Speed Dating for Singles

“Single mommies, Single women, ROTATE!!!”  These words are resonated from the loudspeaker as the female moderator targets the single moms in the bar. “For your next 5 minutes, let’s focus on specific questions for the men. Ask them questions about children, plans for more children, plans for family, etc. On your mark!!!  Get Set!!!   SPEED DATE!!!” 

These words are basically a brief synopsis of what occurs in speed dating across the United States. Speed dating is a new phenomenon that is catching interest among working professionals. Because of their busy work schedule and their lack of interest in going to clubs or bars, busy single professionals have turned to the services provided by speed dating and are enjoying the outcome.

When I lived in Memphis, speed dating was an ongoing affair! People were signing up week after week to take part in speed dating. 

According to one Memphis Pre-Dating Speed Dating service, speed dating is a fun, safe, and efficient way to meet single professionals in person. The speed dating is set up in 5- or 6-minute rounds in which you meet people in your age group or interest group. You are basically getting a lot of pre-dating in one night. Information from the local events from Pre-Dating Speed Dating of Memphis is found on this site:

http://www.pre-dating.com/speeddating/MEM.php?WT.mc_id=google  

Also, another urban, mature, and upscale speed dating service in Memphis was hosted by Zodiac Restaurant and Lounge on Thursdays at 7PM. The event was held at 6135 Mt. Moriah, Memphis TN 38115. People would arrive to sign in and receive a starting table number to begin the 5 minute rounds. Later, introductions started at 8PM and the speed dating began!! 

Another poplar speed dating service of Memphis is SpeedDateMemphis. Some of the testimonials from this site guarantee that speed dating is the new “IT.”  Check out these two statements below:

“At first I was apprehensive and honestly almost backed out. (I thought how vulnerable; to expose yourself, try your best to sell yourself within six minutes and then get judged on it.) Well I am so glad I went. I haven't had that much fun in a while! Talk about exciting. All twenty members; both men and women were well dressed, intelligent, interesting, attractive and of a professional background. The first few minutes started off quiet, everyone a bit nervous and then before you know it the restaurant turned into a party like atmosphere. Men scurrying from table to table at the sound of bell chimes, everyone jotting down notes and carrying on and laughing while drinking their glasses of wine. It was a blast! Even if there was no chemistry between you and another member everyone was so interesting to meet.” - Shauna O “I have to tell you my story... I am also a very grateful customer I am a single mom with a life style that gets filled up with work and getting things done at home... I knew I needed to get out more, I wanted to meet someone wonderful, so I decided to give speed dating a try. The first time they called, I was so nervous and felt like a loser so I backed out. Later, I decided to try it again. I went and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of people that attended. This is truly the way to go. I met a man that night, a wonderful man, and I would not have met him if I had not gone.. That is its self is a success because my expectations for the first time were not to necessarily make a connection but I did. So thank you SpeedDatingMemphis.”- Lorna H. However, locally in Northwest Arkansas, the need for such a service is in high demand, but without a speed dating moderator and venue to host the service, a few of the black single women would have to remain DATELESS! But, many black professional single women are frustrated with the lack of dates and want to do something about it. Black Professional Happy Hours hosted by African American Resource Groups and sororities and fraternities offer lots of fundraisers and charity events, but nothing structured around a speed dating atmosphere.  Some women have stated that NWA has very few black men to choose from. The idea of finding a Black man and raising a family and living happily ever after, seems to fade away year after year and leave very few opportunities for Black Women. The reason is the ratio of black men to black women which is a 1 to 25 ratio. This is a terrible and awful statistic if it is true. For every black man, there are 25 black women trying to get his attention. (Subsequently, black women are not the only ones competing for our brothas’ attention, more white women are dating our brothas, and particularly, there is a lot of interracial dating and marriages in NWA. But, Love occurs across color lines and when it does, its a beautiful thing! That is another blog by itself :) So, therefore, to have a speed dating service of men that are really interested in dating would be a great service to this area which would provide a lot of great dating experiences for our educated, black professional single women.

Many people and other speed dating services rate speed dating as fun, safe, and enjoyable. The goal of the service is to meet interesting people with the possibility of meeting someone whom you would potentially like to date.   

So, single women, single moms . . . what are you waiting for??  Get yourselves ready to start speed dating in NWA and make some connections!!!  Ooops . . . your 5 minutes are up!! Rotate!!!