Six men and 14 women had several first dates Monday evening at Java Cat-5 and they only lasted five to seven minutes apiece.
No, they weren’t “bad” dates. The people were participating in a new concept to hit Emporia, “speed dating.”
Speed dating offers an alternative to meeting people in the bar scene by pairing couples together for about seven minutes. After the time is up, each woman moves on to another man. A scorecard is given to each participant. On that scorecard, participants rate their dates and whether they’d like to pursue another date. Couples who indicate a desire to meet each other again will be notified by The Learning Connection, which put together the event.
The idea came when an Emporia Gazette employee mentioned the need for more ways to meet people in Emporia, said Cheryl Patton, director of The Learning Connection. The results of Monday night’s event, which was for ages 35 and up were surprising, Patton said.
“People want to meet people somewhere other than the bar,” Patton said. “We found that not only is there a need for this here, but I found out that young people are very interested in this kind of setup.”
The event transformed the cafe into an organized dating venue. When the bell rang, it was time for the women to move on.
“It’s time to rotate!” Patton would call out to the group.
The evening had Patton hopping, but she gained a helper to make things go more smoothly when Sandy Wells offered to help.
“I think this is going really well,” Wells said during the event. “Everybody seems to be having a good time and conversations are going easily. I think there should be more of this (in Emporia).”
After a few rotations, Patton shortened the time to five minutes because there were more women than men. Patton said the time allotted is just enough to allow two people to see if they want to pursue another date.
“It’s enough to get a feel,” Patton said. “But not so long when they’re stumbling on questions.”
Some participants were nervous about being at the event and were a bit hesitant to go into the room where the men were seated.
“You’ll be perfect!” Wells said as she escorted a woman to a table where her ‘date’ was waiting for their five-minute conversation.
Patton said she was pleased with the turnout and she hopes to offer the sessions in The Learning Connection’s catalog, which comes out three times a year.
“I’m pleasantly surprised,” she said. “It was a very good turnout. We had some unexpected walk-ins. I’m really pleased. I think this has definitely shown there’s a need in Emporia for this. I really appreciate the Java Cat because this is a nice venue.”
Patton said she did learn some things during the event.
“I have to fine-tune the session,” she said. “I want to bring in the younger (individuals) too.”
Patton said one of the suggestions for the next session was to reduce the wait time for some participants. Patton said she hopes to limit next sessions to six to 10 people per group to minimize the wait.