Posts Tagged ‘trivia events’
Trivia Themes Which Nobody Likes: A List of Failed Trivia Rounds
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Following up on yesterday’s post highlighting 5 trivia themes proven to bring smiles to people’s faces, I thought today we would explore the flipside: live trivia party themes which are surefire flops.
As discussed yesterday, I’ve been writing & hosting live trivia events for 5 years, and in that time have experimented an awful lot with trivia questions and themes. I’ve managed to develop a strong sense of what people respond to, but also what does not resonate well for live trivia. On the one hand, I enjoy being creative, and pride myself on coming up with rounds which are unique, fun and different; on the other hand, though, if the rounds don’t soar with the audience, well- they tend to sink like rocks.
Below is a list of my all-time greatest trivia theme flops, in no particular order:
1) Funky Sounding Colors Round – I announced colors with weird names, and teams had to name the family of more familiar colors which they belonged to (ex: “chartreuse” is a mix of green & yellow). This was the most stale, boring and uninspired round I’ve ever done, people were booing halfway through. Ouch.
2) Awareness Ribbons Round – Like the colors round above, only I’d give a ribbon color, and the audience named the cause the ribbon was associated with (ex: pink = breast cancer awareness). Not only was this incredibly dull, but there were multiple causes for each color (do you have ANY idea how many causes use blue ribbons??)
3) Weird Beards Round – Early on in my pub quiz days, I thought it would be fun to describe weird people who have beards [ex: “This person lives in isolation, but breaks into people’s homes once a year." (Santa Clause)]. What the heck was I thinking?
4) Pie Round – I thought this was clever, since I love pie (any baked goods, really, but pies especially). Asked questions about sweet & savory pies, ethnic pies, ingredients, shapes etc. Total flop. People don’t care about pie. I was crushed.
5) 2008 Year in Review Round – Sounds innocent enough, only I did it at a bar on like, January 3rd, 2008. I thought it was pretty clever- turns out, not so much. It could have been called the “extreme current events round,” and I still would’ve gotten booed back to the stone age.
6) Band Hometowns Round – I name the band, you tell me their hometown. Guess what? Not only do people not know where bands come from, but they will argue your Wikipedia-backed answers to death. Epic fail.
7) YouTube Viral Videos Round – So it turns out, people don’t know anything about viral videos beyond the basic premise. Once you start asking about character’s names, view counts, quotes and such, the crowd turns on you like a pack of killer whales on a freshly-wounded sea lion. Beyond bad idea.
8) Math Round – Terrible.
Believe me, there are more. These are just the ones which stick out in my mind as being particularly ill-received; there’s nothing like having upwards of 150 strangers booing you to remind you not to ever, ever offer that round again. If you’re a fellow quizmaster, hopefully I’ve spared you similar shame; for trivia enthusiasts and HR managers looking to book a private trivia party for your company, don’t worry- you will never be subjected to these rounds, I guarantee it.
What experience do you have with horrible trivia rounds? Leave them below, so we can know to avoid as well!
5 Fun Themes for Live Trivia Parties, and Why They Work
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
Perhaps one of the first things I’m asked when holding an initial conversation with clients is, “what kind of trivia do you guys do?” The answer brings both good news and bad: the good news is, you can have a trivia event about any topic you like! The bad news, of course: where on earth do you begin?
Having produced so many live trivia events over the past 5 years, I’ve had the opportunity to experiment a lot with trivia topics, throwing an awful lot of trivia spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. While this kind of event entertainment can be customized to fit the needs of any group, I have found that the below broad themes for trivia questions consistently go over well, especially for intelligent, fun-loving & competitive groups:
1) Pop Culture – People love pop culture, and consume it voraciously. TV, movies, music, celebrity gossip, fads, commercials – you name it, people follow it, with passion. We recently held a night of pop culture trivia to benefit VH1 Save The Music, and had to close sales in advance because it received such an enthusiastic response. When it comes to selecting trivia questions, pop culture is definitely a winner.
2) Nostalgic History – It’s important to know the age of the group, so that appropriate history questions can be asked which evoke an emotional response. None of us were here to witness the Mayflower landing, but LOTS of us remember where we were when OJ took his fateful ride in a white Bronco; tugging at the nostalgic heartstrings goes over extremely well at trivia events, and I use this as often as I can.
3) Geography – People go nuts over geography – who knew? Whether asking about cities, states, countries or oceans, people have atlases tucked into the dark recesses of their brains, and feel ridiculously satisfied when they pull out the correct answers.
