Trivia Host Toolbox: A Primer for New Pub Quizmasters

So you want to be a trivia host? Awesome! The world needs more people like you. Chances are you are personable and witty, enjoy public speaking and aren’t afraid to make fun of yourself at a bar for 2 hours. Now that you’ve sold your local pub on the value of holding a regular pub quiz, however, what else do you need to bring to the table?

Below is a list of the items you will need to secure, so that you can roll into your first gig like a pro. You may not have the skills to rock a trivia night quite yet, but at least you will have all of the materials you need to succeed.

• Pens – Yes, this is your responsibility. If you want people to be able to write their responses down, you can’t depend on the bar or people’s purses; bring more than an ample supply of pens with you, enough to ensure you won’t ever run out.
• Answer Sheets – Again, unless you have an arrangement with the pub, it’s your responsibility to create, print, reproduce and staple packets of answer sheets for your participants to write answers on. Make them look professional and use MS Word, all the same font. As with pens, always bring way more than you think you’ll need.
• Score Grid – When first starting out, a new pub quiz likely won’t have more than 5-10 teams playing. In order to keep score, print out a simple MS Excel document to use as a nice score grid you can write directly on. Good handwriting helps here (not my forte, which is why I usually skip to the next item on the list).
• Laptop – Even if your trivia night isn’t packed, if you keep at it you will find loyal followers quickly, who will then bring friends. Stay optimistic and bring a laptop along with you from day 1, in case there is a sudden attendance surge, and your handwritten score grid won’t cut it. You’ll be glad you did.
• Picture Sheets – If you want to be perceived as a bar trivia host who’s really got your stuff together, create a weekly “Picture Round” to add to your offerings. People love this type of trivia round, and it’s fun to make – more on this in a future post.
• Smartphone – These are becoming pretty much ubiquitous, but in case you are a late adaptor like me and haven’t made the leap yet, invest in a cell phone with Internet access. You’ll want to be able to double-check in case one of the answers you give is disputed, and also live-tweet your trivia night for publicity (more on this exiting area to come in a forthcoming post on how to publicize your trivia night).
• Trivia Questions – Okay, this one should be obvious; however, I’m tacking it on here at the bottom because in your haste and excitement to host trivia night, you should always double-check that you’ve remembered to bring your trivia with you. Print out a copy to read off of, but also bring a backup copy electronically, either on your laptop or thumb drive.

Believe it or not, there’s not much more you really need to bring to an event in order to successfully host it. All of the above can easily fit into a small bag or backpack, so there’s no reason you can’t bring everything along- especially if your trivia night is in New York City or other urban area with mass transit. As your trivia night grows in popularity, you can explore adding other elements like audio/video, special prizes etc. But as a new bar trivia host, start with the basic items listed above.

Did I leave anything out? If so, please share below!