Publicizing 7for7...and a success story!

While our first event was a success, it was a different story with our second event. Too few participants confirmed their registration and hence, we had to cancel the event.

In practice, while many guys may sign up for an event, not everyone confirms their registration later through payment. Some may have signed up on a whim. Some may have lost interest and changed their minds halfway, thinking why on earth would they want to go to an event where they just meet random guys that may not be to their liking.

Well, here's a third reason why some guys bail on our events. Sometimes, serendipity, against all odds, strikes...

A speed dating service can only thrive when it can continually get new participants. That's because past participants need to keep seeing new faces for the events to be a useful avenue to meet people, while guys who are successful at meeting someone compatible will drop out of events and reduce the roll of participants.

I am very happy to have made a difference for guys lucky enough to have met a potential relationship prospect at my events, and that's a reason I am perfectly OK with for dropping out of an event you have signed up for.

For those of you who are curious when our next event is going to be held, we hope it will be soon, but because of the importance of publicizing 7for7, we're concentrating our efforts on getting the word out.

We've printed business cards for instance, and we're looking to place them at gay-owned and operated bars, cafes and restaurants. Let us know if you know someone who might be open to displaying our business cards at their counters.

We've also opened a Twitter account for those of you who prefer to receive updates through that channel. Follow us @SevenForseven1.

Once we have attained sufficient interest on our website, mailing list and followers on Twitter, we'll look into opening for registration for our next event. Hopefully, we will never have to cancel an event again. =)

flaneurose

7for7 has only just started recently, so every little bit of promotion helps.

It seems unusual to use one blog to promote another, but that's exactly what I've done. Some of you would have linked here from flaneurose, so yes, I might as well publicize the fact here to 7for7 users that I am also behind the blog flaneurose.

It may seem strange to have 2 different blogs. But just as with authors, having a pseudonym allows one to speak with a different voice. I wanted to separate the two blogs because they deal with very different concerns and different audiences.

However, in the interest of building a greater following for 7for7, I felt I could leverage on the much more established flaneurose to generate more interest in 7for7.

So, the "secret" is out. flaneurose and 7for7 are by the same person, namely me. =)

Event Registration Now Open

We hope everyone enjoyed the recent Chinese New Year holiday.

Event registration is now open for our second event. For participants who are new to 7for7, please register with the website first before registering for the event.

***Please note that due to too few registered participants, we have decided to cancel the event. However, we look forward to your continued interest at the next event***.

Post-Event Publicity 24 January

7for7 just held its first event, and it was a success! Thanks to all the participants who attended the event, my assistant who helped out (you know who you are!), and Bryan, who graciously permitted us to use his fine establishment as a space for our event.

The event was held at Rewind in bustling Tanjong Pagar on a Friday night. As a bonus, Bryan graciously offered complimentary entry to Play to all participants after the event.

The statistics speak for themselves:

More than half of the participants attending found at least one match.

On a scale of 0 to 4, the average rating that participants gave the event was 3.5. That's very positive feedback indeed.

Compared to endless surfing of profiles on Grindr or Jack'd, I think speed dating can give online dating a run for its money. For a nominal registration fee and 2 hours of your time, you get the opportunity to meet up to 19 guys in an intimate setting and have face-to-face conversations with real people.

And unlike a conventional dinner or lunch date, there are no awkward pauses or lapses in conversation where you start wondering where else you could be on a Friday night. Smooth flowing or rough going, each conversation lasts only 7 minutes. And if you like the person, you can always pick up where you left off.

7for7 - Speed Dating for Single Gay Men. If you're new here and would like to hear about our next event when it happens, register here. We look forward to seeing you in the future. =)

Pre-event Form for event on 24 January 2014

The pre-event form has been released to participants as of this morning. Please check your email if you are participating in the event on 24 January 2014.

Payment Advice for Event on 24 January 2014

The event to be held on 24 January, 2014 is oversubscribed! Thanks to everyone who has expressed interest in the event.

We have sent out payment advice to the first 20 participants who have registered for the event. Please check your email and follow the payment advice if you have registered for the event, and look in your spam folder if you don't see anything in your inbox.

If you have not received any email, it could be because:

1. You did not complete site registration or event registration. Both must be completed for us to process your registration; or
2. You registered for the event after the first 20 participants.

In the event that any of the 20 participants decide to drop out of the event, we will release places progressively to later registrants who are now wait-listed.

If you are interested in attending the event but have not registered yet, please DO still register to indicate your interest. As explained in the FAQ, registrants who are unsuccessful receive priority in subsequent events.

Registration for the event will close on 12 January 2014.

Event Updates and How to Register with Us

We've been getting some positive responses to our event being held on Friday, 24 January 2014. We are about three-quarters of the way fully subscribed for the event. We will be sending out payment advice by the end of the week if we can confirm the event will happen. Yes, if you haven't read the FAQ yet, you should know that there is a registration fee. =) The fee is there to cover the cost of holding the event and also to discourage non-attendance after registration. As stated before, 7for7 is a project and not a business, but we do still need to charge a registration fee to cover costs.

One of the things that we've noticed is that folks have been a little confused by the event registration process. Registering for an event is really a 2-step process. Here's how the entire registration process works:

First, register with the website first.
On the desktop, click on "Register with Us!" on the panel on the right of the blog.

On the mobile, click on the little down arrow on the right hand side of the blog navigation bar at the top of the page. Then, select "Register with Us!". Clicking on "Register with Us" brings you to our site registration form.

This first step is "Site Registration". You only ever need to fill this form once. In this step, we record all your personal information such as name, year of birth, activities and interests so that you do not need to provide this information again if you attend subsequent events.

The next step is simply to register for the event itself, using the same email address and telephone number that you provided us with during site registration. Like so, on this page:

And that's it, you're done! For all subsequent event registrations, the process will be the same. You will only need to provide your email address and phone number for event registration as we already have your personal information from Site Registration.