Aidar Akmaev
Disclosure: NOXI publishes this guide and is one of the tools it mentions; the method works in any presentation software.
Quick answer: An onboarding presentation is the day-one orientation deck that opens a 90-day onboarding plan. Keep it to 12 slides and 90 minutes: welcome, why the company exists, how it makes money, the people a new hire works with in week 1, how work gets done, the essentials, a 30-60-90 day plan, the buddy, and questions. Policies stay in the handbook.
Most onboarding decks fail in the same way: forty slides of policy read aloud in a meeting room, followed by a laptop that does not work yet. New hires leave knowing the leave policy by heart and still not knowing what their job is for. Gallup reports that only 12% of US employees say their company does a good job of onboarding, and only 29% of new hires feel fully prepared and supported to excel in their role (Gallup, August 2021). This guide gives you the orientation deck slide by slide, a 90-minute agenda with an owner for every block, a rule for what belongs on a slide and what belongs in the handbook, the 30-60-90 day plan slide, the manager's team welcome deck, versions for sales, engineering, frontline and remote hires, a day-one pulse with pass marks, and a worked example with every number shown.
In short
- Two decksA company orientation deck (12 slides, 90 minutes, run once a month for a cohort) and a manager's team welcome deck (8 slides, 45 minutes, in week 1).
- AgendaWelcome 5 min, why we exist 10, how we make money 10, who you will work with 10, how we work 15, essentials 10, your first 90 days 15, buddy and questions 15. Total 90.
- Slide or handbookIf a new hire needs it in week 1 and it changes what they do, it is a slide. If they will look it up later, it is a link.
- The slide most decks skipHow the company makes money, in one flow from customer to revenue. It explains every later decision a new hire sees.
- The slide that matters mostThe 30-60-90 day plan: three outcomes, not task lists, agreed by the manager and the new hire by the end of week 1.
- Measure itFive questions at the end of day one and a 30-day check; fix the slide behind any question that misses its pass mark.
Orientation vs onboarding: one morning that opens a 90-day plan
New hire orientation is a single session, usually on day one, that welcomes a group of new employees and gives them what they need for their first week. Onboarding is the longer process it starts, typically planned over the first 90 days, which turns a new hire into a productive, connected member of the team. The onboarding presentation is the orientation deck; its last slides hand over to the rest of the plan.
The distinction matters because it decides what goes on the slides. An orientation that tries to do the whole of onboarding in one morning turns into a policy reading, and the things that actually take months (learning the product, building relationships, doing the first real piece of work) get no plan at all. Gallup's guidance is that new employees typically take around 12 months to reach their peak performance potential, which is why one-day or one-week programmes fall short (Gallup, 2021).
| Stage | When | What happens | Deck or document |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preboarding | Offer accepted to day 0 | Contract and legal paperwork, equipment ordered, accounts created, welcome email with the day-one plan | Welcome email and a one-page "your first day" note |
| Orientation | Day 1, 90 minutes | The company story, how it makes money, who to know, how work gets done, the essentials, the 90-day plan | Company orientation deck (12 slides) |
| Team welcome | Week 1 | The team's purpose, current work, rituals, the role's first outcomes, the buddy | Manager's team welcome deck (8 slides) |
| Onboarding | Days 1 to 90 | Learning, first contributions, check-ins at day 30 and day 60, a review at day 90 | The 30-60-90 day plan, reviewed in one-to-ones |
| Ramp to full performance | To about month 12 | Normal performance management takes over | Regular goals and reviews |
A useful frame for what the 90 days must cover comes from Talya Bauer's work for the SHRM Foundation, which describes four levels of onboarding from least to most effective: compliance (legal and policy rules), clarification (the role and what is expected), culture (the organisation's values and norms) and connection (relationships and information networks), as summarised by SHRM (August 2017). Most weak orientation decks are almost entirely compliance. A good one gives compliance two slides and spends the rest on clarification, culture and connection.
