Speed dating just allows you to meet more people and weed out potential first dates. In my experience, if you go to a speed dating event and meet 30 girls, you probably heard of/went out with 10-15 of the girls, you’ll say no to 10 girls, and then consider the remaining 5. The problem with these large speed dating events is that they are only helpful for the pretty girls who do really well in social settings. Basically, most of the guys will say yes to the same 5 pretty girls, and it’s a waste of time for everyone else. Part of this is that you can’t get to really know someone from speaking with them for 5-10 minutes, and it gets extremely rudimentary.
For speed dating type events to work, there has to be fewer options available (8-10 boys/girls at an event), and do it with an activity, or maybe do it over a Shabbos meal so you can actually get to know someone outside of the first external impressions that the girls give off.