4) Local Trivia – I mainly produce live trivia parties in New York City, and find that any NYC-centric questions really go over well – especially those which only “real” New Yorkers will get (I’m talking famous subway performers, bus stop billboards, flyers of guys who teach guitar etc.). However, regardless of where the event is being held, natives will always respond well to questions about that place.
5) Other Media – People love it when you toss another form of questioning at them, in order to mix up the flow of the event and skills needed. Music rounds are popular, whereby you play songs over the sound system and attendees need to guess the title and artist. Picture rounds are also great, where teams need to identify 10 obscure celebrity photos for points, as well as figure out what all of them have in common. I’ve also seen video rounds at some trivia nights – I don’t do these, because I feel the results don’t justify the time & labor needed to assemble, but still they are enjoyable.
Even though I’ve created so many events, I certainly don’t claim to be the final answer when it comes to ideas for trivia themes. Do you produce, host or attend trivia events? What themes do you find are consistent crowd pleasers? What new themes do you think would go over well? Please share your ideas below!
How to Maintain the Integrity of Live Trivia Events
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
Think about your favorite trivia-themed TV game show. What does it look like? Whether it’s a classic show like “JEOPORDY!” or a more contemporary one like VH1’s “The World Series of Pop Culture,” the basic structure is the same: a select number of contestants, an obedient studio audience, well-thought trivia questions, and a lot of money up for grabs. In a word, these game shows maintain a high degree of integrity, to ensure that the gameplay is fair, well-balanced and beyond reproach.
With live trivia events, however, this is not the case. Whereas the television studio is a controlled environment, trivia events in live settings – be they pub quiz nights, corporate team building activities or brand engagements for experiential marketing – are essentially out in the wild. While challenging, it is still important for the quizmaster to keep the game as honest as possible, regardless of the prize.
Below are crucial steps to impose at live trivia parties, to ensure that the integrity of the event is maintained throughout:
Enforce the “No Cheating” Rule – Perhaps the most obvious difference between television and live trivia, contestants on “Family Double Dare” aren’t liable to Google the answer on their Smartphone. The quizmaster, event hosts, bar staff and participants themselves must be constantly vigilant of cheaters, in order to keep the game honest.
No Shouting Out the Answers – This is more of an issue with public events rather than private ones, but it’s never good to have someone yell out the answers to questions as they are asked. At bar trivia nights, the guy who shouts answers out is usually A) just walking into the bar halfway through the quiz and doesn’t know the rules; B) drunk out of his mind; or C) a plain old jerk. Either way, shouters ruin trivia nights, and need to be kept in check.
Maintain Accurate Scorekeeping – Not all of the trouble keeping live trivia events clean comes from the audience. The quizmaster/scorekeeper needs to be on the ball, and make sure that A) all of the answer sheets are collected and scored; B) the scores have been added correctly; and C) the scores have been properly transcribed to the score sheet or laptop.
No Hyper-Specialized Rounds – Remember that famous episode of Cheers where Cliff goes on “JEOPARDY?” TV’s favorite mailman was given such softball categories as “Stamps,” “Beer” and even “Bar Trivia.” Though it’s not easy to predict for public events, to keep things fair trivia should cover broad categories; if a group of postmen came into pub quiz on the same night there was a “Stamps” round, that would be highly suspect. This is easily remedied at private trivia events, where the questions are all customized.
No Special Treatment for the Quizmaster’s Friends – Here’s one that every pub quizhost across the globe should learn well. No matter the situation, if the host’s friends are playing trivia and coming up to socialize during the game, everyone will take notice. It is INCREDIBLY important, therefore, to avoid even the perception that the host has got the fix in for his/her team to win. Hosts should be conscious of this whenever friends are playing, so as not to unnecessarily upset the other teams.
Do you host or attend trivia nights? What are some other ways you can think of to help maintain the integrity of live trivia events? Please let us know by leaving your responses in the space below!
Taking the Terror Out of Running Huge Trivia Events
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
When I first started hosting pub quiz nights 5 years ago, my approach was completely low-tech. With a small crowd of fewer than 25 people, I found that all I needed was a stack of trivia questions, a pen and paper to jot down scores, and piles of answer sheets for the participants. When my sleepy quiz suddenly exploded into the biggest bar trivia night in Manhattan, I upgraded to a laptop to keep score – a tool which I use to this day when running private events or large pub quiz nights of up to 100 people or so, and which allows me to handle the entire event by myself.
However, what happens when suddenly the event calls for entertaining 250 people? That’s exactly what we faced last week, at our special trivia fund raiser in support of VH1 Save The Music Foundation. With a massive audience and the same 2-hour time limit as our other live trivia parties, how could we possibly deliver a trivia event which would run smoothly and efficiently?