What to include in an onboarding presentation: the 12-slide template
A company orientation deck needs 12 slides: welcome, today and this week, why we exist, how we make money, people you will work with in week 1, how we work, tools and access, pay and time off, safety and security, your first 30-60-90 days, your buddy, and questions with tomorrow's plan. Each slide has one job, and the slide title states its point.
| # | Slide | What it must say | Example title or line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Welcome | The cohort's names, their teams, the finish time | "Welcome, January cohort: seven of you, five teams, finished by 11:00" |
| 2 | Today and this week | The agenda in time blocks and what happens after this session, day by day | "This morning is the company; this afternoon is your team" |
| 3 | Why we exist | The mission in one sentence and one real customer the company helped | "We help mid-sized retailers stop running out of stock" |
| 4 | How we make money | Customer, product, price model, revenue, and the two or three numbers everyone should know | "Retailers pay a yearly subscription per store; renewals are 80% of our revenue" |
| 5 | People you will work with in week 1 | Faces, names, roles and what to ask each person | "Six people you will meet this week, and what to ask them" |
| 6 | How we work | Values as behaviours: how meetings, decisions and writing work here | "Decisions are written down: if it is not in the doc, it was not decided" |
| 7 | Tools and access | The systems they log into today, and who to ask when access fails | "By noon you should be in email, chat and the CRM; if not, message IT" |
| 8 | Pay and time off | Pay date, how to book leave, where the full policies are | "You are paid on the 25th; book leave in the HR system; the handbook has the rest" |
| 9 | Safety and security | The three rules that change behaviour from today | "Three rules from day one: turn on two-factor sign-in, badge in, report phishing" |
| 10 | Your first 30-60-90 days | The shared plan template: learn, contribute, own, with check-in dates | "By day 90 you will own real work; your manager fills in the details this week" |
| 11 | Your buddy | Each new hire's buddy, what the buddy is for, how often you meet | "Your buddy is your first call for 'how do I…' questions for 90 days" |
| 12 | Questions and tomorrow | Q&A, then the first meeting tomorrow and where to go | "Tomorrow 9:30: your manager, room 3 or the link in your calendar" |
Three slides are deliberately missing: a long company history (one line on slide 3 is enough), an organisation chart of the whole company (slide 5 replaces it), and the full benefits schedule (a link on slide 8). Twelve slides in 90 minutes is about seven and a half minutes a slide, which leaves room for conversation; our slides-per-minute table shows why a session built for discussion needs fewer slides than a talk of the same length.
How to write the slide titles
Write each title as the sentence a new hire should remember, not as a label. "Benefits" tells them nothing; "You are covered for health insurance from day one; enrol by 31 January" tells them what to do. The same rule runs through our guide to presentation structure: the title states the point, and the body proves or explains it.
The 90-minute new hire orientation agenda
A new hire orientation should last about 90 minutes in person, split into eight blocks: welcome (5 minutes), why we exist (10), how we make money (10), people you will work with (10), how we work (15), essentials (10), your first 90 days (15), and buddy introductions with questions (15). Each block has one owner and a fixed set of slides.
| Minutes | Block | Owner | Slides |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | Welcome and today's plan | HR or People lead (host) | 1–2 |
| 5–15 | Why we exist: mission and one customer story | CEO or a senior leader | 3 |
| 15–25 | How we make money | The same leader, or the finance lead | 4 |
| 25–35 | People you will work with in week 1 | Host | 5 |
| 35–50 | How we work, tools and access | Host, with IT for two minutes | 6–7 |
| 50–60 | Essentials only: pay, time off, safety, security | Host | 8–9 |
| 60–75 | Your first 30-60-90 days | Host presents the template; managers own the details | 10 |
| 75–90 | Buddy introductions and questions | Host, with buddies in the room for the last 15 minutes | 11–12 |
The blocks add up exactly: 5 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 15 + 10 + 15 + 15 = 90 minutes. Run it in the morning, so the afternoon can go to the team and the first working session; a session that ends at 11:00 with a laptop that works and a lunch with the buddy beats a full day of slides.
How long should new hire orientation be?
About 90 minutes for the company session, plus a 45-minute team welcome with the manager in the same week. Longer sessions are possible when they include hands-on work, such as setting up accounts together or a site tour, but the presentation part should stay near 90 minutes. Beyond that, attention drops and the essentials blur into each other. For remote cohorts, split the session in two (see the remote section below).
Run it as a monthly cohort, not one hire at a time
A cohort session on the first working Monday of each month gives every new hire the same story from the same leader and costs HR a fraction of the time. With 18 hires in a quarter, one-to-one orientations take 27 hours of presenter time; three monthly sessions take 4.5. The worked example below shows the arithmetic. Hires who start mid-month get a short welcome from their manager on day one and join the next cohort session.
