Key Takeaways
- Slideshow dating events are popular because they emphasize honesty, intentionality, and genuine connection at the height of dating app fatigue.
- Dating apps often fail to deliver the real-life chemistry and efficient, personality-driven introductions found at slideshow dating events.
- Slideshows may be a short-term trend rather than a lasting solution, but they highlight how singles invest more effort when it leads to fun, real-life connections.
I know what modern singles actually want, and so do you. Just take a scroll through social media, and one word will pop up over and over again: “real.”
We’re all sick of ghosters and bots and catfish and other antonyms of the word “real.” Daters are embracing people who evoke authenticity, intentionality, honesty, no-holds-barred realness that cuts through the B.S. and says, “This is who I am, what I want, and what I’m looking for.”
It’s no wonder singles are turning dating profiles into slideshows — essentially personal pitch decks for PowerPoint dating presentations.
What Is “PowerPoint Dating” and Why Is It Popular?
What says “I’m ready to commit” more than a personal pitch deck? Somewhere out there, the catfish of the world are shaking in their computer chairs.
A popular organizer of PowerPoint presentation dating events, Date My Mate, calls itself a “global movement,” and for good reason: Date My Mate nights have taken place everywhere, from Budapest to New York to Istanbul to Shanghai. A recent London-based event sold out in less than five minutes, according to Reuters.
Dating app fatigue has opened daters’ eyes to real-world possibilities. But are these types of IRL activities here to stay, or merely passing fads? One thing is certain: Singles are clearly getting something from these IRL slideshow dating events that they aren’t getting from dating apps.
Confined to 3-5 minutes, presenters must convey their friend’s eligibility and personality as effectively as possible.
It seems to me that the secret to this event’s success is its IRL setting. The people who attend a PowerPoint or any other form of pitch dating event are ready to meet new people in real life.
The event’s brevity is also key. Confined to 3-5 minutes, presenters must convey their friend’s eligibility and personality as effectively as possible, like a Hinge profile cut down into a few strong bullet points. You gauge chemistry in the flesh, not through a screen.
“Pitching” Your Single Friend at a PowerPoint Event
“Pitching” yourself or a friend to a room of singles may seem like an exercise in humiliation, but hear me out. In most cases, slideshow events have friends give presentations for each other. This makes the experience more lighthearted and laid-back, paving the way for real connection.
With friends doing a majority of the presenting, these events work for both introverted and extraverted daters. But it can’t be denied that these events are best suited to those with a sense of humor, a lighthearted energy, and a healthy store of confidence — all qualities people look for on dating apps, but so often get lost in the shuffle.
“People were rather friendly and open in comparison to just random outings,”
“People were rather friendly and open in comparison to just random outings,” one Redditor wrote of a Date My Mate event. Someone else commented that they had a successful night presenting their friend: “She got lots of numbers and Instagrams from people and had a great time!”
Date My Mate’s slideshow events aren’t the only ones popping off. Other organizers, including Pitch A Friend, have built similar concepts around live, friend-led dating presentations, while start-up dating app Sonder says its own IRL presentation nights are so popular, they’re frequently sold out.
Why Dating App Fatigue Is Driving Singles to IRL Events
Dating coach Erika Ettin from A Little Nudge told DatingNews that presentation nights speak more to daters’ fickle sensibilities than to any deep-seated behavioral change. “When people get tired of one thing, they’ll try something else,” she said, referring to dating app fatigue.
Slideshow presentations may be the hot new trend, but are they just a passing fad?
When asked if activities like presentation night could be long-term solutions to dating app fatigue, Ettin was clear: “No,” she said. “It’s just a new, fun way to meet people, without a deeper, philosophical meaning.”
But these presentations do get to the heart of what we already know daters want: real, in-person connections based on real chemistry.
“It’s just a new, fun way to meet people, without a deeper, philosophical meaning.” — Erika Ettin
Creating a slideshow is not as effortless as swiping, but that means it’s more meaningful. It’s an important signal to the dating industry that some singles will put in effort if the process is fun and exciting.
Are PowerPoint Dating Events Just a Trend or a Real Shift?
Ettin sees IRL events like presentation night as a useful tool to add to one’s dating arsenal, rather than a replacement for dating apps. “To give yourself the best opportunity to meet [people], use all the tools available,” she suggested.
She’s right: Singles will naturally get the best results by dating both online and offline. But the enthusiasm at presentation events can’t be denied.
A quick scroll through pitch dating events posted on Instagram shows young singles doing something I, as a young(ish) single, haven’t seen for a minute: laughing together, supporting each other, and yes, welcoming new connections.
