Why use Slido for onboarding?
It gets quiet people to participate.
Slido lets people share their thoughts anonymously from their phones, which leads to more honest and often funnier responses. The results turn into a shared moment that the whole room can react to together.
Here are 50 ready-to-use Slido questions for your next onboarding session, organized by format.
1. Word cloud questions
One word answers that build a visual together.
Word clouds are the best place to start. They are fast, visual, and low pressure. Everyone submits one word and the screen lights up with the group's collective answer. Great for the first five minutes when people are still settling in.
1. Describe your first job in one word.
2. One word for how you feel right now on day one.
3. What is one word your closest friend would use to describe you?
4. Describe your morning routine in one word.
5. One word for what you are most looking forward to in this role.
6. Describe your ideal Friday afternoon in one word.
7. One word for your current energy level.
8. Describe your relationship with coffee in one word.
9. One word for the city or town you grew up in.
10. What is one word for the skill you are most proud of?
2. Multiple choice polls
Funny options that get a reaction when results hit the screen.
Multiple choice polls are where you get the laughs. Give people four options that are all a little too relatable and watch the room react when they see where everyone lands.
11. Your working style is closest to:
- A) Early bird who is done by 3pm
- B) Slow starter who hits their stride after lunch
- C) Chaotic sprinter who somehow meets every deadline
- D) I have no idea, ask me in 90 days
12. When a meeting could have been an email, you:
- A) Smile politely and take thorough notes
- B) Mentally rewrite the entire agenda
- C) Doodle until it is mercifully over
- D) Quietly calculate how many hours of your life this is costing
13. Your desk setup is best described as:
- A) Perfectly organized with matching accessories
- B) Organized chaos that only I understand
- C) Whatever flat surface is closest to the fridge
- D) I exclusively work from coffee shops
14. Your relationship with your inbox is:
- A) Zero unread, always, without exception
- B) 4,000 unread, zero regrets
- C) I archive everything and pray
- D) What inbox?
15. When you get stuck on a problem at work, you:
- A) Google it immediately
- B) Sit with it until the answer comes to you in the shower
- C) Ask the nearest human for help
- D) Make a cup of tea and pretend it will solve itself
16. Your lunch break strategy is:
- A) Meal prepped and ready to go
- B) Whatever is closest and fastest
- C) I eat at my desk while working, do not judge me
- D) Lunch is a social event and I take the full hour
17. In group projects, you naturally become:
- A) The one making the agenda and assigning tasks
- B) The one executing quietly and delivering on time
- C) The one keeping everyone's spirits up
- D) The one asking if we really need to do all of this
18. Your approach to a new tool or software is:
- A) Read the full documentation before touching anything
- B) Click around until it makes sense
- C) Watch one YouTube tutorial and wing it
- D) Find the person who already knows it and follow them around
19. When someone says there is a team social after work, you:
- A) Already have it in your calendar and you are excited
- B) Go but mentally check out by 8pm
- C) Attend once and assess before committing to future ones
- D) Politely RSVP yes and then reassess on the day
20. Your relationship with deadlines is:
- A) Done early, always, it is a personality trait
- B) Done right on time, not a minute before
- C) Done slightly after but with a very good explanation
- D) The deadline is a suggestion and the extension is the real deadline
21. How do you prefer to receive feedback?
- A) Direct and immediate, do not sugarcoat it
- B) Written so I can process it at my own pace
- C) In a one-on-one where I can ask questions
- D) Positive sandwich: good, bad, good
22. Your note-taking style is:
- A) Color-coded, organized, borderline obsessive
- B) Whatever app is open on my phone
- C) Scraps of paper I will never find again
- D) I rely entirely on memory and regret it constantly
23. When you do not know the answer, you:
- A) Say so immediately and go find it
- B) Give my best guess with appropriate caveats
- C) Stall with a follow-up question while I think
- D) Panic internally while looking calm externally
24. Your ideal work environment is:
- A) Completely silent with headphones in
- B) Light background noise like a coffee shop
- C) Music on, fairly loud, high energy
- D) Wherever nobody can find me to add things to my plate
25. When onboarding documentation says 'this will take 30 minutes,' it actually takes you:
- A) 20 minutes because I read fast
- B) 30 minutes because I follow instructions
- C) 90 minutes because I read every footnote
- D) 5 minutes because I scroll to the end and wing it
3. Open text questions
Specific prompts that get surprising, real answers.
