Speed Mentoring: How to Plan and Run an Event

Speed mentoring is an event in which mentees rotate through several mentors in short, timed rounds, usually 8 to 15 minutes each. Each mentee gets focused advice from several experienced people in one sitting, and both sides find out who they would like to keep talking to. It works as a standalone event or as the start of a longer program.

This guide covers how a speed mentoring event works, how to plan one step by step, a sample run of show for a 90-minute event, a facilitator script, question prompts, and how to turn short conversations into real mentoring relationships.

How does a speed mentoring event work?

The mechanics are simple, which is part of the appeal.

• Mentors stay put. Each mentor sits at a numbered table (or in a fixed breakout room online) with a name card that says who they are and what they can help with.
• Mentees move. At the start of each round, mentees go to their next table. One to three mentees sit with each mentor.
• A facilitator keeps time. Rounds are strictly timed: a signal for “two minutes left”, a signal for “rotate”.
• Everyone takes notes. Mentees jot down advice and which mentors they want to follow up with. Mentors note who they would be happy to keep mentoring.
• Follow-up closes the loop. After the event, interest on both sides is matched, and some pairs continue as ongoing mentoring.

Speed mentoring is popular at conferences, employee networks, women’s leadership programs, university career weeks, accelerators and alumni associations: anywhere a community has many people who want advice and a limited number of experienced people with an hour or two to give.

How is speed mentoring different from flash mentoring and group mentoring?

These three formats are often confused. They solve different problems.

If your goal is one deep conversation rather than many short ones, read the guide to flash mentoring. If you want the same mentor and mentees to meet repeatedly, see group mentoring. Many programs combine them: a speed mentoring kickoff, then flash meetings or groups for those who want more.

How do you plan a speed mentoring event, step by step?

1. Set one goal. Decide what the event is for: helping new graduates explore career paths, connecting women in a company with senior leaders, giving startup founders access to specialist advice, or recruiting pairs for a longer program. The goal shapes who you invite and what the follow-up looks like.
2. Decide the ratio. Plan one mentor for every one to three mentees per table. One-to-one gives the deepest conversations but needs the most mentors. Two or three mentees per table works well when mentors are scarce, and helps nervous mentees, who can listen first. Avoid more than three: it turns into a small panel.
3. Choose the number of rounds and the timing. Ten-minute rounds with two-minute rotations is a reliable default. Five rounds fit comfortably in a 90-minute event. Make sure each mentee meets each mentor at most once: with mentors seated and mentees moving one table along each round, that holds as long as you have at least as many tables as rounds.
4. Pre-plan rotations, or let people choose. With open rotation, mentees simply move to the next table. With planned rotation, you give each mentee a card listing their tables for each round, based on the interests they gave at sign-up. Planned rotation takes more work but makes every conversation more relevant. The same logic as program matching applies; see how to match mentors and mentees.
5. Set up the room or the virtual rooms. In person: numbered tables far enough apart that people can hear each other, table numbers visible from the door, and a clear path for rotation. Online: one breakout room per mentor, named with the mentor’s name and topic, plus a main room for briefings.
6. Prepare name cards and profiles. Each mentor table gets a tent card with name, role, and three topics they can help with. Share short mentor profiles with mentees a few days before, so they arrive with questions. Mentees wear name badges with their first name and one line on what they want advice about.
7. Brief the mentors. Send a one-page brief: the goal, the timing, how to open a round, and what to note for follow-up. Ask them to keep their own stories short and to end each round with one concrete suggestion.
8. Brief the mentees. Tell them to prepare two or three questions, to introduce themselves in under a minute, and to write down the names of mentors they want to follow up with.
9. Plan the follow-up before the event. Decide now how contacts will be exchanged, who sends what, and what offer comes next (a flash meeting, a group, or a place in a longer program). Follow-up is where most of the value is, and it is the step most often skipped.

What does a 90-minute speed mentoring run of show look like?

This schedule assumes five rounds of ten minutes, with two minutes to rotate.

For a 60-minute version, drop the break and run three or four rounds. For a two-hour version, add rounds rather than making each one longer.

What should the facilitator say? A script with timings

Keep announcements short. People are there to talk to each other, not to listen to the host.

• 0:10, welcome (about 8 minutes): “Welcome. Tonight each mentee will meet five mentors, ten minutes each. Mentors stay at their tables; mentees move one table to the right when you hear the bell. At eight minutes you will hear one chime: that is your two-minute warning. Use the last minute to ask for one concrete piece of advice. Write down the names of anyone you want to talk to again; we will collect those at the end.”
• Each round start: “Round two. Mentees, introduce yourself in under a minute and ask your first question. Time starts now.”
• At 8 minutes: one chime, no speech.
• At 10 minutes: “Time. Please finish your sentence, thank your mentor, and move one table to the right.”
• 0:54, break: “Five minutes. Use them to note who you want to follow up with while it is fresh.”
• 1:24, close: “Please fill in your follow-up card: up to three people you would like to talk to again. Mentors, mark the mentees you would be glad to keep advising. You will hear from us within two working days.”

A bell, a chime app or a visible countdown on a screen works better than shouting over a room full of conversations.

What questions work in a ten-minute round?

Ten minutes is enough for one good question and a follow-up, not a full career review. Give mentees a short list to choose from:

• “What would you do in my position over the next six months?”
• “What skill made the biggest difference in your career, and how did you build it?”
• “What is one mistake you often see people at my stage make?”
• “If you were starting in this field today, where would you begin?”
• “What should I read, try, or ask about next?”
• “Who else should I talk to about this?”

Mentors can use prompts too, to get past small talk quickly:

• “What decision are you facing right now?”
• “What have you already tried?”
• “What would a good outcome from this conversation be for you?”

How do you turn speed mentoring contacts into ongoing mentoring?

Without follow-up, speed mentoring is a pleasant evening. With it, it becomes a matching event.

1. Collect follow-up cards on both sides. Mentees list up to three mentors they would like to continue with; mentors list mentees they would be happy to advise.
2. Match mutual interest first. Where both sides chose each other, introduce them. Where only the mentee chose, ask the mentor before sharing anything.
3. Share contact details only with consent. Ask at sign-up whether attendees agree to have their name and email shared with people they meet. In the EU and the UK this matters under GDPR; elsewhere it is simply good practice.
4. Send introductions within two working days. Interest fades fast. A short email naming both people and suggesting a first meeting works better than a list of contacts.
5. Offer a clear next step. A single follow-up meeting, a place in a group, or a slot in your longer program. Give pairs a suggested agenda for their first real meeting.
6. Ask for quick feedback. Two questions are enough: how useful was the event, and would you join again as a mentor or mentee.

Virtual or in person: what changes?

Online events reach people in different cities and time zones, and are cheaper to run. In-person events produce warmer connections and more spontaneous follow-ups. For online events, assign a co-host whose only job is moving people between rooms and helping anyone who gets lost, and publish the rotation schedule in a shared document everyone can open.

How can software help after the event?

Speed mentoring is often the opening of a mentoring program rather than the whole of it. If you run the program that follows, the work after the event is the familiar kind: collecting who wants to continue, forming pairs or groups, scheduling first meetings, and noticing the pairs that never start.

Mentornity is built for that part. Organizations use it to collect applications, match mentors and mentees with rule-based matching and a side-by-side view of each pair, run group mentoring alongside 1:1, let mentors publish time slots that mentees book, and send reminders to pairs that are behind. The community mentoring software page shows how it works for networks and associations, and you can try it free for up to 10 users.

More guides on program formats are in the guides section.