Searching for Love and Connections at Miso Mingle’s Largest Speed Dating Event

By Dale B  •  in Features
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Ever since the pandemic winded down, speed dating has become rapidly popular in the Klang Valley, with every other weekend featuring some sort of event where singles can potentially find each other.

All photos provided by MISO Mingle.

One of the most significant of these organisers is MISO, a dating app that has been consistently hosting speed dating events for the past year. Through their MISO Mingle events, participants get to meet like-minded souls as fast as possible. 

Stepping up their game, MISO Mingle recently held their biggest event yet at Star Boulevard in Kuala Lumpur, with up to 120 participants evenly split between men and women between the ages of 23 to 35 years old. 

Now while this writer has covered speed-dating before, the sheer size of this latest edition of  MISO Mingle is daunting for sure, but overall proved to be a unique experience that one should try at least once. 

Meet Miso

The way Miso is aiming to transform modern-day dating is by blending online and offline experiences. So far, their well-organised speed dating events have provided a secure and welcoming space for singles to connect.

What makes Miso unique is their focus on reviews, helping individuals enhance their dating journey and discover better matches. Both their social platform and in-person events work in tandem to create meaningful relationships, not just dates.

“We’re excited for more Malaysians to discover MISO, merging online connections with real-life events.” Says CEO of MISO, Matthew Tang. “Discover genuine profiles, join safe offline gatherings, and let our unique peer review system guide you toward meaningful connections.”

Love Connection

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of speed dating, what it boils down to is that participants will have ten minutes each to speak to someone of the opposite gender, before hopping to a new person for another ten minutes. 

Depending on the allocated time of the event, participants could potentially speak to a whole slew of people. With sixty men and sixty women, there is no way for one to reasonably speak to everyone on the other side, so what Miso does is that each person has about five people that they will speak to for the night. 

There is a break right in the middle for everyone to take a breather as well as to play the field, so to say, mingle around with those that may not be in their queue of five. There’s also time after the actual speed dating to hang around and meet people. 

On top of that, there are also some side activities, like a photo-booth and Tarot card reading for those who want to see what fortune has in store for them. Overall, the STAR Bar by JIS KL provided ample space for participants to seize the moment. 

Mix and Match

What makes MISO Mingle’s structure quite different from the usual speed dating experience is the integration of their app. So while it offers the usual profile creation and chatting features that one may expect, it actually integrates itself into the speed dating experience quite well. 

As participants move around the room, the app provides them with a QR code. Both men and women can scan each other’s code before their speed date begins, which they can then leave a review of each other after the date ends.

If the vibes are immaculate, both participants can agree to keep in touch on the app and begin chatting right away. The app itself doesn’t allow for the searching of other users, which means that both people have to meet each other to initiate chatting. 

The MISO app also keeps things simple and doesn’t feature much info on a user besides their age, star sign, and a brief introduction. Reviews from other users also appear on one’s profile, which is perfectly fine with kind remarks but we do wonder if more snide ones can ruin one’s chances. 

Heart’s Content

The sheer number of participants certainly changes the typical rules of speed dating quite a bit, and it is a bit of a shame that only five speed dates are guaranteed. It is a necessary and fair structure, but it leaves a lot to be desired. 

Of course, this is a one-off thing, with other MISO Mingle not featuring such a large number of people speed dating. So if you, the reader, are considering going, just know that a smaller pool of participants will be attending future events. 

That said, for what it’s worth, this edition of MISO Mingle was very much a successful one. If the time of the event was shifted slightly and perhaps a small element of matchmaking was made on the organiser’s part, then the experience could be more enjoyable. But I guess they wanted to keep things natural.

MISO Mingle will still be holding a number of speed dating events, including ones in KL and Penang happening soon. Follow the official MISO Instagram page for more information.