Who presents at new hire orientation
HR or the People lead hosts the orientation and owns the essentials; a senior leader tells the company story and explains how the company makes money; IT takes two minutes on access; and each new hire's manager owns the role details in a separate team welcome. Buddies join for the last 15 minutes.
| Who | Owns | Time | Why them |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR or People lead | Host; slides 1–2, 5–9, 11–12; the 30-60-90 template | About 70 min | Runs the session every month, so it gets better each time |
| CEO or senior leader | Why we exist; how we make money | 20 min | The story lands differently from someone who decides the strategy |
| Finance lead | How we make money, if the leader cannot attend | 10 min | Can answer "how do we actually earn this?" precisely |
| IT or security | Access check and the security rules | 2–5 min | Fixes access problems in the room rather than by ticket later |
| Manager | Team welcome deck and the 30-60-90 details | 45 min in week 1 | The role's outcomes can only come from the person who sets them |
| Buddy | Introductions, lunch, "how do I…" questions | 15 min, then ongoing | A peer, not a boss, for questions people hesitate to ask a manager |
The manager's part is the one that most often goes missing, and it is the one with the most evidence behind it. In Gallup's research, employees whose managers took an active role in their onboarding were 3.4 times as likely to say the process was successful (Gallup, 2021). That is why the orientation presents only the template of the 30-60-90 day plan and the manager fills it in within the week.
The "how we make money" slide: the one most orientations skip
The "how we make money" slide shows, in one flow, who the customer is, what they buy, how they pay, and which two or three numbers drive revenue. It is the slide most orientations leave out and the one that explains every later decision a new hire will see, from pricing debates to why one customer gets more attention than another.
Build it as a left-to-right flow with four boxes and no more than three numbers:
- Customer.Who pays, in one line: "Mid-sized retailers with 10 to 200 stores".
- What they buy.The product as the customer would describe it, not the internal name: "Stock forecasts for every store, every morning".
- How they pay.The price model: "A yearly subscription per store". If there is more than one model, show the one that earns most.
- What drives revenue.Two or three numbers a new hire should know by heart: number of customers, renewal rate, average contract. Rounded, dated, and cleared by finance for internal use.
- Where you fit.One line per function: sales wins customers, customer success keeps them, engineering makes the forecasts better, finance keeps the price model healthy.
Check the numbers with finance before the first session and put the date on the slide ("as of 31 December 2026"). New hires repeat this slide to friends and family, so it must be correct and must not contain anything confidential beyond what every employee may know.
The who's-who slide: people you will work with in week 1
Replace the company organisation chart with a slide of the five to eight people each new hire will actually work with in week 1, each with a photo, a name, a role and the one thing to ask them. An org chart answers "who reports to whom"; a new hire needs "who do I talk to about what".
| Approach | What the new hire learns | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Org chart | Reporting lines and job titles, most of which they will not meet for months | As a link to the HR system, for reference |
| People you will work with in week 1 | Faces, names and a reason to talk to each person | On the slide, one version per team in a cohort |
| Leadership row | The names and areas of the leadership team, one line each | A strip at the bottom of the same slide, for companies under about 300 people |
For a cohort from several teams, make slide 5 a grid with one column per team, or build one version of the slide per team and show each for a minute. Write the "ask them about" line for each person: "Priya, IT: laptop and access", "Tom, sales operations: CRM fields and reports", "Lina, your buddy: everything else".
Slide or handbook? The rule that keeps policies off the slides
Put something on an orientation slide only if a new hire needs it in week 1 and it changes what they do. If they need it in week 1 but it is a reference fact, send it in a checklist; if it changes behaviour later, teach it when it becomes relevant; if they will only look it up, link to the handbook.
