Recently, I went to a Hurry Date speed dating party as part of the “field research” portion of my job. Truth be told, this was the first time I'd ever attended an actual event or activity around dating.

How it works: A maximum of 25 men and 25 women (in your age range) show up at the party, which is held at different restaurants and bars around town. The night warms up with a half hour of drinking and mingling. This also happens to be a good time to size up your competition and potential matches, if you’re so inclined.

Women are then placed at separate tables, where they stay put as the men circle around and sit with them, one at a time, through the evening.

Participants are given name badges, an ID number and score card with a yes/no column along with room for notes. For example, you could write: #27  [Y/N] pretty eyes, bad shoes, hates his mother.

Then the bubbly and adorable host Linda Kong starts the night. She blows the whistle when each four-minute mini-dates is up; the men must move along to their next prospect.


Me with Linda Kong

The night ends, and you’re to go home and enter the ID numbers online of the people you liked … and voila! If there’s a match (i.e. the other person liked you, too), you’re free to flirt, date, have phone sex … take it from there.

This was a worthwhile experiment on several levels: Approximately five to six people per week (more when out at night) tell me it’s impossible to meet someone in this town.

As I’ve told you before, and I’ll do it again because it’s key: If you’re not putting yourself out there, how the hell are you going to meet someone? Going out with the same group to the same old places doesn’t count.

After all, it’s that good ol’ numbers game. The more people you meet—and in this case you’ll meet many in just two hours—the more likely you’ll find someone you can stand, and even better, have some chemistry with. It is possible to have that spark in under four minutes.

Finally, two hours of speed dating is way more efficient than sitting through a two-hour meal with someone whom you’ve figured out by the time the appetizers roll around is someone you’d never want to go home with.

I even found a few matches. Not bad for a night’s work.

xxx
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