Speed Dating
Speed dating is an easy way of meeting a fairly large number of people, face to face, in a very short time. You contact an organisation such as SpeedDater (www.speeddater.co.uk 0870 300 3535) which runs singles events for 'professional people' in 'upmarket bars' throughout the UK and get a list of events. Having chosen a suitable one, you buy a ticket, which usually costs around £20 (dearer in large cities like London). At the event you are given a score card, pen and name badge and then have up to 30 three-minute 'dates'. The women usually sit at a table and the men move on every three minutes. You mark on the scorecard whether or not you would like to see any of your prospective dates again. You then log on to the website the next morning and enter your ticks online. Your results are immediately displayed, giving the names and email addresses of any 'matches' for follow up communication. So, if you have ticked eight people and find four of them have ticked you in return - bingo! - you have made four matches. Proceed from there.
SpeedDater is geared to Londoners, mostly under 35 years, though a new 35-50 group has just been set up. This site also advertises 'lock and key' parties, a variant of speed dating, costing about £10. On arrival, the girl is handed a padlock and has to find the man with the key to unlock it - not easy in a room full of perhaps more than 100 people. If successful both parties get a new key and lock and a raffle ticket.
To stray further, do a search for speed dating on the web - there is no shortage of sites and there are likely to be events in your local area.