| Item | Week 1? | Changes behaviour? | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-factor sign-in | Yes | Yes | Slide 9, with a two-minute setup in the room |
| Emergency exits, first aid | Yes | Yes | Slide 9 for office and site staff; a walk-through in person |
| How decisions are recorded | Yes | Yes | Slide 6 |
| Pay date | Yes | No | One line on slide 8 and in the day-one checklist |
| Wi-Fi, printers, building hours | Yes | No | Day-one checklist or welcome email |
| Expense claims | Usually no | Yes | The manager, before the first trip or purchase |
| Performance review cycle | No | Yes | The 60-day check-in |
| Full leave and benefits policy | No | No | Handbook link on slide 8 |
| Code of conduct | Read in week 1 | Yes, but too long for slides | Handbook, with acknowledgement in the HR system; one slide line on where to raise concerns |
Legal paperwork belongs to preboarding, not to the slides
Employment paperwork has legal deadlines, and they are deadlines for the employer's process, not content for a presentation. In the United States, the employer must complete Section 2 of Form I-9 within three business days of the employee's date of hire (USCIS). In the United Kingdom, employers must check a job applicant's right to work before employing them (GOV.UK) and must give the principal written statement of employment particulars on the first day of employment (GOV.UK). Schedule these in preboarding and the first morning's admin slot; the orientation deck only needs one line on slide 8: "Your paperwork is done or booked; HR will tell you if anything is missing." Rules differ by country and change, so check your own jurisdiction's official guidance.
The 30-60-90 day plan slide: outcomes, not tasks
A 30-60-90 day onboarding plan sets three outcomes for a new hire: what they will have learned by day 30, what they will contribute by day 60, and what they will own by day 90. On the orientation slide it appears as a shared template; the manager and the new hire fill in the role's version in week 1 and both agree to it.
| Checkpoint | Theme | Write it as an outcome | Not as a task |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | Learn | "Can explain our three main products and our top five customers' goals" | "Complete product training" |
| Day 60 | Contribute | "Has shipped one improvement that a customer or colleague uses" | "Attend sprint meetings" |
| Day 90 | Own | "Owns a defined area of work and reports on it in the team meeting" | "Shadow senior colleagues" |
Each outcome should be something the manager can check with a yes or no at the review. Put the three check-in dates on the slide (for a 4 January start: 3 February, 5 March and 4 April), and add a line at the bottom: "Agreed by [manager] and [new hire] on [date]". That signature line turns the slide from a wish list into a plan. If you are on the other side of this conversation, our job interview presentation guide shows how candidates present their own 30-60-90 plan.
The manager's team welcome deck: 8 slides for week 1
The team welcome deck is a short presentation the manager gives each new hire, alone or with the team, in the first week: eight slides in about 45 minutes, covering the team's purpose, its people, its current work, its rituals, the role's 30-60-90 outcomes, the first task and how the two of them will work together.
| # | Slide | What it must say |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Welcome to the team | The new hire's name and role, and why the team hired for it now |
| 2 | What the team is for | The team's purpose in one sentence and the one or two numbers it is measured on |
| 3 | Who is who | Each team member, what they work on, and what to ask them |
| 4 | What we are working on | This quarter's priorities and where the new role fits |
| 5 | How the team works | Meetings, channels, response times, where documents live |
| 6 | Your 30-60-90 days | The filled-in plan, ready to agree and sign |
| 7 | Your first task | One small, real piece of work with a due date in week 1 or 2 |
| 8 | How we will work together | The weekly one-to-one, how to reach the manager, how feedback works |
The first task is the slide new hires remember. Make it small enough to finish in a few days and real enough that someone uses the result: a fix to a help article, a first customer call note, a reviewed pull request. The team welcome deck has the same shape as a project kickoff presentation: purpose, people, plan, how we work, first milestone.
Onboarding presentation ideas by role
Keep the company orientation the same for everyone and vary two slides by role: the 30-60-90 plan and the first task. Sales hires need their quota ramp, engineers their first change in production, frontline and shift staff their safety and shift rules, and remote hires their tools and people.
| Role | Slide that changes | What to show | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 30-60-90 as a quota ramp | Monthly target as a share of full quota, month by month | 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% of a $50,000 monthly quota in months 1–4 |
| Engineering | First task | The first change shipped to production, with a reviewer named | "First pull request merged by day 5; first on-call shadow in month 2" |
| Customer success | 30-60-90 | Shadowing, then accounts owned, then the first business review | Shadow 10 calls by day 30, own 15 accounts by day 60, run a QBR by day 90 |
| Frontline and shift | Safety and security | Site safety, shift swaps, breaks, who the supervisor is on each shift | A 10-minute site walk replaces two slides |
| Managers | How we work | Hiring, approvals and performance cycles they now own | "You approve leave and expenses for six people from week 2" |
| Remote | Tools and access; people | Every tool tested live; video introductions instead of a walk around | Five-minute calls with each person on slide 5 in week 1 |
For frontline and shift-based staff, the cohort session usually has to fit a shift pattern. Run it at the start of the first shift, cut slides 6 and 7 to one slide, and put the time into the site walk; slides cannot teach where the fire exit is as well as walking past it.
