Speed Dating meets Volunteer Recruiting. Speed dating has taken the UK (and other countries) by storm, so one clever volunteer center on the outskirts of London ran with the idea to create a “Volunteer Speed Matching” event with all the characteristics of speed dating including score sheets, a stop watch, and "daters" moving from table to table on 3 minute whistle sounds!

After the great success of this innovative – and very up-to-the-minute – idea gained publicity, the Centre was deluged with inquires about “how could we do this in our area, too?” So, with the same speed as their new recruitment approach, the Centre produced this Toolkit with event planning hints and tips, templates for score sheets and other basic materials, sample press releases, etc. – all you need to run your own Speed Matching event!

The toolkit is very practical, yet a short and delightful read… as if it were an event out of Bridget Jones’s Diary!

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Essentials for Volunteer Speed Matching

The idea is simple: you bring around 20 new volunteers into contact with the same number of organisations in a fun environment. They have a limited time with each organisation & move on at a signal to the next. Both organisations & volunteers keep score sheets & matching of “yes” & “maybe” scores occurs afterwards.

The essential ingredients are:

• 20 or so well-prepared speed matching organisations [or one large organisation with a variety of opportunities]
• Same number of labelled dating tables in a spacious venue
• An equal number of volunteer “daters”
• Timekeeper with a loud voice & an even louder whistle
• Lots of coffee!

Table of Contents

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