Speeddating.com
SpeedDating is an exciting, quick and
non-pressured way
to meet quality Jewish singles.
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Speed dating is a formalized
matchmaking process or dating system whose purpose is to encourage people to
meet a large number of new people.
Its origins are credited to Rabbi Yaacov Deyo
of Aish HaTorah, originally as a way to help Jewish singles meet and marry.
"SpeedDating", as a single word, is a registered trademark of Aish HaTorah.
"Speed dating", as two separate words, is often used as a generic term for
similar events.
The first speed-dating event took place at
Pete’s Café in Beverly Hills in late 1998. Soon afterward, several
commercial services began offering secular round-robin dating events across
the United States. By 2000, speed dating had really taken off, perhaps
boosted by its portrayal in shows such as Sex and the City as something that
glamorous people did. Supporters argue that speed dating saves time, as most
people decide if they are romantically compatible very quickly, and first
impressions are often permanent.
Men and women are rotated to meet each other
over a series of short "dates", usually lasting from 3 to 8 minutes
depending on the organization running the event. At the end of each
interval, the organizer rings a bell or clinks a glass to signal the
participants to move on to the next date. At the end of the event
participants submit to the organizers a list of who they would like to
provide their contact information to. If there is a match, contact
information is forwarded to both parties. Contact information cannot be
traded during the initial meeting, in order to reduce pressure (especially
on women) to accept or reject a suitor to their face.
These events typically require advance registration, often an online
prepayment by credit card. However, they may accept a few walk-ins when
needed to balance the gender ratio. Some services make use of waitlists when
signing up to strive for exactly the same number of men and women, while
others have a more "party" atmosphere and only aim for an approximately
matching number.
There are many speed dating events now in the UK, Canada, and the US. Many
of these simply specify an age range for ladies and gentlemen; sometimes a
slightly older range is specified for men. On the other hand, many
organizers offer niche events such as nights for graduates only, gays and
lesbians, older men with younger women and vice versa, book lovers, ethnic
events, and of course the original niche event, religious affiliation.
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Speed dating
has some obvious advantages over most other venues for meeting people,
such as bars, discotheques, etc. in that everybody is purportedly there
to meet someone, they are grouped into compatible age ranges, it is
time-efficient, and the structured interaction eliminates the need to
introduce oneself. And unlike many bars, a speed dating event will by
necessity be quiet enough for people to talk comfortably. |
Participants can come alone without feeling out of place; alternatively it
is something that women who like to go out in groups can do together.
Because the matching itself happens after the event, people do not feel
pressured to select or reject each other in person. On the other hand,
feedback and gratification are delayed as participants must wait a day or
two for their results to come in.
The time limit ensures that a participant will not be stuck with a boorish
match for very long, and prevents participants from monopolizing one
another's time. On the other hand, a couple that decides they are
incompatible early on will have to sit together for the duration of the
round.
Most speed dating events match people at random, and participants will meet
different "types" that they might not normally talk to in a club. On the
other hand, the random matching precludes the various cues, such as eye
contact, that people use in bars to preselect each other before chatting
them up.
Business speed dating has also been used in China as a way for business
people to meet each other and to decide of they have similar business
objectives and synergies. Speed dating offers participating investors and
companies an outstanding opportunity to have focused private meetings with
targeted groups in a compact time frame.
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