New York City is at the epicenter of the online dating industry, but that fact has not been recognized or celebrated... until now! Not only is NYC one of the largest markets for online dating, with 3.5 million singles, but it is also the home to Match.com, Chemistry.com, OKCupid.com, PlentyOfFish.com,Speeddate.com, AreYouInterested.com (SNAP Interactive), Nerve.com, HowAboutWe.com, MeetMoi.com, MiniDates.com, Ignighter.com/StepOut.com, Sonar.com, Cheek'd, iDate, many celebrity matchmakers and many other upstarts. 

This event celebrates the NYC dating industry in honor of Internet Week! The online dating industry is a large, financially lucrative and growing segment of NY Tech. Come hear from some of the forerunners who are based in NYC, as well as guest stars  from around the world!  The topics should be interesting to those in online dating, mobile, social media and location-based discovery and social networks.

PANELISTS:

• Daniel Buelhoff, COO of Smeet -Smeet is an immersive 3D social gaming environment & chat service that allows members to "Playfully Meet People" online. Smeet is based in Germany with its US office in NYC.
  
  
• Mike DiBenedetto, Head of Product at Nerve.com - Nerve.com is a lifestyle content and dating site that recently relaunched with a focus on social dating, enabling members to meet new people based on interests, experiences, and opinions. Nerve is based in NYC. 
   
• Johnny Du, CEO of  51taonan.com -51 Taonan is the largest free dating site in China, with 3.5 million members, and the 4th largest site overall in China.
  
  
• Alex Harrington, CEO of MeetMoi - MeetMoi is a pioneer in mobile social discovery that enables members to find compatible matches based on their interests and their real-time location. MeetMoi is based in NYC and is available on the web or as an iPhone or Android app.
  
  
• Cliff Lerner, CEO of SNAP Interactive, Inc., the creators of Are You Interested? SNAP Interactive Inc. is a publicly traded company (STVI) whose flagship AreYouInterested.com brand is one of the largest social dating services on Facebook and the Internet. SNAP is based in NYC.
   
• Tom Jacques, Head of Site Quality, and Courty Stanton, Product Design of OKCupid- OKCupid uses math to get you compatible matches. OKCupid, a NYC company, is one of the fastest-growing free dating sites and was acquired by IAC Interactive in 2011 (also in NYC).
   
• Beverly May, CEO of MiniDates - MiniDates is the first real dating service that sends you in-person date proposals based your criteria of exactly who you're seeking AND your schedule of when & where you're free. MiniDates just launched in private beta in NYC- sign up to try it FREE!
  
  
• Aaron Schildkrout, CEO of HowAboutWe - HowAboutWe is a fast-growing service that enables members to post offline date proposals to the community in the "How About We...?" question format. HowAboutWe raised a $15M Series B in 2011 and is based in NYC.

• OPENING TALK & CLOSING Q+A: Mark Brooks of Courtland Brooks, publisher of Online Personals Watch-  Mark is a top dating industry analyst whose company provides media relations, PR, business development, and product and marketing strategy exclusively for Internet dating services. Past clients include Friendster, FriendFinder, Cupid, Plentyoffish, White Label Dating and many others.
   
• PANELS MODERATOR: Marc Lesnick, founder of iDate -analyst and organizer of the industry's premiere conference, iDate2012.com. Marc will moderate both panels and operates iDate out of NYC.

EVENT DETAILS:

• 6:45-7:00 Registration & Refreshments
  
  
• 7:00-7:15 Introduction by Mark Brooks: top trends in online dating
  
  
• 7:15-7:30 Company introductions
   
• 7:30 - 8:15 Panel 1: Online dating meets social media
  
• Recent trends in online dating have leveraged existing social networks like Facebook and also integrated social media features like status updates, likes and messaging into existing dating services. Yet, most users don't like to 'share' their dating habits online, so social media also poses a challenge for dating services. This panel explores the evolution of dating around social and new innovations in this space.
  
  
• 8:15-8:30 Break with Refreshments
  
  
• 8:30-9:15 Panel 2: Unexpected facts and trends on who's dating online, how and why!
• Surprising facts about who uses online dating, when, how and what their motivators are! Key insights from top service providers about their users and target demographics.
  
  
• 9:15-9:30:  Q&A with Mark Brooks
  
  
• 9:30-10:00 Refreshments & Networking

Spread the word: #NYDating

Sponsored by: