I think part of it may be genz and part of it may be the format.
I’ve been to these types of events. I just think they’re actually kind of bad for finding a date.
The pitches happen, then there’s time to chat afterward.
It has a strange feeling to approach someone who was pitched. They’re a complete stranger, but you start on unequal footing where you now know a bunch about them and they know nothing about you. Then, if they’re a fairly attractive person, there’s basically a line to talk to them.
I’ve had friends that did it. They had a bunch of people who approached them after, but no one they were interested in. Maybe there were people they would be interested in someone, but you kind of have to play king or queen hearing your subjects make their case and then move them along.
The best bet is actually to just talk with other people there to spectate. But then you have maybe 30 minutes to find someone and talk and everyone is sort of tired from listening to 2 hours of presentations.
It’s just a bad format.
Like you said, repeated casual interactions work better. But for some reason, this basically IRL version of hinge, but only one way, is popular right now.
Dating doesn't work this way
You can't throw a bunch of single people into a room and expect everyone to pair off. The most realistic outcome is maybe a couple people sort of like each other and exchange numbers and go on a couple half-hearted dates before it fizzles out.
The reason for this is the same reason why online dating sucks for most people. Most people don't fall for each other over a couple hours at a house party. People get crushes when they are repeatedly exposed to each other. Sometimes chemistry takes a while to develop. This especially doesn't happen when you are at an awkward party that is explicitly geared towards trying to get all of your single friends to get together.
What needs to happen is weekly parties with the same largish group of people, and after a few months, it is possible some people will start pairing off with each other.
I know I bash Gen Z a lot here, and I don't want to be overly critical of the OP since they were trying hard, but I don't think that most of them -- at least the online ones -- understand the consistent effort it takes to build a social network.