The New Dating Trend Has Friends Pitching Your Love Life Instead of You and Singles Are Loving It
Swiping fatigue has a new antidote, and it comes with a PowerPoint deck. Pitch-a-friend events, where friends take the mic at a local bar or brewery to pitch their single buddy to a roomful of strangers, are spreading fast as burned-out daters look for real-world ways to meet people. The format is now running in more than 50 cities across 30-plus states and 10 countries, and it is riding a broader cultural shift away from apps and back toward face-to-face connection.
The premise is simple. A friend prepares a 3- to 5-minute slideshow making the case for why their single friend is worth meeting. After the presentations, the audience mingles with anyone who caught their attention. You show up with someone you already know, you get background on the singles before you meet them, and the pressure of a cold app match evaporates.
Why singles are ditching dating apps
The move toward in-person events is happening against a real decline in app usage. A 2024 Ofcom report cited by The Guardian found that the number of people using the top 10 most popular dating apps dropped 16% year over year. Research has increasingly pointed to app designs built for engagement and addiction rather than actual matchmaking, and users are noticing. The “meet cute” has become a genuine cultural aspiration again, especially online.
Luke Brunning, a researcher with the University of Leeds research network on the ethics of online dating, told The Guardian, “There is a growing romanticisation of in-person meeting and interaction. The ‘meet cute’ is becoming a trope in how people on social media talk about romance. Very few of them are turning to the apps as an exclusive means of setting up an in-person meeting. It’s much more fluid now.”
How a pitch-a-friend night actually works
Each event centers on a run of short presentations. One friend takes the stage, and the single friend is the subject. The pitch typically covers who the person is, what they are looking for and why the audience should want to know them. Slides, jokes and the occasional embarrassing photo are fair game. After the last pitch, the room opens up for mingling, and attendees approach whoever intrigued them.
Organizers describe the vibe as low-pressure and social rather than transactional. Because you arrive with a friend and hear about people before meeting them, the awkwardness of a blind date or a cold app opener largely disappears. Romantic matches happen, but so do friendships, professional connections and community ties, and organizers count all of those as wins.
What organizers and attendees are saying
The people running these nights say the appeal is straightforward. Singles are done trying to build chemistry through a phone screen. John, an event organizer for Pitch-a-Friend Buffalo, told Audacy in February 2026, “We’re in that mindset of trying to create connections in person. We’re all done with the dating apps, we’re all done with trying to build chemistry through screens. We want people to be in the room together to meet, to have the opportunity to network, even if it’s not with the sole intention of having a romantic date happen.”
Emily Churchill, host of the London-based Date a Mate, told The Guardian, “We’ve hit a cultural nerve. Single people are sick of swiping, they want real human connection.”
Attendees echo the point. Erica Yim, who went to a Pitch and Pair night in New York, told Glamour, “After all the presentations were done and the night was kind of over, I definitely talked to some people. I did have a few people ask for my number and Instagram, which is nice. Unexpectedly, I joined a knitting group that one of the presenters mentioned. So now I’m a part of a knitting group, which is great. Just making all of these connections outside of dating is awesome.”
Similar events popping up around the world
Pitch-a-friend is the best-known name, but the format has inspired variations. Pitch and Pair in New York markets itself as the place “where PowerPoint meets romance.” Joe Teblum, its founder, told Glamour, “It’s a lot harder to find good activities and dates and ways to mingle. A lot of people are trying all the online dating apps, online events, in-person, standard speed dating, and none are really tailored for them.”
In London, Churchill’s Date a Mate runs a similar model. Cities like Buffalo have community-run versions organized by locals rather than a central company, which has helped the concept spread quickly and cheaply. The common thread is a live audience, a short pitch and a room full of people who came specifically to meet someone new.
How to find a pitch-a-friend event or start your own
Pitch-a-friend events are currently running in more than 50 cities, 30-plus states and 10 countries, with new locations added as demand grows. If there is not one near you, the organization takes city nominations at pitch-a-friend.com/vote, where you can vote for your area to be added to the map.
You can also start your own. The Buffalo event is a working example of a locally organized version. A group of friends, a willing bar or brewery, a projector and a handful of people willing to pitch their single buddies is enough to get going. Whether the goal is a romantic match, a new friend group or, as Yim discovered, an unexpected knitting group, the format is built for whatever kind of in-person connection shows up.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
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