Back to back meetings

Ever since Covid, video conferences have become the norm for a lot of work meetings. They’re obviously essential if you’re working remotely but they also mean you don’t have to move around a building getting to and from meeting rooms – so far so excellent. But there’s another feature of video conference working that you might have noticed which is that in losing the need to move yourself from place to place you also lose any gap between meetings at all. It’s not unknown to go from meeting to meeting continuously for an entire day with each one ending exactly as the next starts. It can be overwhelming, not to mention extremely uncomfortable if you don’t get any loo breaks…

If you’re autistic, you may well need rest breaks in your work day, or to have your camera off in work meetings to avoid being overwhelmed by sensory input. But I also find that the sheer unremitting grind of back to back meetings can be too much. Each meeting itself is OK – in fact I’ve found the structure imposed by meetings where you know what you’re going to be discussing and with who rather helpful. But having to concentrate continuously with no breaks is absolutely shattering. And I really do have to concentrate because I have to think out every communication – including facial expressions and body language – rather than relying on instinct. As an autistic person, I just don’t seem to have the necessary instincts.

Just having a few minutes to switch from concentrating on one thing to another can be an immense blessing. Autistic people sometimes concentrate very deeply and it’s difficult for us to switch from one focus to another. I find it really hard to tolerate if I’m trying to concentrate but have to keep dipping into something else as well. It can take a few minutes to turn off one train of thought and engage the next. So swapping from (say) a high powered discussion on government policy in a split second to a really sensitive discussion about staffing levels can be far far more draining than if there were a few minutes between the two subject areas in which my brain could re-set.

It can be hard to get a grip on your calendar and to avoid having unremitting back to back meetings all day. Some days I just can’t avoid it. But simply knowing that endless meetings are really draining for me and making an effort to build in gaps between them can be liberating. I’ll still feel shattered at the end of a day of meetings but at least I won’t have to feel that it’s my fault I’m shattered. It’s just one of those autism things that talking to people is work and quite hard work too.