When people find out I do speed dating I’m generally asked two specific questions: What sort of people go? And which events are the best?
The first question is easy to answer. People like you! Back in the day, when speed dating first emerged on the London scene, the general consensus was that only the sad, lonely and desperate went. It wasn’t true then and it’s not true now.
Just look at online dating to see how perceptions have changed. Over 75% of singles have tried online dating and speed dating is simply a far better, safer and saner way to go about meeting other singles.
Where we at Original Dating differ though is that we understand it’s you and your friends that come. We also understand why people attend, what makes them feel relaxed and how best to run events that are fun and memorable for all the right reasons.
For example, when I first started hosting events I did a bit of research. It turned out that most other companies took the ‘relationship creating’ line very seriously indeed. It may sound counterintuitive but this is completely the wrong approach.
Imagine you’ve plucked up the courage to convince a friend or two to go, you’ve booked your tickets, you’ve prepared for the worst and you get to the event. A serious looking host wearing a stark branded t-shirt gives you a number and a name tag, sits you down at a long intimidating table and explains at length about how you could meet ‘the one’. Intimidating? Of course it is. And more to the point, with this emphasis the types of people that attend are more likely to be the ‘I must find someone and settle down NOW or mother will be awfully upset” type.
For us, the point of the night is to relax, have fun, and meet people while having a drink or two. Okay, so you may meet the one but why put so much pressure on yourself? The more relaxed you are the more likely you are to be yourself. And so is everyone else. It’s a strange way to meet people but let’s not make it a chore.
It’s about having a great, relaxed, different and enjoyable evening out. And that’s our focus.
As to the second question, every event is different. We run events in some of London’s best bars. Sometimes, because our events often sell out quickly people may attend on a different day to the one they intended. As such, no event, regardless of venue or day, is the same. Of course Fridays are more likely to have a party atmosphere than Tuesdays because people have to work but that’s really the only prediction we can make.
The only real consistency is that you’re guaranteed a really fun night meeting friendly, fun, professional people like you.
So if you haven’t done so before, have a look at our events page, drag a friend along or come on your own, and book an event. We’ll see you soon.
Click here to view our forthcoming events in London.
WORDS BY JOHN DAVIS