Speed dating

Participants are rotated to meet each other over a series of short "dates" typically lasting from three to eight minutes depending on the organization running the event.

At the end of each interval a signal (e.g., a ringing bell, glass clinks or a whistle blow) is given to alert participants to move on to the next date.

A 2005 study at the University of Pennsylvania of multiple HurryDate speed dating events found that most people made their choices within the first three seconds of meeting.

Men and women made decisions in a similar manner which incorporated the physical attractiveness and likability of the viewed participants in their evaluation.

[19] Malcolm Gladwell's book on split-second decision making, Blink, introduces two professors at Columbia University who run speed-dating events.

Sheena Iyengar and Raymond Fisman found, from having the participants fill out questionnaires, that what people said they wanted in an ideal mate did not match their subconscious preferences.

[20][21] A 1995 study at the University of Bern showed that women appear to be attracted to the smell of men who have different MHC profiles from their own, and that oral contraceptives reversed this effect.

[citation needed] The TV news magazine 20/20 once sent both a male and a female set of twins to a speed dating event.

[23] A 2006 study by Michèle Belot and Marco Francesconi into the relative effects of preference versus opportunity in mate selection showed that a woman's age is the single most important factor determining demand by men.

[citation needed] It offers participating investors and companies an opportunity to have focused private meetings with targeted groups in a compact time frame.