National Wingman Week

At the end of June I’ll be joining up to ten thousand people when I go to the Dating Show Live in Birmingham. Most of us will be going there with the hope of doing something to help us meet a special someone in real life, as frustration with online dating becomes more and more of a thing, at least for those who have been swiping for long enough.

Real life interactions and meeting people away from the swiping culture which has become all too common is becoming more and more desirable for many, and is one of the main reasons the show was set up. Apps have their place; I know I, for one, wouldn’t have met more than a single solitary person over the past two and a half years without them. But a desire to meet people in real life is driving people to places where that’s more likely to happen.

The trouble is, for many this is a particularly difficult task. Going to a bar by yourself in the hope of meeting someone isn’t a particularly attractive proposition for most of us, and the strikeout rate is no doubt exceptionally high (not to mention expensive as you’re spending so much time in bars). Singles events are possible, but these come up only every now and then and there’s often a disparity between the numbers of each gender who actually turn up.

Meeting people in real life is hard. It’s the reason why apps exist. But it needn’t be. That’s why I want to push the last week of June (24-30 June this year) to be National Wingman Week.

I’ve written before about being a wingman, and what skills a good wingman needs to have; it’s a brilliant thing that you can do for your friends and something that even those friends who are already in a relationship can do for their single buddies. It breaks down into two main ways wingmen can help their friends find love (or at least dates):

Firstly, the classic wingman approach of going out with them to a bar, club, pub or event and helping them get started talking with people they might fancy. Have a think right now of some of your single friends and arrange a night out for the last week in June, planning in the process that your entire job for the night is to get them talking with other people.

For some people this comes easily enough – they simply walk over to a person or group, introduce themselves and strike up a conversation out of thin air. For others it’s more of a challenge and a little help may be needed. If that’s you then invest in one or more packs of S&M cards (I’ve not got any sort of affiliation with them, but I love the product). These are simple cards which set out little challenges for you and your friend, and give you the perfect thing to blame when it comes to starting up a conversation with the group of hotties in the booth.

Secondly, take the time to think about some of your single friends and whether two of them might enjoy each others company. You don’t have to worry about whether or not they are perfect romantic matches at this point, merely that they would get on and have a good time together even if only for an evening. What happens next is up to them, but you’ll have done your good deed for the day and earned your wingman badge.

If enough people get behind this then it can become a real thing, and people will have an excuse to start matchmaking their friends as well as a prompt to do so. Being single and trying to find love is hard, after all; single people need all the help they can get.

And to top off the week in the best way possible, be a top wingman and buy them a ticket for the Dating Show Live (if you use my affiliate link I’ll love you forever!). Come with them and help them find someone too (you’ll have a red lanyard if you’re not single so don’t worry about unwanted attention); you’ll have a great time yourself and might end up being the person they thank in their wedding speeches.

Let’s make National Wingman Week come alive!