How to run orientation for remote and hybrid employees
For remote employees, split the 90-minute orientation into two 45-minute video sessions on consecutive days, make cameras optional, plan one interactive moment about every ten minutes, and send equipment and log-ins before day one, so the first session never starts with a laptop that does not work.
| Session | Slides | Interactive moments |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1, 45 min | 1–7: welcome, plan, why we exist, how we make money, people, how we work, tools | Introductions in the chat; a poll on "which customer do you think pays most?"; a live access check with IT |
| Day 2, 45 min | 8–12: pay and time off, safety and security, 30-60-90, buddy, questions | Two-factor setup together; buddies join for a breakout; questions collected in the chat first |
Send the slides after each session, not before, so the session is not a reading exercise. Record the leader's "why we exist" and "how we make money" segments once a quarter for hires who join between cohorts, but keep the live session for questions; a recording cannot answer "so who pays for this?". For hybrid cohorts, have everyone join from their own laptop, even those in the office, so remote hires are not watching a meeting room.
Accessibility and language in an orientation deck
An orientation deck should work for every new hire: live captions for spoken sessions, text with enough contrast, slides that make sense without colour, and versions in the languages the cohort reads best. The W3C's WCAG 2.2 sets these as Level AA success criteria for web content, and they are a sensible baseline for slides too.
- Captions on every video session.WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.4 asks for captions on all live audio in synchronised media (W3C, WCAG 2.2). Turn on the meeting tool's captions and test them before the session.
- Contrast of at least 4.5:1 for body text.The ratio in success criterion 1.4.3. Light grey text on a white slide usually fails it.
- Large text, short lines.If a slide needs text smaller than about 24 points to fit, it has too much on it; move the detail to the handbook.
- Meaning without colour.The 30-60-90 slide labels each stage in words, not only in green, amber and red.
- Photos with names.Every face on the people slide has a name and role in text, which also helps screen-reader users when you send the file.
- The deck in the cohort's languages.For a mixed cohort, send a translated copy after the session; translate the essentials slides first.
Run the full set of checks in our presentation accessibility checklist before the first cohort. For teams in the Gulf and elsewhere that onboard in two languages, our guide to bilingual Arabic-English presentations covers the layout choices.
How to measure an onboarding presentation: a day-one pulse and a 30-day check
Measure an orientation with five questions at the end of day one and three at day 30, each with a pass mark. A question that misses its pass mark points to a slide or a step to fix before the next cohort; the goal is a better session next month, not a satisfaction score.
| When | Question | Answer scale | Pass mark | If it fails, fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | I know what I am doing tomorrow morning | Yes / No | 90% yes | Slide 12 and the manager's calendar invite |
| Day 1 | I can explain how the company makes money | 1–5 | Average 4.0 | Slide 4 |
| Day 1 | I know who to ask for help with access, my role and everything else | 1–5 | Average 4.0 | Slides 5 and 11 |
| Day 1 | All my tools worked by the end of the day | Yes / No | 90% yes | Preboarding and slide 7 |
| Day 1 | What should we cut or add? | Free text | Read every answer | Whatever three people mention |
| Day 30 | My manager and I agreed my 30-60-90 plan in week 1 | Yes / No | 100% yes | The manager's team welcome |
| Day 30 | I have met my buddy at least three times | Yes / No | 80% yes | Buddy briefing |
| Day 30 | Looking back, what from orientation did I actually use? | Free text | Read every answer | Cut what nobody mentions after three cohorts |
The pass marks are editorial starting points, not industry benchmarks; set your own after the first two cohorts. With small cohorts, read the counts rather than the percentages: in a cohort of seven, one "no" is 14 points.
