Picture this. You and the cutest guy you've ever glimpsed are on an elevator speeding down to the ground floor. Or the scene is the grocery store and the handsome hunk of your desires is squeezing melons in the next aisle. Your palms are sweaty; your mouth is dry. If you don't say or do the right thing, your window of opportunity to hook this handsome stranger will close. What's an interested singleton to do?

For advice on guerrilla-style flirting, we went to Adele Testani, cofounder of the fun and ever-expanding HurryDate franchise. You've probably heard of the speed-dating program, where singles gather to meet and greet for designated eight-minute intervals. At HurryDate events, hopeful singles participate in a succession of round robin three-minute dates. Talk about the boot camp of first impressions: Theoretically, each person could score 25 matches in one night! Testani, who oversees the action, has seen the good, the bad and the ugly antics of those pushing (perhaps too hard) to make a connection.

In the tradition of profiting from other's mistakes, here are Testani's do's and don'ts of making a good impression with the opposite sex: