My friend Meredith and I planned a speed dating/friending event which took place in September.
I have done a speed dating event before but some years ago.
We wanted to be careful on choosing the wording we used for the event as we didn’t want anyone to feel pressure so by using the word “friending” it made it more relaxed for everyone.
Our event was for people with diversabilities and all walks of life over the age of 19.
It took a lot of planning and Meredith was great at finding a location to hold the event and making posters to advertise the event. We also used Facebook and put out other notices to attract as many people as possible.
We organized a group with singing to entertain everyone during the event and had a raffle draw for some prizes. Each person wore a name tag with a number that helped show which table to be at. At each table there were questions to answer to help everyone break the ice.
We all had 5 minutes at each table and we wrote down the names of anyone we would like to connect with.
I won a Starbucks card on the raffle and I was able to treat my friend Colleen with that. I really enjoyed planning the event and it was a lot of fun meeting new people and I made a new friend too.
We have another speed dating/friending event planned for November and I’m really looking forward to that!
by Cheryl Fryfield
