How to run a speed dating event – a quick start guide

Welcome to our quick start guide to running a speed dating event.

The full unabridged guide is available in our Organiser Tools area for approved Fanciful Event Creators. The purpose of this guide is to show you that organising a speed dating event is something that you can do yourself and prosper from.

So, you’ve gathered a group of people together who want to date. And it's your job to get them to all meet one another for four minutes. Simple right?

The answer is yes. But there are a few things you need to consider to ensure things run smoothly and to give a great experience to your guests. Follow our quick-start guide for some tips to make great events happen.

All speed dating events consist of 7 stages. Complete them all in order and you should deliver a successful event.
The basic premise of speed dating is that everyone gets to the members of the opposite sex for short dates lasting four or so minutes. Same sex events are run differently and this guide doesn’t cover those.

The format in brief

Women stay at the same table for the duration of the event and men move between the tables (in number order) until everyone has met every one of the opposite sex.

After the event, guests log in to the Fanciful website to select who they want to see again. At 5 pm on the following day, we publish a list of the people they mutually matched with on the night so they can get back in touch. Simple.

To start you off there are the basic rules to bear in mind as a host:

• Women should remain at the same table for the duration of the event.
• Men should move between tables after each date.
• Men should remain in the same order throughout the event.
• When a man reaches the highest table number he must find table one

1) Pre-event table setup

Table numbers are placed around the event space corresponding to the number of dates (IE women) expected. Aim to place table numbers to create an obvious circuit to follow.

2) Welcome and sign in

On arrival, welcome your guests and tick them off the mobile attendee list by pressing the check-in button by each name. This is accessed via your organiser tools at our website. You should have a roughly equal group of men to women.

Important: If fewer women arrive than expected remove any excess table numbers from the room. These will not be needed and will confuse people if left. The number of table numbers should equal the number of women present.

3) Starting positions

When ready to start the host must get the attention of the participants and begin the introduction of the event. An example introduction speech is as follows:

"Hello and Welcome. My name is Anna and I’m your host for tonight’s speed dating event. We’re now going to get started now so please can everyone now take a seat at one of the numbered tables around the room. Girls on the inside, and guys on the outside. When everyone is sitting in the right place, I’ll explain how this works."

PAUSE WHIST THEY SIT DOWN

"You’ll shortly be meeting everyone for dates lasting just four minutes. We’ve found four minutes to be the perfect length of time to decide if you’d like to get to know someone better and not too long if you don’t!

In the case of the women, you’ll stay at the same table for the duration of the night. Guys, you will move around the tables in numerical order when I signal the end of each date. You must move on quickly, so you don't hold up the people behind you.

Take a mental note of everyone you want to see again because after the event you will log who you want to match with at our website and your mutual matches will be displayed tomorrow at 5 pm. We’ll be having a short break at the halfway point so you can refill your drinks. I hope you have a great time, and your first date begins now."

4) Event start

Everyone who has a date in front of them will begin speaking at this point. If you have an unequal male/female ratio some people will not have a date.

Start a stopwatch for the first four-minute date. If you have any extra men, they are to wait in order until table one becomes available.

At the end of the first four-minute date, you will announce it is time to move on to move on to the next date. You may wish to ring a bell at this point. All the men then move to the next table in order. When each man reaches the highest table number in use, he will either move to table one or wait out if extra men are attending.

This continues until you have completed 50% of the available dates in the room. IE is there are 12 women, you break at the end of date number 6. We recommend keeping note of the date number you are up to.

5) The Break

We’d recommend a maximum break duration of 10-15 minutes to keep the momentum going, just enough time for people to grab a quick drink.

6) Second half

To begin the second half, all the women are asked to retake their seats at the same table. The men are to move one table on from where they left off. The second half continues until all the women have met all the men.

7) Outro Speech

At the end of the final date the host gets the attention of the room -

"That was the last date of tonight’s speed dating event. I hope you enjoyed the experience and met some people you want to see again.

I’m now going to explain how you will find out who you matched with. You can now log in to the fanciful website to enter your preferences for the people you met this evening. Please make sure you have your picture uploaded to your profile, so everyone knows who you are.

Simply choose who is a Yes, a No or a Friend. You need to do this at some point before 5 pm tomorrow when we send you your mutual matches.

You’ll get a Yes Match with anyone whom you tick Yes to, and they tick you Yes back.

A Friend Match occurs when you both tick Friend to each other and you won’t match with anyone that you tick No to.

We’ll send you an email tomorrow which explains everything in detail. Thanks very much for joining us and good night!"

That’s a speed dating event in a nutshell. It must be said that it doesn’t cover everything but it’s a good guide and should get you started on your path. Your experience will grow with every event you run and you'll find you'll grow to be a true speed dating pro.