Speed Networking

From Harambee Wiki

This concept for the speed networking session comes from "Speed Dating" which is a worldwide phenomena (see "China holds mass speed date event" and "Speed dating comes to India"). Speed dating works by bringing together a group of singles who have just three minutes to get to know another before moving on to the next potential date. Once all speed dates have taken place, speed daters identify who they would like to meet again. If there is a match, they are told about it.

We adopt the concept at events to help participants to get know each other a bit better. Participants are invited to stand up, pair up and take 3 minutes to get to know each other. After three minutes the bell sounds (or music plays) and participants pair up with someone new. After another 3 minutes, the bell sounds and participants pair up again with someone new. One final round before participants are invited back to their original seats.

You might also want to provide some tips or conversation starters such as:

• Hello, my name is ____. I am from ___________
• One thing that I would like to get out of this conference is _________
• What excites me most about this conference is _______.

Of course, participants are free to discuss whatever topic that suits their interest.