Worked example: Tidewell's January 2027 orientation
Tidewell is a 140-person B2B software company that sells stock-forecasting software to mid-sized retailers. It will hire 18 people between January and March 2027: seven start on Monday 4 January, six on Monday 1 February and five on Monday 1 March. Nadia Rahman, People lead, is building the orientation deck in December.
Step 1: choose cohorts over one-to-one sessions
Until now, Nadia has given each new hire a one-to-one orientation of about 90 minutes. For 18 hires that is 18 × 1.5 hours = 27 hours of her time in a quarter. Three monthly cohort sessions of 90 minutes take 3 × 1.5 = 4.5 hours, saving 22.5 hours, or 83% (22.5 ÷ 27 = 0.833). The CEO's 20 minutes on the company story falls from 18 × 20 = 360 minutes (6 hours) to 3 × 20 = 60 minutes (1 hour). Each manager still gives a 45-minute team welcome to each of their new hires.
| Format | Sessions | HR hours | CEO hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | 18 × 90 min | 27.0 | 6.0 |
| Monthly cohort | 3 × 90 min | 4.5 | 1.0 |
| Saved | 15 fewer sessions | 22.5 (83%) | 5.0 (83%) |
Step 2: the money slide and the people slide
Slide 4 reads: "Retailers pay a yearly subscription per store; renewals are most of our revenue", with a four-box flow (retailer, daily stock forecast, yearly per-store subscription, renewals) and a footer noting that its numbers are cleared by finance for internal use. Slide 5 has one column per team in the cohort; the January cohort spans five teams, so it shows five columns of up to three faces each, with an "ask them about" line under each name.
Step 3: the sales ramp on the role slide
Two January hires are account executives with an annual quota of $600,000, which is $50,000 a month (600,000 ÷ 12). Their ramp is 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the monthly quota in months 1 to 4: $12,500, $25,000, $37,500 and $50,000. Over the first four months, each is expected to close $125,000 (12,500 + 25,000 + 37,500 + 50,000), which is 62.5% of four full months at quota ($125,000 ÷ $200,000). Showing the ramp on the slide tells a new account executive, in numbers, that nobody expects full quota in January.
Step 4: the 30-60-90 for a customer success hire
For Omar, a customer success manager starting on 4 January, his manager fills in the template in week 1: by day 30 (3 February), shadow 10 customer calls and explain the top five customers' goals; by day 60 (5 March), own 15 accounts; by day 90 (4 April), run his first quarterly business review on his own. Both sign the slide on Friday 8 January.
Step 5: the pulse after the first cohort
After the January session, six of seven new hires (86%) say they know what they are doing tomorrow morning, below the 90% pass mark. The one "no" had no calendar invite from the manager. Nadia adds a line to the managers' checklist: "Send the day-two invite before the orientation starts", and adds the first meeting's time and room to slide 12 for each team. In February, all six answer yes.
| Slide | Title in Tidewell's deck |
|---|---|
| 1 | Welcome, January cohort: seven of you, five teams, finished by 11:00 |
| 3 | We help mid-sized retailers stop running out of stock |
| 4 | Retailers pay a yearly subscription per store; renewals are most of our revenue |
| 5 | The people you will work with this week, and what to ask each of them |
| 9 | Three rules from today: two-factor sign-in, badge in, report phishing |
| 10 | By 4 April you will own real work; your manager fills in the details this week |
| 12 | Tomorrow at 9:30 you start with your manager |
Here are two slides from this article's worked example, as NOXI built them, unedited.
Seven mistakes that make an onboarding presentation forgettable
The seven most common mistakes in onboarding presentations are reading policies aloud, a full organisation chart, no explanation of how the company makes money, no plan beyond day one, a manager who never appears, slides overloaded with text, and no way to learn from each cohort.
- Policies read aloud.Fix: apply the slide-or-handbook rule; essentials get 10 minutes, the rest is a link.
- The whole org chart.Fix: people you will work with in week 1, with what to ask each.
- No money slide.Fix: one flow from customer to revenue, with two or three dated numbers.
- Nothing after day one.Fix: the 30-60-90 slide with check-in dates, and tomorrow's first meeting on the last slide.
- No manager.Fix: a team welcome deck in week 1 and a signed 30-60-90 plan by Friday.
- Walls of text.Fix: one point per slide, the point in the title, detail in the handbook.
