---
title: "Speed Networking Questions Generator + How to Run It | ELC"
description: "Free speed networking question generator: pick engineers, leaders or a mixed room and the round length, get a printable set per round. Plus how to run it."
url: "https://www.engineeringleaders.io/networking-games/speed-networking/"
lang: "en"
image: "https://www.engineeringleaders.io/_astro/speed-networking-pair.Dqk_FLQm_ZMtAW8.jpg"
---

![Two engineers in a one-to-one conversation with name stickers at an ELC meetup](https://www.engineeringleaders.io/_astro/speed-networking-pair.Dqk_FLQm_1cQN9L.avif)

Speed networking · free generator

# Speed networking questions engineers _want to answer_

Pick the audience and the round length, get a question set for every round. Put it on the screen, ring the bell, switch. Copy it or print it. No email, no signup.

AudienceEngineersEngineering leadersMixed roomRound length3 minutes, 1 question5 minutes, 2 questions8 minutes, 3 questionsRounds

Generate the question setCopy as textPrint

## How to run speed networking at a tech meetup

1.  **One rule from the stage: not with a colleague.** People arrive in company groups and stay in them. The pairing rule is what breaks that, and it has to be said out loud.
2.  **Question on the screen, one per round.** Nobody has to invent an opener, and the shy half of the room gets the same start as the loud half.
3.  **Bell, switch, next.** A loud signal, not a host shouting. The bell does the job nobody likes doing: ending a conversation.
4.  **Do the maths before you announce it.** Rounds times round length, plus a minute per switch. Six rounds of five minutes is 36 minutes. Say the total from the stage so people plan their drink.
5.  **End on a partner, not on a bell.** Last round: "stay with this person, or go find the one from round two." The best conversations of the night are the ones the bell interrupted.

ELC Mate

## Run the pairing automatically with ELC Mate

Above 40 people the two-lines method breaks. ELC Mate matches people from different companies: guests scan a QR on the TV, find their name, and get two matches. The phone turns into a colour beacon that pulses in time with the partner's phone, so you hold it up and find your match in a room of 200. Two rounds, one clock on every phone, a latecomer adds themselves without moving anyone. First run at ELC meetup #41 in Prague on 9 September 2026, an evening for past speakers with 71 registrations.

Free rooms for other organizers are coming. Want it at your event before that? Ask us at [weare@engineeringleaders.io](mailto:weare@engineeringleaders.io?subject=ELC%20Mate%20at%20our%20event).

[See ELC Mate](https://www.engineeringleaders.io/mate/)

## 52 speed networking questions, three audiences

The banks the generator draws from. Each has a story in the answer, none can be answered with yes or no.

### Engineers

-   What did you ship last week that you are proud of?
-   What is the oldest piece of code you still maintain?
-   Which tool did your team adopt this year that you would not give back?
-   What do you use an AI coding assistant for, and where does it fail you?
-   What is the biggest outage you have been part of, and what changed after it?
-   If you could delete one service from your architecture, which one?
-   What is a technical decision you argued against and lost?
-   What do you wish your manager understood about your work?
-   What are you learning right now that is not for your job?
-   What does "done" mean on your team?
-   How do you decide when a refactor is worth it?
-   What does your on-call week look like?
-   Which meeting on your calendar would you cancel tomorrow?
-   What would you build with one free week and no tickets?
-   What is the best code review comment you have received?
-   Monorepo or many repos, and why does your team disagree?
-   How do you test something you are scared to touch?
-   What does your team do that would surprise an outsider?

### Engineering leaders

-   What is the hardest org problem you are solving right now?
-   What would you do differently if you started your current role over?
-   How many people report to you, and how many should?
-   What did you stop doing this year?
-   What decision are you postponing, and what does it cost you?
-   How do you know a team is healthy before the metrics say so?
-   What is your AI adoption target, and who set it?
-   When did you last change your mind because of someone junior?
-   What does your CEO or board ask you that you struggle to answer?
-   Who was the last person you promoted, and why them?
-   What do you say no to most often?
-   What is a hire you regret, and what was the signal you ignored?
-   How do you run a 1:1 that is not a status update?
-   What is the one metric you look at every week?
-   What did your last reorg teach you?
-   Where does your engineering budget go that nobody sees?
-   Which company do you steal ideas from?
-   What would you tell a first-time engineering manager in one sentence?

### Mixed room

-   What is the problem you came here to talk about?
-   What did you change your mind about this year?
-   What is one tool, book or talk that changed how you work?
-   What would you build if nobody was watching?
-   What is the best team you have been part of, and what made it?
-   What do people at your company think engineers do all day?
-   What does your company do that would surprise this room?
-   If you swapped jobs with each other for a week, what would break first?
-   What are you hiring for, or looking for, right now?
-   What is a mistake you made this year that taught you the most?
-   What does a good day at work look like for you?
-   Which meeting would you delete from every calendar in your company?
-   What is your unpopular opinion about AI at work?
-   What is one thing you are avoiding?
-   Who do you want to meet tonight, and why?
-   What did you disagree with in the last talk you heard?

## Get the next game before your next meetup.

New networking games and the ELC meetup checklist land in the Leaders' Brief, the monthly email 1,500+ engineering leaders open every issue.

Your emailSend me the games

One email a month. Unsubscribe is a reply.

You're on the list.

A welcome email is on its way. The next games come with the next Leaders' Brief.

For companies

## Want ELC to run the whole night at your office?

Your venue, your speaker. The ELC team brings the topic, the audience of 3,300+ engineering leaders, the games, the host and the photos. A median of 125 confirmed registrations across the last 13 public meetups.

[See what ELC runs for companies](https://www.engineeringleaders.io/partner/)

## Questions people _ask_

What is speed networking?

Timed one-to-one conversations, usually 3 to 5 minutes each, with a signal to switch partners. Each person meets five to ten people in half an hour. It comes from speed dating, with a question per round instead of small talk.

How long should a speed networking round be?

Three minutes for one question, five for two, eight for three. Under three minutes people only exchange names; over eight the room turns into normal networking and the bell starts to annoy. Add a minute per round for finding the next partner.

How many rounds of speed networking should I run?

Five to seven. Ten rounds of five minutes is an hour, and attention drops after the sixth partner. At a meetup with a 75-minute networking block, six rounds at the start leaves time for the conversations that started in round two.

How do I pair people for speed networking?

The one rule that matters: not with a colleague. Two lines facing each other, one line shifts by one seat each round, works up to about 40 people. Above that, hand out numbered cards or use a phone-based matcher like ELC Mate, which pairs everyone with someone from a different company and runs the clock on every phone at once.

What are good speed networking questions for engineers?

Questions about real work with a story in the answer: "What is the biggest outage you have been part of, and what changed after it?" or "What is the hardest org problem you are solving right now?" The generator on this page has 52 of them across three audiences. Skip "what do you do" and anything with a yes or no answer.

Does speed networking work for introverts?

Better than an open bar does. The round has a start, an end and a question, so nobody has to walk up to a stranger or find the exit from a conversation. The bell does both jobs. That is why it works with an engineering crowd.

[Next game: the human bingo card generator →](https://www.engineeringleaders.io/networking-games/human-bingo/)[← All 12 networking games from 40+ meetups](https://www.engineeringleaders.io/networking-games/)

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