 Hands up, who likes a meeting? Now teachers spend a significant proportion of their time in meetings, which is a huge workload problem. But what if these meetings are not as productive as we think? Now I think when I was a deputy I'd teach us 16 hours a week in meetings, excessive meetings can lead to increased stress and decreased focus. Research from Microsoft shows that back-to-back meetings with breaks increase stress levels and reduce engagement. I'll talk about this graphic in a moment. When leaders implement short, regular breaks into their training sessions and into appraisal or line management meetings, the approach mirrors this research from Microsoft labs, which also mirrors effective classroom practice, allowing students in particular periods of reflection and also some time to process information. Shorter meetings are more efficient and those that have breaks can lead to better focus, productivity and engagement benefit in teachers and students. This top line here represents no breaks between various meetings and also producing more anxiety and stress. If we consider the cost of longer meetings and the impact on teacher well-being, what detrimental value are they having to recruitment and retention in your school? If we experiment with shorter sessions and regular short breaks in between the longer period of meeting time, your productivity and results improve. You can thank me later if you do this approach. I already do it in my teacher training. If you want to read a little bit more information, read the blog Teachers, Take a Brain Break and you can thank me later.