What is Zoom Etiquette?

Years ago in my career after joining a new organization following an acquisition, I had to pass a sales test: present the company slide deck convincingly enough to be considered customer-ready. I think I passed on my third attempt, after watching several strong examples, rehearsing intensely, and receiving direct coaching. The message was clear—this company had high expectations for how their people represented them. And they were willing to invest in that standard.

I left that experience not frustrated, but grateful. The rigor, the preparation, the shared expectations—all of it gave me confidence. I felt ready.

I imagine most people who step into client-facing roles at large organizations have a similar experience. Maybe they don’t need three tries like I did, but they still benefit from structured practice, mentorship, and a shared standard of quality.

Most of that training, though, tends to focus on the message itself: the deck, the product, the story. Once I was live in the field, things shifted. I found myself working alongside people I had never met before—Solutions Consultants, Engineers, Customer Success Managers, Legal, Executive Sponsors. Round-robin assignments meant less continuity. Some combinations clicked, others didn’t.

And that’s when it hit me: while I had been trained to deliver my part of the show, there was no guidance on how we should all work together.

This isn’t a knock on any specific company—it’s a structural gap I’ve seen across the board. Cross-functional training absolutely exists, and it teaches many of the right things: how to work across departments, how to speak to technical details, how to handle objections. But that training is almost always grounded in specific deal scenarios or solution details. What’s often missing is training on the performative aspect of virtual meetings—the mechanics of how we show up, hand off, and present ourselves as a coherent team in the medium of Zoom itself.

I was taught how to quarterback a deal. But I wasn’t taught how to coach my team on how to run the plays with me. Not plays about what we sell—plays about how we sell, how we present, and how we move as a unit on screen.

That’s where Zoom Etiquette comes in.

Zoom Etiquette is a coaching system. Not a list of tips or guidelines. A system. One that treats the virtual meeting as a performance environment, with its own dynamics, cues, and plays. Much in the way the West Coast offense differs from the Shanahan system in football, Zoom Etiquette is a way of training and executing as a unit—on camera, in real time.

Take this example: if I tell a team, "This is a Tier 1 call," the assumption is that everyone understands it’s serious. That’s not enough. With Zoom Etiquette, declaring a "Tier 1" call comes with clear, shared expectations. It means everyone shows up on camera, wearing branded attire or business-appropriate clothing. It means company-branded virtual backgrounds are used. It means cameras are eye-level, attention is locked in, and no one is multitasking or distracted. These details aren’t cosmetic—they’re performative. And they matter.

Because the truth is: most teams don’t lose deals because their slide deck was weak. They lose because they didn’t look like a team. The handoffs were messy. The hierarchy was unclear. The preparation was fragmented.

Zoom Etiquette fixes that.

It gives individuals the tools to present themselves like professionals. It gives teams the structure to operate like a unit. And it gives organizations a way to turn their Zoom calls from chaotic to choreographed.

What if your next big call felt like a team in sync, instead of a set of smart people all doing their own thing?

That’s what Zoom Etiquette is about.