- No feedback loop.Fix: the five-question pulse, and one change to the deck after every cohort.
Many of the same habits apply to a company-wide meeting; our all-hands meeting presentation guide is a good place to introduce each new cohort to everyone else, with every joiner named.
Key terms
Three AI prompts for an onboarding presentation
The three prompts below turn the documents you already have into the orientation deck. Replace the brackets with your own facts, attach your handbook and last year's deck, and check every number with HR and finance before the first session.
Build a 12-slide new hire orientation deck for [company], a [size and type of company], for a cohort of [number] new hires starting on [date]. Use the attached employee handbook and last year's deck as the only sources. Slides: welcome; today and this week; why we exist; how we make money (customer, product, price model, [two numbers]); people you will work with in week 1; how we work; tools and access; pay and time off; safety and security (three rules only); your first 30-60-90 days; your buddy; questions and tomorrow. Each title is a full sentence a new hire should remember. Leave detailed policies out and add a line pointing to the handbook instead.
Create an 8-slide team welcome deck for [new hire name], joining the [team] team as [role] on [date]. Slides: welcome and why we hired for this role now; what the team is for and [the one or two numbers it is measured on]; who is who, with what to ask each person [names and topics]; this quarter's priorities; how the team works [meetings, channels]; the 30-60-90 plan with these outcomes [day 30, day 60, day 90] and a sign-off line; the first task [task and due date]; how we will work together [one-to-one day and time]. Use the style of the attached company template.
Split this orientation deck into two 45-minute sessions for remote hires: slides 1–7 on day one and 8–12 on day two. Add one interactive moment about every ten minutes (a chat question, a poll, a live setup step) as a small instruction box on the slide where it happens. Then make a separate [Arabic] version of the essentials slides (pay and time off, safety and security, questions and tomorrow), keeping every date, number and name exactly as they are.
How to build an onboarding presentation in NOXI
NOXI builds a full deck from your documents or a brief and can match the style of a template you already use. It is free, with no card and no watermark; uploading files needs a free account, and a full deck uses about 25 of the 1,000 monthly credits.
Step 1: Upload the handbook and last year's deck
Choose Create from file and attach your employee handbook as a PDF or Word file, last year's orientation deck as PowerPoint, and any spreadsheet with the cohort's names and teams. NOXI accepts PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, CSV, text and image files up to 200 MB each, and turns them into a structured deck.
Step 2: Match your company template
Choose Match reference and attach your company PowerPoint template, a recent deck as PPTX or PDF, or a screenshot of a slide you like. NOXI designs the orientation deck in that style, so it looks like the rest of the company's material on day one.
Step 3: Review the 12-slide outline first
Paste Prompt 1 and choose Plan mode to see the outline before anything is generated. Check that the outline follows the 12 slides, that policies appear as handbook links rather than slides, and that every title is a sentence; then generate and watch each slide being built.
Step 4: Refine the money and people slides
Ask for changes in plain English or Arabic, such as "turn slide 4 into a four-box flow from customer to revenue". Upload and crop your team's own photos on the people slide, edit text and tables right on the slide, or click any element and tell the AI what to change.
Step 5: Make the team and language versions
Invite each hiring manager by email as an editor so they can fill in their team's people and the 30-60-90 outcomes, and edit together in real time. For a mixed-language cohort, use Translate a deck to create a separate Arabic or English version; version history lets you restore an earlier version or make a copy.
Step 6: Present, share and export
Present full-screen from NOXI in the room or on a video call, share a view-only link with the cohort after the session, and download an editable PowerPoint (.pptx) with embedded fonts or a PDF, free and with no watermark, for the HR system.
Frequently asked questions
- What should be included in an onboarding presentation?
- Include twelve things: a welcome, the plan for today and the week, why the company exists, how it makes money, the people the new hire works with in week 1, how work gets done, tools and access, pay and time off, safety and security rules, the 30-60-90 day plan, the buddy, and questions with tomorrow's first meeting. Leave detailed policies, the full org chart and long company history to the handbook.
- How long should a new hire orientation be?
- About 90 minutes for the company presentation, followed by a 45-minute team welcome with the manager in the same week. A typical split is 5 minutes of welcome, 10 each for the mission, the business model and the people, 15 for how work gets done, 10 for essentials, 15 for the first 90 days and 15 for the buddy and questions. For remote hires, run two 45-minute sessions.
