The 3 Skills a New York City Trivia Host Must Have

The Big Apple is a trivia loving town, and for us NYC trivia hosts this presents a great opportunity, but also a tremendous challenge. With expectations so high from the most enlightened, informed and famously impatient people on Earth, it’s vital that we quizmasters have our acts together.

Live trivia events are supposed to be both fun and social, but they should also be run properly; based on my experience, here are the three things which a professional trivia host in New York City must bring to the table, if he/she is going to make it:

1) Ability to Write Fun, Challenging & Appropriate Trivia Questions – At the heart of a trivia event is the questions, and they need to be on the mark: right for the audience’s demographic, interests, and mindset. When questions are perfectly aligned with a fired-up NYC crowd, that’s when the magic of trivia events happens; when it’s off, however, things will go South – and quick.

2) Comedic Timing – The host needn’t be Chris Rock, but to keep a crowd on its toes he/she must have an innate sense of where the opportunities to insert or extract humor may be found at every point in the event, from the moment people arrive, through the event itself and right until the end. NYC trivia audiences want friendly competition and the chance to show off knowledge, but they also want to be entertained.

3) Thick Skin – Let’s say it like it is: the host of a trivia party in NYC has a big, fat target painted on him. Once the competition sets in and the drinks start flowing, people loosen up real quick, and inhibitions hit the door – be they corporate employees, prospective clients being entertained, or NYC pub quiz attendees. Trash talking is a way of life here in New York, and at the trivia event, it comes out to shine in force. The first victim? The guy at the front holding the microphone, who thinks he’s so damn funny.

There’s many more aspects which go into trivia events, of course – however, to be a successful quizmaster in New York City you need to feel extremely comfortable with the above 3 skills.

Do you host trivia or pub quiz nights in NYC or elsewhere? What do you think – are the above skills as important as I believe they are?

Have a terrific weekend, everyone!