In The Press

dcmilitary.com, February 15, 2015

So Tell Me About Yourself In Four Minutes Or Less by Leslie C. Smith

Feb. 15 is the unofficial holiday Singles Awareness Day and what better way to celebrate than a little speed dating.

Pros In the City is a premiere company in the area that creates event s to facilitate a opportunity for singles to meet and interact. Founder and president, Michael Karlan, created the company 20 years ago when he first moved to the area. “I wanted to create a sense of community for people and the whole concept of the company people having face-to-face interaction. You can meet someone online and you can email someone for a month but you really don’t know a person until you meet them. That is the whole idea behind this – to make it easy for people to meet in a very low pressure environment, “said Karlan.

Karlan explained, “The whole idea is to see who you have a connection with; because people are attracted to people emotionally then they use logic to back whether they like the person. That is kind of the problem with online dating. Online dating does work but rather because you are meeting a lot of people ... You meet a bunch of people online – and you might hit it off with someone – but you have to meet a lot of people.

“What we do is facilitate the face-to-face interaction to make it a lot more efficient. The typically speed dating might have 15 men and 15 women; you meet each one for four minutes. The nice thing about that is you can tell fairly quickly who you click with and who you don’t. You can rule out a lot of people very quickly and you can see who is left. You then can follow up with those people and you know there is some mutual attraction. With online dating, you meet a lot of people face-to-face and you know instantly you’re not attracted. I find truthfully that three to four minutes is enough time to see if you are attracted.

“What happens with speed dating, you walk into a room – say you’re a guy – and see a hundred women. You may see that there are 10 women that you are attracted to, 10 you know you’d never be attracted. The nice thing about speed dating is you get to meet the 10 you’re really attracted to; but there is also that 80 in the middle that were invisible to you. The magic with speed dating is really in those 80 because that is where you start to see connection; that when you talk to them for a couple of minutes, you find out “Oh wow!” you really do like them but you didn’t even notice them when you walked in the room… That’s what I like about the whole face-to-face interaction.

If you’re feeling a little unsure, no need. Anticipation and a few nerves were found among a few participants on a recent Saturday; many who were new to speed dating. However, everyone is there for the same reason – to meet some people and have some fun. And in that vein everyone is open to the process and looking forward to it. Conversations run the gamut from professions, to outside interests, to favorite things.

After the event, the participants can reveal in a private online system their interests, allowing them to send messages without revealing their email address.

With more than 1,000 events a year, in addition to speed dating, the company has numerous additional activities. “Beyond the dating we do international trips about once a month. Our most popular trips tend to be Iceland or Brazil with about 40 to 50 people on those; and the ones to Asia we get about maybe 20 people on those – usually mostly singles although we do get a few couples.”

The company also hosts a New Year’s gala for approximately 3,000 people. “We do a few things to facilitate people meeting each other… There is speed dating in one room all night long so you can go speed date for a while and you’ll know a bunch of people at the party. We have bands in another room and different activities throughout the night.”

The company also holds seminars and workshops covering a range of topics from buying a home, relationship seminars for men and women, a how to approach women for men, and how to dress.

The company has events most nights of the week. This weekend there are three events on Singles Awareness Day – speed dating for 30s and 40s with graduate or professional degrees; a dating and mating success workshop; and a Big 45 Dance Party.

“Our whole point is to create an environment where people can meet. I find it can be difficult in D.C., or anywhere, but particularly for people after their 20s. They’re not going to fool with the clubs or bars any more. Online is an option but there’s not a lot of options after that; they already know their friends’ friends. So this is an opportunity to meet people in a very safe environment and it’s very efficient if you don’t have a lot of time.”