Running a successful quiz night
First things first…
For a quiz night to be a success you must prepare well. You can create your own quiz if you have the time, but it may be worth buying a quiz pack to save you the hours needed to write one. If you decide to write your own, make sure the rounds are popular and the questions interesting.
Rounds:
I find the best round to start a quiz with is a picture round. The reason for this is because it doesn’t need the quiz master to be reading out questions. They can be given out before hand to let people know the quiz has started and give the quiz master a chance check they are prepared.
If the quiz is being run in a pub picture round sheets can be given out as you go from table to table asking if people are joining – if they are take their money and give them an answer sheet and picture round.
Questions: The questions in a quiz need to be challenging, accurate, guessable and interesting. There is no point in setting a question that everyone will know the answer to. When I write a quiz I try to make sure that most people / teams will get at least 50% correct, but I never want anyone to get 100%.
If someone does not know the answer to a question, they should at least be able to have a pop at it. If the question is so difficult nobody would even know what to guess then the chances are it isn’t interesting, and the participants probably couldn’t care less about the answer. Try to avoid this.
Crucially, quiz questions must be accurate! I once went to a pub quiz and there was a question along these lines: What is the name of the barrister living at No. 10 Downing Street (at the time Tony Blair was PM)? The answer given was Cherie Blair, but there was a small uproar as some teams had answered Cherie Booth – the name she used professionally. This illustrates how badly thought out questions can cause problems. If a team lost by one point because of this they would have been quite upset (after all, a pub quiz is a serious battle!)
The Quiz Master:
Being able to speak to an audience can help when there are a lot of people taking part in the quiz. Try to read the rules and questions as clearly as possible, and it doesn’t hurt to add some banter with the participants. Be fair at all times, but try to be assertive too. The quiz master should always have the final say.
Quiz Format:
The format of a quiz is entirely up to you, and can vary depending on the event. A pub quiz can be very different to a night in with friends.
When running a quiz for a large group of participants I think picture rounds are a good way to start. It gives you time to meet everyone who will be taking part in the quiz and gives you a chance to take their entrance money.
If it’s a tie…
Teams can obviously score the same number of points and when this happens a tiebreaker question comes into play. I think the best way to handle this is for every team to vote for a member to answer this question.
However, they must get up in front of everyone, toss a coin to see who will answer first, and then answer the questions with the help of everyone else shouting their opinion. This makes for a more entertaining end to the evening and of course, everyone gets to shout their opinion!
And the winner gets…
Giving out the prize can be another part of the entertainment. There are many ways to do this, from just giving them a set prize (maybe 20, or a free drink each) or encouraging them to bet the winnings.
The task they must complete can be anything, from answering further questions, spinning a wheel, flipping a coin, anything you can think of!
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