Heated Discussions Over Love, Chemistry and Technology

posted in: Blogging, Love 0

On Wednesday, October 23rd from 7-9PM, we held the LOVE + TECH: How Technology is Redefining Chemistry & Romance panel at Projective Space in the Lower East Side, NYC. More than 70 people, including online dating startups, developers, creative directors, and curious minds, came out to hear the incredible line up.

The Stats

+ Over 70 attendees
+ One TED Speaker
+ One 4th Generation Matchmaker
+ Three LoveTech Startup Founders + Disruptors
= DOZENS of audience questions and feisty debates!

 

The Line Up

LoveTech2013_panelists
(From left to right:) Cindy Gallop, Aaron Schildkrout, Lori Cheek, Janis Spindel

The panel brought together a unique mix of traditional dating experts and online dating startups. Cindy Gallop, TED 2009 speaker and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn, moderated the panel and set the tone by stating that “the best panels are the ones where people interrupt, have opinions, and jump in.” The panelists took no issue with this–clashing viewpoints and lively discussions ensued!

The panel featured viewpoints from:

• Aaron Schildkrout, Co-founder and Co-CEO of HowAboutWe, the modern love company that lets singles choose their dates based on suggested activities,

• Lori Cheek, Founder and CEO of Cheek’d, a disruptive dating model that makes business cards sexy and flirty,

• Janis Spindel, Founder and President of Janis Spindel Serious Matchmaking, Inc., a traditional matchmaking firm that specializes in pairing up the well-educated and wealth and is launching its new online portal 2LoveToday.com.

 

The Panel:

LoveTech2013_attendees

To start, TechSeri.es founder Rose Jia took audience polls, and we found out that:

• 80% of audience members have done online dating,
 50% of audience members think it works, and
 50% of audience members are single.

The panel started strong and dived into some hard-hitting themes. Topics included can chemistry translate into online dating, is online dating truly effective, how much do looks really matter, the impact of social media on dating, as well as what makes each of the panelist’s dating sites work for singles. The discussion brought up many great view points, from audience members and panelists alike, and we even learned some revealing tidbits.

 

Highlights from the Panel:

Cindy Gallop proclaimed that she visits “online dating cougar sites” and prefers to date younger men.

Janis Spindel is a best-selling author who has helped close to 2,000 people find their mate. Oh, and she happens to be CLAIRVOYANT!

Lori Cheek mentioned she is a former architect, Kentuckian, and good at math. Her idea for Cheek’d is to re-invent the business card to be sexy and flirty. In her words, she thinks business cards as a pick-up tools are “douchey”.

Aaron Schildkrout gave some powerful insight into how his company was successful: “The things that people hate about your product are by far the most important things.” Aaron also added that HowAboutWe for couples came about because they realized they were losing their best customers. The people that were successfully using his site, were pairing off and no longer needed it. Now HowAboutWe caters to couples and has “waged a war against Netflix and ordering-in date nights.”

One audience member asked Aaron how HowAboutWe could work for singles. Aaron responded that if you have a good first date, it could lead to more dates.

All panelists agreed that connecting is the core drive of any dating site, but now mobile is changing the landscape. Tinder was mentioned by each panelists as a key player in this takeover and a company that is doing a phenomenal job with online dating.

Aaron in reply to whether online dating was actually making people unhappy due to the amount of choices: ”The online world gives people more potential to meet more people and to present our best selves. It provides more choices and flexibility, and we don’t have to settle for less because of this.”

Lori was tired of options for dating sites, so she invented a new model. Cheek’d lets people be braver about flirting (and less douche too!).

Janis is more traditional in her view points and thinks online dating is good for shy people, but people are too glued to their phones. She also thinks what gets the guy is humor and confidence.

Aaron directly responded with stating that he thinks her viewpoints are “fairly backwards.”

LoveTech2013_panelists_discussionThe panel then turned into a discussion on the importance of looks. Janis felt this was a bigger concern for men than women, where Aaron outright disagreed. He mentioned that HowAboutWe’s data tells a different story.

Audience members also jumped up to participate and asked the panelists some earnest online dating questions. One panelist wondered if online dating was making people unhappy with too many choices. Aaron disagreed and said what it was doing was giving people the chance to better understand their desires.

 

LoveTech2013_bararea
Attendees received complimentary drinks and pre- and post-panel networking time.

Post Panel Networking

All panelists and Cindy Gallop stayed to answer questions one-on-one with audience members. BronxBrewery and Runa Tea provided beverages while everyone mingled post-panel.

For more information about how to participate in the panel as a volunteer, please contact Roseann (rjulien@techseri.es).

If you or your company would like to be a sponsor to a future event or TechSeri.es as a whole, please contact Sissi (sissi@techseri.es).

 

Thanks for reading and see you next time!

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