120 speed networking questions: speed dating questions for work
Put the timer on a screen, press start, and every pair gets a fresh question. Below it: all the questions by round, and a rotation plan for your headcount.
What's your role, in one sentence a friend outside work would understand?
Looking for speed dating questions for a work event? Keep the format and change the questions. Short timed rounds with a new partner every time are the fastest way to get a room of coworkers, new hires or clients talking. These 120 speed networking questions are sorted by the part of the round they fit: openers, work, interests, fun and closers, plus 20 for conference hallways. To be clear, they are networking questions, not questions for speed dating. For a speed friending mixer, lean on the interests and fun rounds.
100 speed dating questions for work, by round
One opener to start, one or two from the middle rounds, and a closer when the 30-second warning comes. Numbers run on, so you can call out “number 42”.
20 openers
The first 30 seconds. Easy to answer and quick to move on from, so the round doesn't stall on introductions.
1. What's your role, in one sentence a friend outside work would understand?
2. What are you hoping to get out of today?
3. Which team are you on, and what does it own?
4. How long have you been in your current role?
5. What's your name, and what should I ask you about?
6. What made you sign up for this?
7. Did you choose to come, or were you volunteered?
8. What's the best part of your job this month?
9. What's the newest thing on your plate?
10. Who's the last new person you met at work?
11. Is this your first speed networking event?
12. Who here do you already know best?
13. What's a project you could pitch in two minutes flat?
14. How do you know the people who organized this?
15. What's your team's busiest time of year?
16. Which city or office are you based in?
17. What's a project everyone on your team is talking about?
18. What did you work on right before this?
19. What did you have to move on your calendar to be here?
20. What's one fun fact about your team?
20 work questions
The middle of the round. Ask about the work, not the title, and listen for a way your teams could help each other.
21. What problem does your team solve for customers?
22. What does your team measure itself on?
23. What's a skill you use every day that isn't in your job title?
24. What's the hardest part of your role that nobody sees?
25. What's one tool your team couldn't do without?
26. What's a project you wrapped up recently that you're proud of?
27. Which team do you wish you worked with more?
28. Which customer request comes up again and again for your team?
29. Which handoff into or out of your team could be smoother?
30. Who outside your team makes your job easier?
31. What's a goal your team is chasing this quarter?
32. What does your team need more of right now?
33. What part of your work would be most useful for me to know about?
34. What's a skill you brought with you from a previous job?
35. What's a mistake you see new people in your role make?
36. What's the most interesting customer story you've heard lately?
37. What should a new hire on your team know in week one?
38. How could my team make your team's life easier?
39. What change in your field are you keeping an eye on?
40. What do you wish other departments understood about your work?
20 interests questions
For people who meet again at the coffee machine next week. These are the answers people remember.
41. What's a band or artist you'd travel to see live?
42. What's a hobby you'd love to get back into?
43. What's the last thing you read that you passed on to someone?
44. What's a skill you're teaching yourself?
45. What's a spot nearby you'd recommend for a Saturday?
46. What's a sport or game you're into?
47. What's the most useful thing you've learned from an online video?
48. Is there a podcast you'd recommend to someone in your job?
49. Are you more of an outdoors person or an indoors person?
50. Do you have a creative project on the go?
51. What's a local event you look forward to every year?
52. What's something you can cook, build or fix better than most people?
53. What's an app you use every day outside of work?
54. What's a book that changed how you think about work?
55. What's something you do every weekend without fail?
56. Are you part of any club, team or group outside work?
57. Which season do you plan the most around?
58. What's a recipe you're known for?
59. What's something your hometown is known for?
60. Do you volunteer anywhere?
20 fun questions
When the room needs a laugh, or two strangers have run out of work talk. Light, quick and safe for any colleague.
61. What would your job be called if it were an Olympic sport?
62. What would your job title be in a fantasy novel?
63. What's a job you had once that taught you something unexpected?
64. What would your desk say about you if it could talk?
65. What's a rule you'd add to every meeting?
66. What's your go-to snack for a long meeting?
67. What's the best name you've seen for a meeting room or Wi-Fi network?
68. Which animal would make the best coworker?
69. What would the movie about your team be called?
70. Whose voice would you pick to narrate your workday?
71. What's a harmless hot take you're happy to defend?
72. What's the best spot to work from that isn't your desk?
73. What's the best recovery you've seen when a demo went wrong?
74. What's a trend you loved that you'd rather forget?
75. What's a word you always misspell?
76. What's your favorite useless fact?
77. What's a piece of jargon you'd ban from meetings?
78. Which job from a movie would you most like to try for a day?
79. What's the strangest thing you've ever learned at work?
80. What will people find funny about how we work in 20 years?
20 closers
The last 30 seconds of a round. A good closer turns a three-minute chat into a contact you'll actually follow up with.
