There’s lots of things to remember when planning a quiz night and it’s easy to forget something, but I’ve made a guide for how to host a great quiz night so you won’t miss anything.
From the setup, to the actual reading of the questions, to the marking - here are some tips and things to remember. This guide is made for a pub quiz (or other in-person styled quiz) in mind, but has lots of great advice for a zoom or family/friends quiz as well.
Advertising The Quiz
Once you’ve set a date, time and place, make sure you get the word out. Do you want people to sign up or is it just rock up and play? Put up posters on notice boards and social media. Make sure there’s a contact number or email for if anyone has any questions.
Creating the Quiz and Trivia Questions
Before you start creating trivia questions, you need to think how long do you want the quiz to be? Take into account how long it will take to give the answers, have a break, mark, and announce the results. For an idea, 1 - 1.5 hours can be a good time frame which might be 4 or 5 rounds with 10 questions each.
Next, decide if you want a certain theme for the quiz. Will it be general knowledge, a 60s theme, a particular TV show, or a quiz all about music?
Then, you can start with coming up with your ideas for each round and before coming up with trivia questions for each of those rounds. Vary how hard the questions are - a good thing to aim for is 3 easy questions, 3 more challenging, and 4 questions somewhere in between. Also change what type of answer the question prompts - is the answer an event, a celebrity, a year, a song, a list of countries, finishing lyrics…
Answer Sheets
You’ll need to print some sheets that teams can put their answers on. Section it out by rounds and provide a number and a good amount of blank space for people to put their answers.
Have a space at the top of the sheet for the team’s name. Consider giving a quiz team name theme which will give teams more of a direction and create more unique names.
Do you want to include any other scoring handicaps? Will you give or take a point depending on the number of players in a team? Do you want to offer a “joker” for teams, which will double points in the round that they choose (best to get players to choose this before the round starts).
Make sure to have a space by each round to put the score e.g. 7/10. Then have a total score at the end. This will help tallying the scores up later.
It’s a good idea to provide rough pieces of paper for people to write notes on as well. And don’t forget to provide pens too!
Setting a Vibe and Welcoming Quizzers
Play some music before the quiz starts and during breaks to set a fun tone and to provide some entertainment when quizzing isn’t happening.
10 minutes before your aiming to start the quiz, give a welcome to teams and tell them you’ll be starting soon so that people are prepared and can get any drinks or take a bathroom break.
If you’re taking cash from teams, head round with answer sheets and pens and a money tin and greet teams. Perhaps write down their team name if you think it will be helpful for the quiz format you’ve set up, or if you’re wanting to call out each team’s name before you begin the quiz.
Set any rules in place, e.g. phones away. And anything else they need to know, such as when any breaks will be.
Reading the Questions
Unless the space is super small, consider the use of a microphone for when you’re reading questions. It’s important everyone can hear you clearly to avoid frustration and ensure a good experience for everyone. Speak clearly and slowly when reading out the questions. It’s a good idea to repeat the question as well.
Pacing is important when going through the questions. Generally, aim for a minute per question. Otherwise, going too slowly will cause impatience, loss of concentration and even boredom within teams. If it feels quick, don’t worry, reassure teams that you will repeat any questions by request at the end of the round if needed, and that they will have time to go back to questions in between rounds during breaks.
Marking
Think about how and when you'll mark the answers. Will you do it after each round or everything at the end? Marking everything at the end is easier, but can give more opportunity for people to cheat by checking answers on their phone.
You don’t want people getting impatient while you are marking, so consider getting teams to switch answer sheets and you can announce the answers so teams can mark each other’s.
If you end up marking between rounds, consider giving an update to all the teams on where they stand. This can build anticipation and excitement.
If you don’t want teams marking each other’s, do you have someone who can help you mark the answers, or tally up the total scores?
Make sure you have a tie breaker question ready in case there’s a tie for one of the top 3 positions! Make sure the question is more open ended and more difficult than normal; a good one is guess the year, or the height or weight of something, then give the win to the closest answer.
Prizes
If you collected cash from players to redistribute as prizes then make sure you’ve found a time to decide how much will go to 3rd, 2nd a 1st. Perhaps, 60% to 1st, 25% to 2nd, and 15% to 1st.
Or, think about how else you want to reward the top 3 teams - chocolates, bar vouchers…
Recap - Things To Remember:
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Answer sheets for teams
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Rough paper
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Pens
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Music, if possible
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Microphone, if needed
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The actual answers so you can mark
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A float, if you’re taking cash for prizes
Don’t forget that everyone’s there to have fun and challenge themselves, including you - the quiz master! - so keep things light and don’t take things too seriously. Practice makes perfect, so the first one is going to be one of the most difficult ones until you find your feet.
Need a last minute ready-to-go quiz? Then check out my PowerPoint and PDF instant download quizzes.
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