- How many slides should an onboarding presentation have?
- About 12 slides for a 90-minute company orientation, and 8 for the manager's team welcome. That is about seven and a half minutes a slide, which leaves time for introductions, a live access check and questions. If the deck grows past 15 slides, the extra slides are usually policies that belong in the handbook as links.
- What is the difference between orientation and onboarding?
- Orientation is a single session, usually on the first day, that welcomes new employees and covers the essentials of the first week. Onboarding is the longer process it starts, typically planned over the first 90 days, with learning, first contributions and check-ins. Gallup notes that new employees usually take around 12 months to reach peak performance, so orientation is only the opening step.
- How do you make an onboarding presentation engaging?
- Cut the policy slides, give the business model its own slide, and replace the org chart with the people each new hire will meet in week 1. Have a senior leader tell the company story, plan an interactive moment about every ten minutes, such as a live setup step or a question to the room, and end with the buddy introductions and tomorrow's plan rather than a list of rules.
- What do you say in a welcome presentation for new employees?
- Welcome each person by name, say why the company hired for their role now, and explain in one sentence what the company is for and how it makes money. Tell them what happens today, tomorrow and this week, who their buddy is and who to ask about what. Close with what you hope they will have achieved by day 90 and when you will next check in.
- Who should present at new hire orientation?
- HR or the People lead should host and present the essentials; a CEO or senior leader should tell the company story and explain how the company makes money; IT should spend a few minutes on access; and each manager should run a separate team welcome in week 1. Buddies should join for the last 15 minutes so every new hire meets theirs before lunch.
- What is a 30-60-90 day onboarding plan?
- A 30-60-90 day onboarding plan sets three outcomes for a new hire's first three months: what they will have learned by day 30, what they will contribute by day 60 and what they will own by day 90. The manager and the new hire agree it in week 1, write each goal so it can be checked with a yes or no, and review it at each checkpoint.
- How do you run orientation for remote employees?
- Send equipment and log-ins before day one, then split the 90-minute orientation into two 45-minute video sessions on consecutive days. Turn on live captions, keep cameras optional, plan an interactive moment about every ten minutes, introduce buddies in a breakout room and send the slides after each session. Record the leader's segments for hires who join between cohorts.
Sources & methodology
How this guide was made: it combines published research and official guidance on onboarding, employment paperwork and accessibility with everyday HR practice. The 12-slide template, the 90-minute agenda, the slide-or-handbook rule, the team welcome deck, the role variants and the pulse questions with their pass marks are editorial recommendations, not published standards. Tidewell and every name and figure in the worked example are fictional. All sources were checked on 14 October 2026.
- [1] Only 12% of US employees say their company does a good job of onboarding; 29% of new hires feel fully prepared and supported to excel; employees whose managers took an active role were 3.4 times as likely to call onboarding successful; new employees typically take around 12 months to reach peak performance potential — Emily Wetherell and Bailey Nelson, 8 Practical Tips for Leaders for a Better Onboarding Process, Gallup (12 August 2021).
- [2] Onboarding extends before and beyond the first day and should not be treated as a one-day or one-week event — Gallup, Why the Onboarding Experience Is Key for Retention.
- [3] Talya Bauer's four levels of onboarding: compliance, clarification, culture and connection — Arlene S. Hirsch, Don't Underestimate the Importance of Good Onboarding, SHRM (10 August 2017).
- [4] Employers complete Section 2 of Form I-9 within 3 business days of the date of hire — USCIS, Completing Section 2, Employer Review and Attestation (last reviewed 18 September 2026).
- [5] Employers must check a job applicant's right to work in the UK before employing them — GOV.UK, Check a job applicant's right to work.
- [6] The principal written statement of employment particulars is due on the first day of employment, the wider statement within 2 months — GOV.UK, Employment contracts: written statement of employment particulars.
- [7] Success criteria 1.2.4 Captions (Live) and 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum, 4.5:1), both Level AA; WCAG 2.2 published 5 October 2023, updated 12 December 2024 — W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2.
Build your onboarding presentation in NOXI, free: upload the handbook and last year's deck, get the 12-slide orientation in your company template, and export an editable PowerPoint or PDF for the January cohort.
