Sunday, May 31, 2009

Dating Boot Camp: Part Two

Tuesday night, the second part of Dating Boot Camp at Lord & Taylor featured a Q&A with “The Man Panel.”

Taking part in the panel were Cosmopolitan editor Ky Henderson, YourTango.com's Tom Miller, Thrillist.com founder and editor-in-chief Adam Rich, SexySlang.com’s Tom Scofield and From Schlub to Stud author Max Gross.


The Man Panel: (from left) Tom Scofield, Tom Miller, Max Gross, Ky Henderson and Adam Rich

Married NYC-based dating coaches Matt Titus and Tamsen Fadal fielded questions from the inquisitive crowd, including yours truly.

Earlier, the duo had advised against talking too much about yourself on a first date. So I posed the question -- what do you do when a guy doesn’t let you get a word in edgewise?

“Time him,” Matt said without missing a beat. “Then tell him ‘you’ve been talking about yourself for 15 minutes. Now I’m going to do the same and you’re going to ask me interesting questions. Go!’ "

Another single lady asked, should you end a first date with a kiss? Adam and most other guys on the panel shared my point of view on this (assuming the chemistry is there, of course) -- absolutely.

Adam also weighed in on the meat market mentality of guys in the Big Apple. He admitted that men aren’t easily captivated because they know they’re in a city teeming with smart, attractive women. To quantify that, Matt cited the well-known stat that there are 200,000 more single women than men here in Gotham. How reassuring.

After the Q&A: Dating coach and author Tamsen Fadal and me

After the Q&A, everyone made their way to Lord & Taylor’s little black dress section for complimentary cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Matt happily dispensed no-nonsense advice to inquiring women, among them one whose current beau has a penchant for last-minute plans (“He’s got a girlfriend,” he told her).

Matt Titus listening to the ladies at Dating Boot Camp

He also filled me in about PerfectFind.com, the new dating website he and Tamsen are starting. Though I’ve about had my fill of Match.com and the like, I’m signing up for this one. It’s free and it encourages friends (i.e. wingmen) to join too.

Dating Boot Camp continues with two more Tuesday sessions on June 2nd and June 9th. For more info, visit Lord and Taylor’s website.

3 comments:

SingleTease said...

Melissa, it's not so bad in NYC for single women! There's a great interactive demographic map that shows where the men and women are based on their age. Slide the scale to 30-39. http://www.singletease.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Blog.view&id=219

Guys odds of meeting a single woman are 10% GREATER in Asheville, NC than NYC-New Jersey-Nothern PA area.

Melissa said...

Thanks, Tamera! Love the scale and completely agree that it's not so bad here as a single gal. I think the stat cited at Dating Boot Camp just illustrates that, like its employment counterpart, today's dating marketplace in NYC requires bringing your A-game. I, for one, am up to the challenge.

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