Date My Mate
Is PowerPoint dating the antidote to dating app fatigue?
Meet Jess
“I’m excited, but also a little nervous,” Jess says, anxiously looking at the empty chair on stage.
Jess, 32, originally from the US, is about to sit down on the 'hot seat' and listen to her friend Kat, 32 present her to a room of 100 strangers.
She is single so she is wearing a 'Date' sticker whereas Kat is taken so she is wearing a 'Mate' sticker.
They are at a 'Date my Mate' event in a North London pub.
We’ve all been there. Handing over our phone to our friend for a brutally honest review of our dating profile. Only for them wanting to change everything, pictures, prompts and maybe even add something we maybe wouldn’t have shared.
Imagine what it would be like if they take over completely?
At the third 'Date my Mate' event in London, 13 friends were given exactly that opportunity: to prove that they are better than an algorithm.
But how does it work?
Step 1
Buy a ticket
The tickets are £17 and there are two types:
The Presenter: If you want to present your mate
The Spectator: If you want to be pitched or just want to watch
Step 2
Pitch your PowerPoint
If you want to present, you have to submit your PowerPoint by the deadline which is usually a few days before
At this event, 30 presenter tickets were up for grabs but only the best 15 got picked. You can still attend as a spectator if you aren't chosen.
Step 3
Go to the event
Once you arrive, you will get a 'Date' sticker if you are single and a 'Mate' sticker if you are taken.
You can present your mate and also be single. Some even present each other back to back.
Step 4
The presentation
Get ready to present, to be presented or to just have a laugh. If you're in luck, they have a 'hot seat' for you to sit on.
Step 5
Fall in Love
After the presentations, it's time to mingle and to talk to anyone that caught your eye.
And of course, to fall in love.
And the internet loves it
The PowerPoint dating phenomenon went viral last year, when 'Pitch and Pair' hosted their first event in New York.
Since then, it has popped up all over the world. From Lisbon and Vienna to Melbourne and even Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
'Date my mate’, 'Pitch and pair' or ‘Pitch your friend’ – the name is different, but the idea is the same: Your mate becomes the ultimate wingman/wingwoman, pitching you as a potential dating match. And more often than not, you don’t know what they are going to say.
"The first one sold out within 48 hours, then the second sold out within five minutes, and this one was I think three minutes.”
In February, the organisers of 'Date my Mate' brought it to London and each event has since sold out in minutes.
Organiser Emily, head of marketing at wine brand Nice, said: “We saw a concept like this on TikTok. It was happening in the US and just immediately thought we need to bring this to London."
She said: "The first one sold out within 48 hours, then the second sold out within five minutes, and this one was I think three minutes.”
Now it's Jess's turn
Jess hasn't seen the Powerpoint that her friend Kat has prepared.
She trusts her friend but a tiny bit of concern shimmers through.
"It's a little bit scary to have your life and pictures and everything projected in a room in front of people. I'm wondering how it will be perceived," she says.
Kat, however, is not showing a trace of nervousness. She grabs the mic, ready to go...
Kat, 32 at a 'Date my Mate' event in London
Kat, 32 at a 'Date my Mate' event in London
Kat introduces Jess to the room:
“We are boarding flight JG32”
“I introduce you to our pilot today. I'd like to introduce you to Jessica.”
She praises all of Jess's qualities:
“Now, I understand I should be roasting her somehow, but I'm structurally unable to do that because this is a wonderful woman.”
Kat makes sure the potential suitors know what to expect from dating Jess:
"You gotta bring energy. This is not somebody who is chill. This is somebody who's always doing something. What are we doing tomorrow? We're going hunting in Cambridge. That's a chosen activity."
And most importantly, Kat warns the audience: "Do not board this flight if you are boring, closed off or allergic to emotional honesty.”
Kat presents Jess at a 'Date my Mate' event
Kat presents Jess at a 'Date my Mate' event
This creativity and having a generation that is really good at putting decks together, is why this format works, the 'Date my Mate' organisers said.
Jess does the shoulder dance
Kat presents Jess at a 'Date my Mate' event
Co-organiser James, founder of the beer brand Local, said: “They’re so creative. We’ve had one that was almost like a financial KPI performance review. We’ve had a TripAdvisor version, a 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' version - people bring their own flavour every time."
And in a fun twist, James said: “In a lot of cases, the presenters end up getting the dates."
Organiser Emily has been surprised by how much people are learning about the person being presented.
She said: “You really can't learn a lot about someone from the dating app. Whereas this, it's amazing in two to three minutes what you can actually learn about the person."
Dating apps are out
IRL Events are in
Key dating stats
81%
Want to delete their dating apps in 2026
91%
Prefer IRL dating events to dating apps
80%
Are over casual and want a relationship in 2026
65%
Would host their own singles event just to meet someone IRL.
Source: Bored of Dating Apps survey of 10,000 UK singles aged 21–45 (2025)
For many the appeal of dating apps is wearing thin. Swiping for hours, maybe one awkward post-work drink, or more likely, getting ghosted: Not what young people had in mind.
People want real rooms and real connection and the data shows that.
“It can feel very transactional.”
Four major UK dating apps, Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, and Grindr, lost a combined total of over one million users between May 2023 and May 2024, according to Ofcom’s Online Nation 2024 report.
Sean Bolton, 35 from California said people sometimes lack respect for the other person: “It can feel very transactional.”
And for the ones that have stayed, most do it as a necessity. 'Bored of Dating Apps' surveyed 10,000 UK singles aged 21–45 and revealed that 81% want to delete their dating apps in 2026 and 91% prefer in real life dating events to dating apps.
