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Used at the NY Creative Interns Meetup:
"The app worked so well for our event, at the end I felt like everyone was friends, which is amazing and exactly the type of environment we aim to create." -- Emily Miethner, Co-organizer
"This casual event was awesome! It was the perfect blend of meeting people casually and speed networking. I loved @jeffnovich's tool Convrge. Seriously, one of the best NYCi meetups I've ever been to! =) Thanks for organizing team =)" -- Tushar K., Attendee
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Cnvrge lets you create a speed-networking/dating event with virtually no planning or logistical hassle. It's all about taking a room full of people and getting them to efficiently meet each other. (I met my wife speed dating, so I'm partial to this method!)
The way it works:
The organizer of an event or Meetup will hand out cards like this as participants arrive:
Interested participants check in by texting their name to a phone number (which can be printed on cards and handed out by the event organizer, for example). They then go through a simple SMS dialogue that asks for their email and then a 3-5 word bio. (Additional questions like "M or F?" or "investor or entrepreneur?" can be asked as well to divide participants into groups.) Throughout this process, the organizer is on a website and can see who's checked in and kick off the event with the click of a button. That fires off the first round of text messages to everyone. Samantha, for example, might receive this: "Round #1. Meet John S (Java developer) at location 5." Then, after 5 minutes (set by the organizer), everyone gets another text saying who to meet next and where. Participants who cannot be matched (odd number of participants, or no one new to meet) get a text saying to skip the round and take a breather.
Participants can duck out at any time (to leave, or get a drink, or take a break) by texting "out", and can jump back in by texting "in". Upon each meeting, both participants also receive an email that includes each of their names, emails and bios as well as the round in which they met. Kiss the business cards goodbye!
The coolest part of all this is that the speed networking can begin with as few as 3 people checked in. Then, as people trickle in, they join the pool and each subsequent meeting round includes all active participants.
The ultimate goal is to make Cnvrge so easy to run that a bartender or busy event organizer could fire up a speed-dating/networking event in a few clicks and have, say, half the bar or event involved while the other half don't even realize the event is going on. Cnvrge can augment even the best networking event by facilitating quick meetings between people while not alienating the people who don't want to participate.
Here's a 1 minute pitch that describes (very briefly) what problem Cnvrge sets out to solve and how it works.
The following is a (somewhat outdated) presentation after I hacked together the first version in 24 hours at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2011 Hackathon in May.
(OLD DESCRIPTION:
Host your own speed-dating event, anywhere. We'll create a codename for your event and then your participants will text this to check-in and will then be prompted for their name and gender. You'll see stats on who has checked in so far, and if you need more girls or guys. You'll be able to update the meeting location names to whatever you want. Everyone will get a text telling them who to meet and where. Five minutes later, everyone gets another text. Speed-dating without the annoying logistics, tables, or gongs!)
