Men and women are rotated to meet each other over a series of short "dates", unusually lasting from 3 to 8 minutes depending on the organization running the event. At the extent of each interval, the organizer rings a bell or clinks a highball to signal the participants to stroke on to the next date.

Speed dating has some obvious advantages over most other venues for meeting people, such as bars, discotheques, etc. in that everybody is purportedly there to meet someone, they are grouped into compatible age ranges, it is time-efficient, and the structured interaction eliminates the obligation to introduce oneself. And unlike abounding bars a speed dating event will, by necessity, be quiet Online Dating enough for people to disquisition comfortably.