Strangers IN THE NIGHT ; Speed dating makes its debut in Springfield KRISTY ECKERT STAFF WRITER 1,143 words 23 November 2003 The State Journal-Register 43 English Copyright (c) 2003 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. Ellen Gasaway and Bond Tarr sat at a small candlelit table at the top of the Springfield Hilton. They chatted about single life in Springfield, their jobs and the 18 four-minute dates both were about to go on - including one with each other. Gasaway, 45, whose 19-year-old daughter signed her up for the speed dating event, put a sigh of relief into words: "I'm very pleased this gentleman is speaking in complete sentences." They both laughed. Her sentiments were shared by many of the roughly 80 singles who have participated in Springfield's newest dating scene - the people, they said, are better than they expected. "I was much more impressed when I got here. My expectations were a lot less," said Kellie Holmin, 39, a medical sales representative. "(There are) a lot higher levels of education than what I thought." Brad Hanson, the bartender who mixed cosmopolitans and cracked open beers for the daters, also was impressed. "I think, overall, it was a better-looking crowd than I thought it was going to be," he said. Speed dating is a worldwide big-city phenomenon that recently has taken root in Springfield. Set-ups vary from city to city and event to event, but the concept is always the same: offer people a quick way in a casual environment to meet potential companions. The Hilton Springfield's speed dating sessions, which take place on Thursday nights in the hotel's 30th-floor jazz club, are split into different age categories each week. Roughly 20 women sit at individual tables. Each man starts at one table, chats with a woman for four minutes, then rotates tables until each couple has met. Both the men and women have a voting sheet with the names of their dates. On these, next to each person's name, they mark "yes" or "no." At the night's end, participants give their ballots to event organizers. The next day, participants are e-mailed the names and contact information of any matches - the result of both a man and a woman marking "yes" for each other. The Hilton has hosted two rounds of speed dating, and has sessions scheduled through January - many fully booked. "I think we're going to have a nice run with this," said Michael Fear, Hilton manager and speed dating emcee, as he sat watching the crowd Thursday night. "I've been really happy with the quality of people we've gotten." Fear is running his own show, but larger speed dating companies are succeeding on a national level. "I think it's successful because people today are busier than ever," said Tom Jaffee, founder and CEO of 8minuteDating, a speed dating company that hosts about 150 events a month in major cities across the country, including Chicago and St. Louis. "They often don't have the entrenched networks of friends and family that people have had in the past, when it was more small- town oriented in this country," he said. "And everybody's looking for a fast and fun and comfortable way to meet people, and that's what this provides." Jaffee knows of some 20 engagements and marriages of couples that met through 8minuteDating, he said. Allyson Leonard, public relations director for HurryDate, another speed dating company, said about the same number of engagements and marriages have stemmed from her group's events. HurryDate hosts roughly 200 events a month in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. She, too, said people in today's world are on fast-paced schedules, and that this type of dating fits into their lifestyle. She acknowledged there still is something of a stigma attached to speed dating. "I wouldn't say (the stigma is) completely gone, because a lot of people have preconceived notions about anything associated with dating companies or the dating industry," she said. But, "we attract a very hip, metro, kind of youngish crowd." That seems to be what pleasantly surprised many Springfield speed daters. They raved about meeting high-quality people, about having more fun than they expected. While the table of complimentary appetizers remained well stocked at the end of both sessions, drinks flowed. Music played. Lighting dimmed. Women fidgeted with straws, fiddled with pens. Men nodded, leaned closer, leaned back. Women crossed their legs and folded their arms and flipped their hair. Some came in clusters of friends, which served as a sort of safety net. Some said they had told few people they were going. Many, worried that they would come across as desperate, didn't want their names used in a newspaper story. Susan Cameron sat at a small candlelit table, a bit nervous and surprised she was there. "I think four minutes is good," said Cameron, 48, a supervisor for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. "If there's somebody you know you're not going to hit it off with, you don't want to be stuck with them any longer than that." She scribbled notes about each man as they came and went. Midway through the night, she confirmed her earlier thoughts about the time. She would have liked a few "dates" to last longer, but, she said, "There's a couple that I was really hoping for that bell to ring." At the beginning of his speed dating night, Michael Thornton, a 40-year-old firefighter, said he hoped the women had good questions. "Most girls are pretty good talkers, so I'll let them start," he said. Some good conversation and a few laughs later, Thornton smiled at night's end: "I had fun." Waiting for his speed dates to start, Terry Mitchell, 45, a hypnotherapist, said, "I feel like I'm fairly intuitive, and that I can kind of tell if a person is lying or not." Later, as others filed out of the lounge, he said, "I met some nice ladies tonight. Definitely. I think everyone here is what I considered a quality person." By the end of her speed dating session, Lori Bernardy, 47, looked down at her paper, which had no "yeses," no "nos" and no notes. She laughed. "Oh gosh - definitely no love connections," said the free-lance court reporter. She paused as Michael Fear stood at the microphone and announced the night was officially over. "But," Bernardy said, as she contemplated which boxes to check, "I would do it again." For more information about the Hilton's speed dating program, call 789-1530. Caption: 1. Bond Tarr and Ellen Gasaway visit during a break between dates. ; 2. Chas Blythe says goodbye to Ellen Gasaway after their four-minute speed date at the Hilton. ; 3. A hopeful message is written in cream on a food tray.