Open text questions are where the real gold is. These are the answers that people read out loud, react to, and remember later. Use these after the room has warmed up with word clouds and multiple choice.
26. What is a skill you have that has nothing to do with your job title?
27. What is the most unusual thing on your desk right now?
28. What did you want to be when you grew up, and how close did you get?
29. What is one thing you are genuinely better at than most people you know?
30. What show or podcast are you currently unable to stop recommending?
31. What is something you have surprisingly strong opinions about that has nothing to do with work?
32. What is the best piece of career advice you have ever received?
33. What is a fun fact about you that nobody would guess from your resume?
34. What is a hobby or interest that people are always surprised to learn about you?
35. What was your very first job and what did it teach you?
36. What is one thing you wish every workplace did?
37. What is your go-to order at a coffee shop?
38. What is a book, film, or article that genuinely changed how you think about something?
39. If you could instantly become an expert in something outside your field, what would it be?
40. What is the most useful thing you taught yourself?
41. What is one thing on your bucket list that is actually achievable?
42. What is a food you could eat every single day and never get tired of?
43. What is something you are currently learning or trying to get better at?
44. What would your colleagues from your last job say about you in one sentence?
45. What is the most interesting city or place you have ever worked from?
4. This or that questions
Fast, fun, and great for reading the room.
This or that questions are perfect for the last stretch of your Slido session. They are quick to answer and the results always split the room in a satisfying way. Run two or three of these back to back to close out on a high note.
46. Morning person or night owl?
- A) Morning person, absolutely
- B) Night owl, without question
47. Remote work or in the office?
- A) Remote all the way
- B) In the office where the energy is
- C) Hybrid, I want both and I will not apologize
48. Overcommunicator or undercommunicator?
- A) Overcommunicator, I send the update before anyone asks
- B) Undercommunicator, I assume no news is good news
49. Planner or improviser?
- A) Planner, I have a plan for the plan
- B) Improviser, I do my best work on the fly
50. Headphones in means do not disturb or just background noise?
- A) Headphones in means I am in the zone, leave me alone
- B) Headphones in is just how I listen to music, talk to me freely
How many should you actually run?
Three to five questions is all you need.
You do not need to run all 50. This list is a menu, not a checklist.
Pick one word cloud question to open with, one or two multiple choice questions to get the laughs going, and one open text question that has the potential to surprise people. That is a 10 to 15 minute block that will shift the energy in the room without eating into the rest of your onboarding agenda.
Save the rest of the list for your next session, your next all-hands, or your next team meeting opener. Having a bank of 50 means you never have to think about this again.
What Slido cannot do
It connects people to a screen, not to each other.
Slido is genuinely great at what it does. It gets participation from people who would never raise their hand. It gives introverts an equal voice. And it makes the answers visible in a way that creates shared reactions.
But here is the thing. Everyone is looking at the screen, not at each other.
After a Slido icebreaker session, most new hires know a few fun facts about the group. What they often do not have is an actual one-on-one conversation with a single colleague. They have reacted to answers on a screen, but they have not really met anyone.
What fills that gap?
Jam Bingo App - get people talking face to face.
After you wrap your Slido questions, run Jam Bingo. It takes the warmth that Slido creates in the room and converts it into actual conversations between real people.
What does the full session look like?
Slido warms the room. Jam Bingo fills it.
Here is what a 30 minute onboarding icebreaker block looks like when you run both tools together.
- Minutes 0 to 5: Welcome new hires and open your first Slido word cloud. Keep it light. 'Describe your first job in one word' is a great opener.
- Minutes 5 to 15: Run two or three more Slido questions. Mix a funny multiple choice with an open text question. React to the results together as a group.
- Minutes 15 to 30: Switch to Jam Bingo. Display the QR code on screen, give everyone 60 seconds to join, and let them loose. They have 15 minutes to complete as many squares as possible.
By the time that 30 minutes is up, every person in the room has laughed at something together and had at least three or four real conversations with people they did not know an hour ago. That is a completely different starting point for the rest of the day than a round of introductions would have given you.
Build your session
Start with the questions, then add the game.
Pick three to five questions from the list above and load them into Slido before your onboarding session. Then set up your Jam Bingo game with prompts tailored to your team and have the QR code ready to go.
Neither one takes more than a few minutes to set up. And together, they turn the most awkward hour of any new hire's first week into the part they actually remember.