The first thing I had to address was manpower. Much as I love running events on my own, with a trivia night of this scale, it would be simply impossible for me to grade and input all of the team names in a timely manner. I arranged for more than enough extra hands to assist, and divided them into two teams: graders, and runners. The graders were seated at a long table near the stage, with one being designated the laptop operator/data entry guy. Runners were deployed at the end of each round, and given the task of collecting answer sheets. A 1-minute hand-in rule was also implemented, which helped keep things moving along swiftly.
Next item: seating. With so many people, what is the optimal way to configure chairs and tables? The solution here came from the clever mind of the venue’s general manager, who understood instinctively the unique challenges of configuring a large trivia event- namely, people need to sit, in groups, and can’t block the aisles or exits. The answer came in the form of long rows facing each other, a-la speed dating; the result was natural order, structure, and ample space for people to get up and hand answer sheets, or visit the bar. Brilliant!
Finally, there was the issue of event flow. Even with an army of graders and runners, it still takes time to grade literally dozens of answer sheets, and we don’t want to interrupt the natural rhythm of the event by having to call extended breaks in between rounds. The solution? Mid-round “mini-games,” whereby we called individuals up by drawing raffle tickets, and letting them answer 1-on-1 trivia questions for prizes. Not only did this add a new dimension of trivia to the event, but it allowed our graders the time they needed to do their job without the crowd growing restless.
I’ve run many large trivia events, but this one in particular required extra love and attention, and I was very pleased with how it turned out. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions as to how we could have made this or other mega-trivia events run event more efficiently? I’d love to hear! Please leave your recommendations below.
Using Live Trivia for Audience Engagement & Brand Awareness: The Economist Case Study
Friday, June 17th, 2011
This week, I had the honor of producing and hosting another very special trivia event with The Economist, the distinguished weekly news magazine known for broad and insightful coverage of current events, politics, economics and world history. Readers of The Economist are equally bright, intellectually curious consumers of global affairs, and in an impressive effort to engage this loyal readership, the magazine is continually seeking new and creative ways to reach out off of the written page, allowing enthusiasts to connect with them through a variety of means. These not only include a Facebook page with a over 700,000 fans and an official Twitter feed with nearly 1 million followers, but also many “live” audience engagement events held in various cities, ranging from social gatherings to editor meet-and-greets.
The idea for The Economist pub quiz came about late last year, when the magazine was approached by an avid reader who also loved NYC trivia nights. Feeling that live trivia parties would be a perfect match connecting the cerebral publication and its clever readers, we set out to create events which would not only deliver a hearty amount of entertaining & high-brow trivia, but which would have an instantly recognizable Economist look, feel and flavor. Using the same level of care and attention to detail which The Economist is known for in its articles, we then set out to craft trivia questions which the average reader would have a reasonable expectation of knowing about world affairs, politics, economics, and the magazine itself.
After selecting fun trivia bars in New York City, the magazine made sure to paint the venues “red” for their events by tastefully displaying the magazine’s famous logo on signage and flatscreen TVs throughout the rooms. Upon arrival, attendees were presented with Economist pens and answer sheets, as well as complimentary red T-shirts. Teams were instructed to choose their own team names, and encouraged to be creative to earn bonus points – resulting in many humorous Economist-themed names, which delighted the crowd. After reading out a couple rounds of trivia, we then welcomed a high-ranking member of the magazine’s editorial staff to read off their own favorite trivia questions about The Economist, as well as share a sampling of their ipod songs, which attendees could earn points for identifying. After raffling off several prizes, we passed around a round of picture trivia featuring major political figures, all of whom had something in common which the audience had to figure out in a set amount of time. We concluded the events with a final round of “challenging” questions, and then awarded prizes to the winning team.
I find these Economist pub quiz nights to be so fantastic, for three reasons: 1) the audience who attends loves the magazine, and clearly enjoys the opportunity to interact with it in an exceptionally fun, unique and personal way; 2) the magazine gets to engage with its most loyal fans firsthand in an extremely positive, high-energy manner; and 3) the intellectual challenge of creating questions for highly intelligent, sophisticated and lively trivia enthusiasts simply can’t be beat.
Do you feel that experiential marketing and brand awareness events successfully bring a brand closer to its audience? What other ways can you think of for a distinguished brand to engage with its loyal following in a “live” setting?
TrivWorks founder David Jacobson blogs daily on a wide range of topics relevant to corporate event entertainment, team building and live trivia. 
