What Speed Dating is all about?

Most of us have only seen speed dating in movies and TV, where it’s portrayed as possibly the most godawful experience on the planet. Speed Dating makes sense, though. It’s easy to make a joke out of a quick interaction with a weird character we never have to see again. But in real life, that kind of makes it exciting.
Speed dating is the perfect way to meet lots of new people in just one night.
It  is the perfect way to meet lots of new people in just one night. The format involves a series of 3-4 minute dates with up to 20 single professionals.

How does Speed Dating Works ?

An equal number of men and women (usually 10 – 12) sit down at a table, armed with a name tag and a piece of paper.  You meet someone, you talk for 5 minutes, and afterward you circle “yes” if you liked them or “no” if you didn’t. If you both circle yes, you get each others’ contact information in an email the next day. Sounds relatively painless, right?
When you date online, you pre-screen. You scrutinize over little things. “This person’s profile looks awesome but… oh. They love to watch reruns of ‘Making the Band?’ It can never work.” Speed dating gives you the chance to meet people who are also looking for a date, but instead of learning everything about them up front, you have a conversation with them and see if you get along. So you’re not brushing someone off for some interest they have that probably wouldn’t even effect your relationship with them, you’re getting a slight glimpse at whether or not you might actually enjoy their company.

Is it successful or fun to do it?

Totally! You get to make snap judgements on people (we’re humans, we all love to judge and you know it), and you also get to meet a ton of interesting people you never would otherwise. Last week I went speed dating and I met two Australians who had only been in the country for five days, a soldier who finished his service in Afghanistan three days earlier, and a guy who works for Time Warner and was afraid I would hold that against him (I didn’t. Well. Maybe a little…).

  • Meeting people face to face allows you to work out attraction and chemistry instantly (no sneaky old photos!).
  • Online dating can be overwhelming! Too many options result in people being overly picky and discounting people who they would have liked if they met in real life.
  • There is no obligation to chat online, but at speed dating events you must speak to everyone present and give them an equal chance, hence increasing the chance of success.
  • It’s easier to lie online than face to face
  • Hours of online dating with back and forth can result in a date which you realize after 5 minutes is not going to go anywhere.

 Ready for a speed date ?

Don’t take it too seriously! It’s just an hour of your life. You know you’ve spent much more time than that on HowAboutWe looking for a date. Spend the time enjoying talking to new and interesting people, rather than wondering whether or not each person you meet is your soul mate. Contrary to what you might believe, you cannot tell that from five minutes. If it doesn’t work out? No big deal. Those were ten strangers. Try again with a completely different group of ten strangers. Who knows what will happen?

Leave a comment