Top minds up for a chat

Oct 18 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

BOFFINS and business leaders *WLTM North folk with a *GSOH for a dating event with a difference.

But the brain boxes aren’t looking for romance . . . they want to share their bright ideas on a series of “dates” at the Sage Gateshead music centre.

Up to 12 of the UK’s top minds – including North professors and playwrights – will take part in the Speed Dating With a Thinker event at the Sage Gateshead, where the dating format will be used to set up one-on-one encounters with the experts.

The event is part of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival, a three-day event hosted by Sage showcasing speeches, debates and performances from an eclectic group of high-profile figures including actress Gina McKee, South Shields MP David Miliband playwright Peter Flannery and even musician William Orbit.

And programmers say lots of people have already signed up for the speed-dating afternoon in the hope of being seduced by the thinkers’ bright ideas.

Festival organiser Martin Smith said: “We really wanted to do something that gives the audience a chance to fully explore and enjoy the event and we needed a friendly format . . . so we have pinched the format for speed dating.

“There will be 10 or 12 thinkers – people who have an idea to sell – and they will be sat at little tables in Sage, and will each have two or three minutes to sell this idea to their date, before the klaxon sounds and a new date comes along.

“When we hold the event on Sunday October 25, the thinkers will have to sell their idea repeatedly and their date will also get to ask them questions about how it will work, what problems it could have, and so on.

“Then, at the very end, everyone will vote on the best idea.