Not 1:1? 6 Ways of Dealing With a Gender Imbalance

Sunday July 11, 2021 comments

You just launched! After weeks of planning and preparation, you've decided to host a speed dating event. Everything is going great! Until you realize...

There are 20 women, and 10 men registered for your event!

You think to yourself, "oh, what do I do now?!"

Here are some things you might want to try to help balance out your event before it starts!

1. Start early, use capacities!

Before you even launch your event, make sure to set up your capacities properly! This will force those 10 extra men onto the "waitlist," allowing for a more balanced event. A word of caution: this doesn't necessarily work well if you are mixing LGBTQ speed dating with hetereonormative speed dating. You might want to come up with another approach, like using a group. If you need ideas, you can always contact us.

2. Verify attendance

Some people register for a speed dating event and then forget to cancel, or they make other plans. If you start seeing imbalances close to your event, try to get a more accurate headcount by e-mailing your guests to verify if they will be able to make it.

3. Ask your audience for referrals

Speed dating is more fun when you bring a friend along! If you are seeing a lack of men in your event, email the men you've already signed up and offer them something if they can get a friend to register. Maybe a free drink, a partial refund, or some other perk.

4. Targeted Facebook and Instagram advertising

As a last resort before the event starts, you could buy Facebook and Instagram marketing targeted directly at the gender you are lacking.  Facebook's ad targeting tools are powerful enough that you can specify both relationship status (no point in attracting married people...unless it's swinger's speed dating), location (so they are near your business), and gender.  Targeting those who already "like" your Facebook page, or who "like" your competitors' Facebook page, might prove effective as well.

5. Designate "the waiting area."

This is an area where people will hang out while they are "circling around."  Imagine there are 15 men speed dating with 10 women.  John starts with date #5, and then proceeds around the room until date #10.  Then what?  John proceeds to the "waiting area" to hang out until it's his turn to circle around and meet lady #1.  Of course, our suggestion is to have "the waiting area" serve alcoholic beverages!

6. Group speed dates?

For extreme imbalances, it might make sense to send folks on a group speed dating quest. It might be fun, might be horrible, it just depends on your crowd. This works well in extreme cases, like 2:1 or 3:1 ratio imbalances.  That way, everyone still talks to everyone, but does it in a significantly faster amount of time.

If you pursue this approach, let us know how it goes, you might be the first!

So, there you have it! Six strategies to help cope with gender imbalances in your speed dating events. Gender imbalances are just one of the many reasons organizers choose ZippyMatch over generic ticketing solutions for speed dating events - it gives them a degree of control they simply don't have elsewhere.

Sign up for a demo today to see how ZippyMatch can help you grow your business and run successful speed dating and speed friending events.