. Each week was built in close collaboration with internal SMEs—pulling in expertise from Product, Sales, Operations, Marketing, and segment leadership.
One of the things we achieved was creating an intake process for new hires that we didn't have before. Defined admittance windows and exclusion periods made hiring smoother and better aligned reps for ramp and quotas.
We also built out our LMS experience to support the program end-to-end: exam creation, tool administration, and "live training recovery" for anyone who missed a session or needed a refresher.
Basecamp Attendance Admittance Schedule: defined intake windows and exclusion periods so hiring was smoother and reps were better lined up for ramp and quotas.
Sample 6-week journey map and week one schedule shown in a new hire's website upon starting.
We built a content repository—a spreadsheet for internal use—the first the onboarding team ever had. It gave us a single, organized source for session schedules, subjects, descriptions, presenter info, and links to decks and recordings. Before this, onboarding content lived in scattered spreadsheets and ad-hoc handoffs.
That repository surfaced a clear need: with seven different sales segments, each requiring tailored content, we had to deliver custom journey paths to new hires. I partnered closely with our web development team to build a custom onboarding website from the ground up—the first the onboarding team ever had for new hires. This platform became the central hub for the entire program, seamlessly integrating CMS-hosted resources, virtual training decks, speaker handouts, live activity links, and LMS content, all in one place.
We built in dynamic schedules tailored to each of the seven sales segments. This custom solution didn't just solve our short-term need—it became a scalable foundation for growth. By centralizing everything in one accessible, easy-to-navigate space, we were able to expand the program globally, rolling it out to new hires in EMEA and APAC with minimal friction.
The real magic of onboarding wasn't just in the structure or the content—it was in the details. To truly bring Zoom's culture to life, we focused on adding intentional moments of "happiness" throughout the experience.
C-suite chats were a core part of the culture. Before Basecamp even began, HR hosted a special event where our CEO, Eric Yuan, made it a point to attend and personally meet each new class. We continued the practice monthly, inviting senior leaders like our CRO, CIO, and CMO to share insights and take questions—helping to break down silos and foster transparency from day one.
Gamification played a huge role. We turned the entire first week into a team-based challenge, with Kahoot and Jeopardy-style games woven in. The week culminated in a Platform Pitch contest, where teams competed to deliver the most compelling customer pitch judged live.
We also leaned into personality and playfulness—creating virtual yearbooks, designing themed Zoom backgrounds, and using studio effects and dance parties to inject bursts of fun after long stretches of training. Custom backgrounds became a signature part of the Basecamp experience: we designed them for each cohort—from the "Basecamp Zoom New Hire" badge and conversation hearts to seasonal themes like May 2021's floral Basecamp design—giving new hires a shared visual identity and a sense of belonging from day one.
Key initiatives that brought Basecamp to life—from buyer fluency to platform deep dives to body language mastery.
Help new Zoom reps deeply understand buyer personas and practice articulating Zoom's value in customer-relevant language—within their first week on the job.
As part of Basecamp, I created a two-part training initiative: a group persona lab where reps dove deep into Zoom's most common buying personas (VP of Sales, Head of Recruiting, Director of Customer Success, and more), and a role-play challenge—a 5-minute, team-led Zoom platform pitch where reps presented Zoom as a solution to the persona they studied. Teams pitched to personas from fictional companies like Stark Industries, Wonka Chocolate Factory, and Dunder Mifflin—making it fun, engaging, and unforgettable.
By the end of just one week, reps weren't just Zoom fluent—they were buyer fluent.
Platform trainings needed to be memorable—not just informative. We used innovative overlays to keep things engaging and interactive, turning standard Zoom sessions into dynamic learning experiences.
From security deep dives with real-time callouts (End-User Security, Technical Security) to sessions where key messaging—"Zoom is cloud native," "Zoom was built video-first!," "Zoom just works!"—was overlaid directly on the video feed with speech bubbles and connection lines, we made every minute count. The Basecamp New Hire branding reinforced that new hires were part of something bigger.
We brought in Mark Bowden, speaker and author of Winning Body Language, for a special training delivered entirely via video. This wasn't just for sellers—it was beneficial across the organization, including our support teams.
Body language matters even when you're on camera. Mark's session helped reps and support specialists alike understand how presence, gesture, and posture translate through the screen—building confidence and connection in every customer interaction.
New hires humored me in my quest to nail the longest virtual TP Pass ever to celebrate our second all-virtual Basecamp.
Onboarding is often the first and most memorable impression new hires have of a company. When the pandemic forced us to go fully virtual overnight, we had to prove that connection and culture could scale—without the hallway chats and breakroom moments that had always defined the experience.
Every touchpoint—from branding to C-suite chats to gamification—had to reinforce that new hires weren't alone.
We built a custom onboarding website without new platform spend—creativity under constraints.
Virtual yearbooks, themed backgrounds, and "Post-Lunch Energizers" recreated the connection that usually happens face-to-face.
End-to-end ownership: branding, content, tooling, and the small moments that made it memorable.
We didn't just scale a training program—we redefined what onboarding could feel like in a remote-first world. This project delivered measurable impact while creating an experience that made new hires feel welcomed, supported, and genuinely excited to be part of Zoom.
2,000+ new hires
Repeatable, measurable onboarding globally across multiple roles and regions.
25% faster ramp
Reps started contributing weeks earlier.
4.8/5 satisfaction
Sustained over 12+ months. 85% completion, 90% attendance.
Scalable globally
Expanded to APAC and EMEA without additional trainer or resource burdens.