Power Hub "Speed Dating" activity

by Dr. Cheryl Varghese, PhD

In April 2024, the Houston POWER Hub hosted a “speed dating” event that was attended by a group of education researchers across three different institutions. This was the second in-person event hosted since the formation of the Houston POWER Hub in 2020. Given the positive feedback about the event, we highlight three aspects of the event that worked well:

1. Opportunities for One-on-One Conversations
We organized our networking event to follow a “speed dating” structure. We did this in hopes to (a) foster more meaningful connections with others, (b) lessen the discomfort that often arises from navigating networking events, and (c) help others meet new, unfamiliar people. This is a high-level overview of how we structured our event:

Each attendee was given a number (1 or 2). Anybody assigned as a #1 had a fixed spot at a small table. 2s were “floaters” – that is they moved around to a different #1 seated at a table every 7-8 minutes. Over the span of an hour, we were able to complete about six to seven rounds. It is worth noting that some attendees expressed wanting more time to engage in conversations, but others enjoyed the 7-8 minute time length. We did our best to assign the same number to attendees from the same institution in order to increase chances of new meetings and collaborations.

2. Conversation Starters
One of the things that makes social networking tough is starting a conversation that invites back-and-forth dialogue. At each table, we provided a list of *optional* conversation starters that included a mix of both personal and fun topics. Attendees were free to use or disregard the conversation starters based on their preferences.

Here were some example conversation starters:

• What part of your work (research or day-to-day responsibilities) do you find most interesting, exciting, or compelling?
• What part of your work (research or day-to-day responsibilities) do you find most challenging?
• Which conference(s) do you enjoy going to the most and why?
• If there was one more hour in the day, what would you spend it on?
• What is a recent show/movie or book that you watched/read?
• What is a recent restaurant that you have been to?

3. Diversified Research Interests/Specialization
Attendees at the Houston POWER Hub event represented many different departments that intersect with education research – from STEM to language/literacy to neuroscience to communication sciences and disorders to early childhood education. In addition to a diverse set of research interests, attendees had different types of job positions. Some attendees had more traditional faculty positions, while others had positions at state agencies or research institutions. Attendees also included postdocs and doctoral students. The diversified research interests and job positions added different perspectives and voices to the conversations at the event. The Houston POWER Hub committee made intentional efforts to leverage personal and professional connections to advertise the event across and within departments. Ultimately, this helped to encourage attendance from a varied group of researchers.

Author note:
Cheryl Varghese, PhD is an Assistant Professor and the Director of Interventions, Texas State Initiatives at Children’s Learning Institute, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.