Speed dating

There is such a high level of importance placed on finding the “right” partner these days that a wave of different dating services have opened up to allow people to try and find someone. Among these services are several that enable the individual to “vet” possible suitors before they actually go on a date, the theory being that you can find out in advance if you have enough in common to make dating worthwhile. Of these methods, one of the most popular is “speed dating”. This is, in short, a way of meeting several potential suitors in one night for a controlled period of time (from three to five minutes, usually).

In the course of a speed dating evening, depending on the turnout, a person can meet anything from a few to around twenty people in whom they might be interested. In theory, for a mixed-gender speed dating event, there should be an equal number of men and women, and the attendees of a particular gender will all be sat at fixed tables. They will then be visited in turn by possible dating partners, and have a short amount of time to chat about whatever interests them. At the close of each “visit”, an individual will either put a tick or a cross next to the name of their “date”. The following day they will feed their responses into the speed-dating website, and any coupling that gave each other a tick will then be able to arrange another date. From that point, it is all up to them.

Advantages of speed dating

In terms of popularity, speed dating has become very big since the start of this decade, as it can remove a lot of the searching from the process of finding the right partner. People have taken to speed dating in a big way because, for the most part, it takes away some of the awkwardness of looking for a partner.

When trying to find someone with whom to share the dating experience, there is a certain amount of dread attached to approaching someone who may or may not be “available”. They may be in a relationship, they may be taking a voluntary break from dating altogether, or they may be interested in a different sort of person. However valid and inoffensive their reason for passing on the opportunity, it still hurts to be rejected. At a speed dating event, it is clear that everyone is there for the purposes of meeting a potential dating partner. If they then do not want to date you, it is just a matter of taste. Hard to accept, maybe, but at least there is clarity.

As well as this, speed dating allows you to meet the person face to face and see if you feel a connection before embarking on a “real date”. Sometimes a first date, especially a “blind date” can be a harrowing and embarrassing experience for both people because they simply do not “hit it off”. Speed dating gives you the chance to see if the spark is there before investing unrealistic expectations.