Move over, speed dating: speed friending is emphasizing meaningful connections for adults

Hannah Kavanagh · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 13, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

For radical who consciousness similar they request a person close present but aren't definite wherever to spell to find one, a radical successful Guelph organizes regular gatherings to assistance radical find meaningful, platonic relationships. 

Georgia Huntley, 29, had transportation successful caput erstwhile she started the radical Friends of Friends successful Guelph, Ont. It started online successful May past twelvemonth and has since blossomed into an in-person friend-making radical that hosts meet-ups successful neutral, accessible spaces. 

"The velocity friending conception came later," Huntley said. "It came from a request that I wanted to marque intentional conversations successful my life."

In fact, the full marque was connected clasp for a fewer months until Huntley organized a covering swap with friends astatine a yoga workplace successful Guelph. It reignited the thought of creating spaces wherever radical could mingle. Through that advertising, it wasn't agelong earlier Brothers Brewing connected Wyndham St. would scope retired to her with a proposition to big a speech benignant lawsuit successful their space. 

Two events are happening this week astatine Brothers Brewing connected Wyndham Street successful Guelph. One connected Thursday for radical aged 20 to 30. And connected Saturday for radical successful their 30s and 40s, besides astatine Brothers Brewing.

"I said, 'Absolutely. I don't cognize what that is, I don't cognize however to bash it, but I'll look up speech benignant events,'" she said. 

Speed friending is born

From there, her benignant of velocity friending was born: not velocity dating, wherever radical came to an lawsuit with the volition of uncovering a beingness partner, but an accidental to conscionable caller radical successful an situation escaped of accent and expectations. It's designed to person tables dedicated to definite themes oregon speech starters that let for aggregate radical to speech astatine erstwhile arsenic opposed to gathering one-on-one. 

"We've been connected our phones for truthful long, and we've been done a pandemic wherever we had to isolate, and we've grown accustomed to tiny dopamine hits of narration activity," she said. 

"We truly consciousness the effects of not having that socialization."

Huntley isn't unsocial successful noticing the tendency for connection. 

Melany Michaud, 22, wants to enactment successful the auto-repair manufacture and, knowing it's a male-dominated field, thought determination was nary clip similar the contiguous to broaden her network. 

"It was a small nerve-wracking going into it," Michaud said. "But I figured that everybody present is astir apt tense due to the fact that everybody present is gathering caller people."

She's present been going consistently to events since July and revels successful gathering caller people, contempt already having cultivated a reasonably beardown radical of friends extracurricular of enactment and school. 

"It's truthful fascinating. Even if it's conscionable 1 night, and you ne'er speech to that idiosyncratic again, it's conscionable truthful absorbing to perceive different quality being successful their life," she said. 

Huntley said that arsenic we get older, our lives thin to beryllium little constructed astir the accidental to beryllium social. Beyond the societal circulation of enactment oregon circumstantial hobbies, she said determination isn't overmuch clip to dedicate to simply gathering radical who whitethorn beryllium funny successful talking. 

She said that it besides has the imaginable for love, but nary existent absorption connected it.

"I ever get asked if I'm going to bash velocity dating events, and to that I accidental no, due to the fact that what is beauteous astir coming unneurotic for person making is that it creates a ground for a narration if you truthful choose… there's nary stress," she said. 

The value of section connections

Bryan Myers moved to Guelph implicit the summertime for his enactment arsenic a registered vigor advisor. He said that pursuing a divorce, helium realized conscionable however important it was to person section connections to thin on.

"I utilized to beryllium a journalist, truthful a batch of my friends are successful antithetic cities, antithetic provinces and antithetic countries, but I had nary 1 astir maine specifically," helium said.

Through Friends of Friends events he's met radical helium tin invitation retired connected a whim for stone climbing, jam sessions and publication clubs. 

"It's gathering a clump of worldly that I'm really funny in, enriching my beingness and giving maine radical to thin connected and a web to physique retired a overmuch much afloat life," helium said. 

He said helium noticed that men particularly whitethorn person trouble maintaining friendships arsenic clip moves forward. 

"It tin beryllium precise lonely if you trust connected your spouse to beryllium your person oregon to assistance you link with friends, truthful having spaces wherever you tin physique up friendships connected your ain is precise important, I think," helium said. 

Huntley is present looking guardant to the emergence of relationship events successful bigger cities and however she tin grow her ain brand. 

"Brothers [Brewing] is my home, but I'm trying to bring it to much people," she said. 

She's looking for caller spaces that would accommodate astatine slightest 30 radical successful locations similar Kitchener, Waterloo oregon Toronto. She's got accessibility connected her caput and said that selling to find the close locations that are consenting to spouse with her is the adjacent measurement of the project. 

"If you don't bash the enactment and enactment yourself retired there, past you can't expect radical to cognize astir you. You person to beryllium consenting each time to archer idiosyncratic and beryllium that person for yourself."