
Pearl Gabel/New York Daily News
Rahul Saggar, founder of Presentation Dating
Experts would tell you that it’s not good to brag about your personal failings on a first date.
But Rahul Saggar is no expert. His dating strategy involves boasting to prospective lovers about years of coming up with wacky inventions — yet selling none of them.
And now the chronic tinkerer has come up with one more scheme. It’s called Presentation Dating — and once a month, Saggar throws open his Williamsburg apartment and gives the loveless a chance to demonstrate their romantic skills in a setting that’s more corporate boardroom than singles bar.
“We’ve all heard that thing about confidence being the most attractive thing,” he says. “But that reminds me of indie films where these guys are borderline stalkers.”
Pearl Gabel/New York Daily News
Singles watch and perform at Presentation Dating in Williamsburg.
Saggar’s apartment attracts a wildly eccentric crowd. In addition to the PowerPoint slides, participants have used spoken word poetry, improvised raps and even an odd ukulele-accompanied diatribe against American cultural hegemony.
Granted, that particular presentation didn’t get its author to first base with anyone, but it hasn’t stopped other would-be daters from trying edgy stuff.
At a recent Presentation Dating event, a guy in white cowboy boots talked about his recent trip to Kenya, while jumping up and down to emulate a Maasai warrior. A female presenter named Helen Yoon asked each guy in the audience to discuss his perception of Asian women. Afterwards she yelled at everyone for having those perceptions in the first place.
“How can you summarize someone by their race?” she demanded. “It’s so stupid. But that’s what you do!”
Scott Griessel/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Making a love connection is tough, but don’t quit, says Saggar.
Again, no date followed.
Still, Saggar, a 42-year-old engineer, persists with his coupling concept. He embarked on the project after a young lovely flirted with him following a work presentation (PowerPoint brings out the animal in some co-workers).
Now 10 to 30 people show up at Saggar’s apartment once a month to present themselves to prospective lovers. At the most recent event, about half the crowd had been there before. All were on hand for a simple reason: Internet dating might cast a wider net, but it also pulls up a bunch of old cans, tires and other garbage for every good catch.
Good catch or junk? You decide: One presenter said he had recently been released from Rikers Island only to find that his girlfriend had found a new beau. He made his presentation and a spirited discussion ensued about the ethics of cheating on an imprisoned partner. The sympathies were definitely with the ex-jailbird, but he left without making a new love connection.
Pearl Gabel/New York Daily News
Singles mingle after Presentation Dating at Rahul Saggar’s Williamsburg apartment.
So it was another failure for Saggar — but it’s not like he stops trying. He didn’t quit after failing to sell his innovative tampon applicator or his cage for spinal surgery. This inventor is going to keep pressing on — for singles and for himself.
“I just want a format for people to present themselves to a group of people, and if people are interested, they can go out,” he says.
“I’m hoping to be a Cupid.”
The next Presentation Dating will be held in late mid-January. For info, email presentationdating@gmail.com.