"We’ve industrialised love."
Cem, 30 is one of them. He and his friend Hannah, 28 are taking turns in presenting each other at the event. Dating apps are soul-sucking, he said: “We’ve industrialised love.”
Jess used to enjoy dating apps because people seemed keen to meet up.
"A lot of people are just looking for validation."
She said: “Now I find, a lot of people are just looking for validation, not necessarily actually wanting to go on dates.”
"The amount of time it takes to put into meeting someone you are potentially interested in, is just not worth it."
Cem, 30 (l) and Hannah, 28 (r) are presenting each other
Cem, 30 (l) and Hannah, 28 (r) are presenting each other
Jess's Hinge profile
Jess's Hinge profile
THE HISTORY OF DATING
Pre 90s
Meeting through friends & community
You met through friends, at work, church or family. It was common to be set up by a friend. Your social circle was your algorithm.
1998
Inventing speed dating
Speed dating was invented by a rabbi in LA to help young Jewish singles meet efficiently. It spread fast and by the early 2000s, speed dating events were seen in bars and coffee shops across London. By the mid 2000s, it had entered pop culture, appearing in films, magazines and everyone was going.
2009-2016
The swipe
Grindr was the first dating app to truly leverage geolocation. In 2012, Tinder launched, introducing the swipe. After that, more and more dating sites were created and already existing sites turned into apps. Dating apps became the norm; Speed dating was dead.
2018-2020
Dating app fatigue begins
By 2018, people already started to look for IRL events. Eventbrite recorded a 400% increase in IRL dating events hosted on their platform in the UK. .
But then, the pandemic hit and apps were the only way to meet someone for the next years.
2020-2022
IRL is back
In May 2021, just when normal life started to resume, the app Thursday launched, an app that only works on Thursdays. The goal, forcing people to actually meet up.
By 2022, IRL events were booming in London. Speed dating returned and apps like Thursday and Bumble hosted their first IRL singles events.
2022-2024
Activity based dating is trending
Traffic light parties, padel singles nights and run clubs: There was now an alternative to awkwardly standing around in a bar. Getting to know someone by doing something together.
Thursday launched events across cities and shut down its app.
2022-2025
Pitch a friend starts in the US
PowerPoint dating started popping up. When "Pitch & Pair NYC" hosted their first event, it goes viral.
The concept started popping up all over the world.
Early 2026
'Date my Mate' arrives in London
PowerPoint dating landed in London and is sold out in minutes.
What exactly makes this format so popular?
“I personally am a lot harder on myself than my friends would be on me.”
Jess, 32
"I think your friends can sell you better than you can sell yourselves."
Kat, 32
“They get to wingman their single friends which people love to do.”
Emily, Organiser
“I think there's a lot of pressure about going to a singles night.”
James, Organiser
Kat thinks it's because she can present Jess's qualities better.
"I think your friends can sell you better than you can sell yourselves," she said.
"I think part of being the wonderful person that she is, and many people are, is that she doesn’t sell herself because she doesn't see herself with the wonderful lens that we all see her through. So, I think that your friends are definitely your better advocates.”
Jess agrees: “I personally am a lot harder on myself than my friends would be on me.”
Jess would hand over her dating profile to Kat any day so she wouldn't have to write about herself.
"I think when I'm writing about myself, it feels like a lot of pressure and I don't know what to say," she said.
Dating apps made us sell ourselves with a few carefully curated pictures and prompts. We moved away from being set up by our friends and going on blind dates. But here people are voluntarily handing control back to their friends. And maybe it’s exactly that what makes this event so appealing for both the date and the mate.
Co-organiser James understands how singles feel: “I think there's a lot of pressure about going to a singles night." Here, it feels less desperate because I can come as a spectator or presenter, he said: "It’s not like I'm going here because I'm lonely.”
Organiser Emily knows what it feels like to be a friend of someone who hasn't had much luck in dating: “Someone like me, who’s taken, often feels helpless in dating and you hear all these horror stories. Finally, there’s something where you can literally take the mic and introduce your friends to singles everywhere."
And even if you don't get a date out of it, hearing your friends list all the reasons why someone should date you does sound like a nice evening activity..
“Everyone here has someone who cares about them enough to come here and show them off. It’s very sweet,” Cem, 30 said.
A conversation with a dating psychologist:
Silvia Miranda on dating apps and PowerPoint dating
So what is the future of dating?
Will IRL events fully replace dating apps? Probably not anytime soon.
Dating expert Silvia said dating apps can be a very useful tool if you don't expect too much from them.
On the other hand, she is certain that the trend will be more in-person events since that is ultimately what people crave.
She said: "People have realised that you really need to connect in person because if not, the algorithm can randomly allocate you to anyone."
Organiser Emily, hopes for a future where friends are part of our dating life.
She said: “I really do hope this starts to spark people setting their friends up again because that is the ultimate way to meet someone. Someone’s already vouched for because your friends know them.”
Jess would love seeing that in her future too.
She said: "I ask my friend all the time to set me up with people."
Looking around this buzzing room full of 100 people who didn’t know each other a few hours ago, the dating fatigue suddenly feels a little less heavy.
Gaz and Jess met at 'Date my Mate' (Photo by Jess Geary)
Gaz and Jess met at 'Date my Mate'
A happy landing for Jess
And for Jess? As the night goes on, people start to mingle and phone numbers get exchanged.
And when the doors close, Jess walks out, but not alone.
“Meet my potential future husband,” she grins.
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