 |
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Matchmaking in mere minutes
Tampa columnist HOOPER |
By ERNEST HOOPER, Times Columnist
© St. Petersburg Times published June 16, 2002
A three-minute date is not when you decide your blind date is below par and you pretend to get an emergency cell phone call so you can flee the restaurant.
That usually takes less than three minutes.
And it's not when I take my wife through Checkers for the Big Buford special. Although that should count for something.
No, what Michelle Valentine offers is something quite different, and on Saturday her company's "3-Minute Matchmaking" comes to Tampa.
Basically, Valentine seats a group of single women in a room and then has a matching number of men rotate from chair to chair every three minutes. After each three-minute date, singles check on their private form either "Yes, I want to get to know this person more," or "No, I am not interested in getting to know this person better."
When two people say yes, each is given contact information days after the party.
Valentine, whose company is based in Winter Park, said the average at a recent matchmaking party was three matches, and that 96 percent received at least one match. (I would hate to be in that 4 percent that didn't match.)
"Everyone is required to talk to everyone. You get disqualified if you skip someone. We find that three minutes is a sufficient amount of time to determine if you have something in common," Valentine said.
Three minutes? As a sage guide to my single friends, I usually encourage them to give perspective suitors two dates.
Participants are encouraged to look beyond physical attributes, not use prepared questions and make eye contact. Valentine said they may not meet Mr. or Mrs. Right, but they will meet a lot of people in a short amount of time.
Valentine has partnered with Baywinds Learning Center for the matchmaking party, which will be at the Holiday Inn City Centre Saturday (June 22, 2002) from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. People can register for $24 through Baywinds, 977-0996.
A happy hour will be held before the session and a dance will follow.
Valentine also will conduct a dating seminar at Baywinds Saturday at 1
p.m.
|