I know speed dating is non existent now, but before online dating what was speed dating like? Was it mostly land whales and bottom of the barrel women?
Sh*tty Match I heard still does events but very lame and hardly anyone shows up I've read and this is in the large cities. usually it's a couple sub par women and maybe a dozen guys and most of the guys are on the spectrum or have some other issues.
I never went to speed dating before online dating. Online dating originated in the 1990s (as did speed dating) and then the app era started with Tinder in 2012. I did go to a speed dating event in the mid-2000s that was decent. The problem is that I was 23 at the time and my decent matches were 26-28. That's not an easy sell though not impossible. Had I been 30 then, that event might have been worthwhile. However, even then, other than those 2, 26-28 year olds, the rest of the other 10+ women I met that night were bottom of the barrel. I think speed dating got even worse after 2010.
Match.com did real life events into the 2010s. I heard the same things you heard and I've been in large U.S. metros since my mid-2000s college graduation.
Two other things that were around before the internet that I didn't address earlier:
Co-Ed Sports Leagues: In the 2000s/2010s, this was a common thing for 20s/30s people to do. Kickball had a meteoric surge in popularity around the late 2000s/early 2010s. Almost all co-ed team sports have young adults. A good percentage of the participating population in co-ed sports is doing it because they are single and looking to date. However, there are some established couples/established teams who do things. It can be a bit cliquey and social circle to do. You're generally going to have a better experience in a sports league if you establish your own team from your existing circle of friends rather than sign up as a free agent to join teams that are 1-2 players short of a full team or a random team comprised of all free agents. This is even more true when the sport requires actual skill, like volleyball or soccer. Kickball is complete bullshiit and doesn't require actual skill. Regardless of the sport, most of the socializing and finding romance occurs after the end of the game at some sponsor bar. The games are filler for the actual picking up.
I recommend co-ed sports leagues if you're passionate about the sport. If you're doing it just for the dating, you're likely to be sorely disappointed. It's effectiveness is questionable and it's definitely not efficient. For efficiency's sake, you're likely better off going to fitness classes and doing approaches before or after classes, especially if you're joining leagues as a free agent and don't have social ties within the league. You're more likely to build social ties if you do the leagues season after season. Co-ed sports leagues are difficult to swoop into and get dates from random approaching after games.
Alumni Groups: This is a recommend. It's so easy to get dates from this in non-pandemic times. The pandemic has reduced or eliminated alumni group events. Prior to the pandemic, these tended to happen in bars. Plenty of young adults do these groups.
Some tips:
1. Don't go to alumni events that are centered around college football or college basketball games. You'd be surprised at how many women pay close attention to the games and actually aren't receptive to an extended conversation that can lead to a 1 on 1 date another night or a same night lay.
2. Screen for women who are too career oriented. Some women do alumni events for career networking. Try to talk as little about your bullshiit or her bullshiit white collar job at these events. Avoid women whose occupations are high powered and dominant. Those would be lawyers, doctors, and mid-level or higher business managers. Look for fun liberal arts majors or some business majors. A lot of women major in business and go into Marketing/Advertising/Public Relations/Human Resources. These women are tough to discern because some can be fun and don't take their careers too seriously whereas others are career driven, feminist, SJW ballbusters.