81. What's the best way to stay in touch with you?
82. Is there someone in this room you think I'd get along with?
83. Can I send you that link we talked about?
84. Is there one thing I could help you with?
85. Would you be up for a coffee chat next month?
86. What should I read or listen to after this?
87. Is there a project of yours I should look out for?
88. What would you like people to remember from talking to you today?
89. Is there anyone on my team you'd like an introduction to?
90. When's your team's next big launch, so I can watch for it?
91. What's a topic you'd like to hear more about at our next event?
92. What's one thing we found out we have in common today?
93. What's one thing you'll take away from our chat?
94. Should we compare notes after the next session?
95. Is there an event like this you'd recommend?
96. What's one tip you'd give me for the rest of today?
97. What's one thing you'd like to learn from someone here?
98. Is there anything I can share from my team that would help yours?
99. Is there a project you'd like a second pair of eyes on?
100. What are you hoping to get done before the end of the year?
20 good networking questions for conferences
For the hallway, the coffee line and the table before a keynote. The conference is your shared topic, so start there.
101. Which session are you heading to next?
102. What's the best question you've heard from the audience?
103. Which booth or demo is worth a look?
104. What's the best-run part of this conference so far?
105. How does this year compare to last year's?
106. What's the best piece of swag you've picked up?
107. What's your company's take on this year's big theme?
108. Have you made it to any of the workshops yet?
109. What's the best tip you've picked up between sessions?
110. What will you tell your team about this event?
111. Is this conference more useful for the talks or the people?
112. What's everyone talking about in the hallways this year?
113. What's one question you'd ask the keynote speaker?
114. Is there a session you'd recommend I catch on replay?
115. Are you speaking or presenting while you're here?
116. What's the most surprising thing you've seen here so far?
117. Which other events in our field do you go to?
118. Are you here with your team or on your own?
119. How do you plan your time at a big conference like this?
120. Where's a good spot to recharge between sessions?
Not at a structured event? Our conversation starters are sorted by situation, from the kitchen to the client lunch.
How to run a speed networking event yourself
You need a room with chairs, a screen for the timer and something that makes a noise. Six steps:
- Set two rows. Put chairs in two facing rows, or pairs of seats at small tables, and number the seats. Row A stays put all session; row B moves.
- Brief the room in one minute. Say the round length, what the signal sounds like and which way row B moves. Point at the screen with the question on it.
- Show one question per round. Put the timer above on a big screen. Pairs can use the question or ignore it; it's there so nobody has to think of an opener.
- Warn, then signal. At 30 seconds left the timer shows a closing question. When it hits zero, ring a bell or clap twice, and allow about a minute to say goodbye and move.
- Rotate one seat. Everyone in row B moves one seat to the right, and the person at the end walks to the first seat. Repeat until the plan below says stop.
- End with open mingling. Finish with ten minutes of free conversation, when people go back to the partners they want to talk to again. If you share a contact list afterwards, ask first.
Rotation plans for 10, 20 and 40 people
Each round pairs everyone with someone new, so the number of rounds is the number of people each person meets. Times include about 1 minute to move between rounds.
10 people: 5 rounds of 4 minutes, about 24 minutes
Two rows of 5. Everyone meets 5 of the other 9.
10 people: 9 rounds of 3 minutes, about 35 minutes
Round robin: one person stays seated while everyone else moves one place around the circle each round. Everyone meets all 9 others.
20 people: 10 rounds of 3 minutes, about 39 minutes
Two rows of 10. Everyone meets 10 of the other 19.
40 people: 10 rounds of 3 minutes, about 39 minutes
Two rows of 20 (or two rooms of 20, run side by side). Everyone meets 10 of the other 39.
Five things that make it work
- Odd headcount? Add a rest seat with a glass of water and a question card, so one person takes a one-round break each time, or have the host fill the gap.
- Name tags with a first name and one line (“Ask me about my team's launch”) give every pair a second opener.
- Mix teams on purpose: put people from the same team in the same row, so they never meet each other.
- Three minutes is enough for an introduction, five for a real conversation. Pick four if you can't decide.
- For printed conversation cards, copy one round's questions onto a card and leave a card on every table.
Speed networking on a video call
- Use breakout rooms of two and reassign them each round. Random reassignment can pair people twice; that's fine for a mixer.
- Post the round's question in the main chat before you open the rooms, so it's on screen when people arrive.
- Share your screen with the timer in the main room, and give a one-minute warning before you close the rooms.
- Keep rounds to four or five minutes online: joining a room takes a few seconds, and the first hello takes longer on camera.
Building a bigger event around it? Our networking event ideas cover formats beyond speed rounds, the breakout session ideas help with the rest of the agenda, and our large group icebreakers warm up a room of 50 or more. Welcoming a new hire class? See new hire onboarding team building.
Want speed networking without running the clock?
KraftyLab’s Speed Networking is an automated format on its own networking platform, not Zoom. A short welcome video explains how it works and shares conversation tips, then the platform matches attendees into private one-on-one rooms for three-minute conversations, with virtual business cards built in. The whole experience takes about 45 minutes. It isn’t live-facilitated; a support team is on hand for technical issues. Book at least 14 days ahead, or get a free quote.
Speed Networking: today’s price below.
