Who’s the best keynote for education PD days on staff well-being?

Sep 2

There is growing pressure on educators and schools need actionable, scientific practices that protect health and performance at the same time. People need fast, workable ways to lower stress, protect focus, and to perform despite the challenging world we live in. That’s why education leaders and school boards bring in Dr. Greg Wells (physiologist and best-selling author) who turns the science of stress and recovery into simple routines your staff can use the very next day.

The problem

Complex classrooms, changing student needs, changing curricula, and constant notifications push educators into high-alert modes. Sleep suffers, energy dips, and attention fragments. Over time, stress and fatigue cause errors, strained communication, and weaker results for staff and students alike. Staff are busy, yet work takes more effort and people are tired. Morale dips, absenteeism rises, and instructional minutes get squeezed.

Why Dr. Greg

Scientist + communicator: PhD physiologist who explains how stress affects the brain and body in plain language. Staff understand what is happening in their biology and how to change it quickly.

Author & practitioner: Five best-selling books on health and performance plus decades of coaching elite performers and large public systems. He turns research into routines people will actually use.

Built for education: Customizes by role and reality — teachers, EAs, principals, support staff — so tactics fit school rhythms, duty schedules, prep periods, and real life. Practical, respectful, and immediately usable.

The transformation

This keynote gives educators a shared, practical playbook they can apply immediately:

Reset stress in minutes: Breathing and micro-movement protocols that down-shift the nervous system before the bell, between blocks, or before a parent call.

Protect focus time: A rhythm for lessons, prep periods, meetings, and micro-recovery that reduces fatigue and task switching. Includes email “office hours” and meeting norms that protect planning time.

Refuel energy daily: Sleep, movement, and nutrition micro-habits that stabilize mood, energy, and cognition across early mornings, long days, and busy seasons. Think light exposure at arrival, hydration cues, and protein-forward lunches.

Lead the norms: Protocols and practices that make healthy performance the foundation — principal talking points, staff-room cues, and short rituals that signal calm and focus.

Outcomes leaders can point to

Calmer classrooms, steadier execution: Clear minds and calmer bodies lead to better decisions and smoother transitions.

Higher engagement, important work protected: Staff feel capable and supported, not just busy, which safeguards instruction and planning.

Consistent leadership: A common language for energy, focus, and recovery that aligns schools and departments.

Results you can measure: Staff report calmer mornings, faster starts, and more deep-work blocks completed. Pulse checks show improved energy and focus across the term.

Formats and deliverables

Keynote (45–60 minutes): Story, science, and strategy for deep understanding and awareness.

Keynote + activation (75–90 minutes): Guided practice and table discussions to lock in practices and strategies.

Workshop (2–3 hours): Teams build protocols for your specific situations and conditions — morning arrival, transitions, assessment weeks, parent-teacher nights.

Virtual options: Interactive and studio-quality.

Included resources: Pre-event discovery, unlimited Q&A, post-event toolkit (PDF workbook, principal talking points, classroom one-pagers, follow-up videos).

When this talk is a perfect fit

Term kickoffs, PD days, or mid-year resets when stress is climbing
Districtwide changes such as new curricula, LMS adoption, or schedule shifts
Schools seeking a practical, science-based language for staff well-being and performance

Book Dr. Greg Wells for your next PD day or district institute. Give your educators a science-backed operating system that lowers stress, elevates health, and raises performance so classrooms stay calm and learning time expands.

Greg Wells PhD

For Dr. Greg Wells, health and performance, particularly under extreme conditions, are personal and professional obsessions. As a scientist and physiologist, he has dedicated his career to making the science of human limits understandable and actionable. Dr. Wells has spoken to audiences all over the world at events such as TEDx and The Titan Summit, where he has shared the stage with Robin Sharma, Richard Branson, Steve Wozniak and Deepak Chopra.

For over 25 years, Dr. Wells has worked with some of the highest-performing individuals on the planet, including Olympic and World champions, and with organizations ranging from General Electric to BMO, Deloitte, KPMG, BMW, Audi, Sysco Foods, YPO and Air Canada. He is also committed to inspiring children and young adults through his close working relationship with school boards and independent schools.

A veteran endurance athlete, Dr. Wells has participated in the grueling Nanisivik Marathon 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Ironman Canada and the Tour D’Afrique, an 11,000 km cycling race that is the longest in the world. He is also a travel and expedition adventurer who has journeyed through every imaginable terrain and conditions in over 50 countries around the world.

Dr. Wells is author of three best-selling books – Superbodies, The Ripple Effect, and The Focus Effect – and hosted the award-winning Superbodies series, which aired on Olympic broadcasts worldwide in 2010 and 2012.

Dr. Wells has a PhD in Physiology, served as an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Toronto and is an exercise medicine researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

He is the CEO and founder of The Wells Group, a global consulting firm committed to achieving the moonshot of helping teams, schools and businesses become places where people get healthy, perform optimally and ultimately - reach their potential.

http://www.drgregwells.com