Hi all,
I’m so happy it is coming into winter – my favourite season!!
This blog post is written in conjunction with my most recent vlog on YouTube -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbix3Q9wcnc
After planning a trivia event for the Colour Society of Queensland, I think I have a fair amount of knowledge to share! The planning for this event took months, as all the members in the Colour Society are volunteers, and for myself as a student ambassador there are also other events and social media work that needs to be done. If you live in Australia and would like to become involved or become a member I will link our website at the end of this post.
Without further adieu here are my top tips for organising and hosting a trivia event, in no particular order:
- Plan In Advance
In our case it was necessary to plan months in advance BUT I recommend it, because like any good planner knows, something always goes wrong, whether it’s a venue cancellation, the flu, flash flooding, or a computer virus there’s always room for error. I suggest booking in the venue as soon as possible, as most places are happy to take food orders in the week of the event, in our case we even added extra food the day before!
2. Keep communication open with the event venue
Communication is key in any situation and in our case it was one of the reasons our venue was so easy-going with us – the other reason is that they were just plain awesome, check out the link below for more information on ‘The HooHa Bar’. I suggest a friendly email every two weeks leading up to the event and a phone call or visit the two weeks before the event. This ensures you are kept in the forefront of the venue workers minds and means that if there are any issues you will be notified straight away.
- Make sure you have a microphone!
This is a pretty simple one but we didn’t have one – make sure you have a microphone, and if you don’t, be prepared with some lemon and honey when you get home!
- PowerPoint with Vocals
In conjunction with the microphone, something that I made sure we had, was a PowerPoint, it really aided us because even though we shouted as large as we could, it was helpful for the teams in the back and it also helped in terms of repeating questions – when you’re trying to be as quick as you can in answering all the questions per round, sometime players might forget what the actual question was, this is when its helpful to have a PowerPoint up for everyone to see and re-read the question in their own time, rather than you repeating it.
- Pens
Pens…bring extra…..x3.
- Rounds of Questions/Time for Questions
Going through each round will take longer than you think – believe me! I suggest 10 questions for each round and basically 1 round of 10 questions will take just under 12 minutes. As an example we were able to do 8 rounds in 1.5 hours. We structured our rounds by 10 questions, and at the end we went through the answers, in order for the trivia to move along easily and so there aren’t 100 questions to answer at the end! This way if there are any time issues you can also cut the trivia short, without needing to go through all the answers and take up more time.
- Round Themes…NOT
Don’t make each round themed – I believe trivia works better when each round is a mix of categories, otherwise it can get boring, or discourage trivia players.
- Team Size
This is a tricky one, and depends on the group size, however you can never go wrong with 3-5 people per group.
- Pre-set Rules
This one seems very simple but can be easily missed – make sure you have the rules for the event pre-set and make sure that everyone involved in the organisation and the hosting are aware of them.
- Next Level
Add some excitement to your trivia by taking the theme you have or the organisation/company values to the next level. Special prizes for best costumes are always a great idea and post extra questions on social media, whoever can answer them can get a prize or extra points!
- Promotion
Make sure to promote the event on social media outlets, as it’s free and can be seen by a wide range of people. Be sure to have your profile on public and not private, so those who aren’t following you can still see the posts. Another easy idea is to print off some flyers and leave them in places where your intended audience will be. For example if you are trying to attract students, leave some flyers on campuses or at uni bars. Government or council run spaces are always a great place, as a wide range of people use these areas, such as libraries.
- Networking
If the trivia event is being organised by a company or organisation make sure you use this time to continue to network and grow your contacts list. Make sure you have a spreadsheet ready to gather email addresses, phone numbers, or try to gain more followers on Instagram and other such social media outlets – this is the best way to communicate quickly and advertise upcoming events.
I hope these tips help you and good luck!
Much Love,
Marleen xo
Links:
http://www.coloursociety.org.au/
http://www.hoohabar.com/
demiurgedesign.org 