Corporate trivia event company

First off, an apology is in order. It’s been over two weeks since I published my last blog post – which, if I am not mistaken, is a new record for the seven years I have been blogging.

It’s not a milestone I am proud of, to be sure; it’s actually inexcusable (I can be very hard on myself, FYI).

Why has it been so long since I’ve written? Because I’ve been absolutely swamped with work – and particularly, work-related travel. As the founder and CEO of a company producing trivia events and game shows for corporate groups, team building activities and more, I’ve always had my plate full: sales calls, responding to inquiries, producing/hosting, marketing, administration, accounting and more (click here for another post outlining the day-to-day life of a corporate trivia event producer).

Sometimes, I am required to go on the road for gigs.

I’ve recently been traveling WAY more than usual. Since 2018 began, I’ve already found myself in Atlanta, South Florida and Idaho; next week I’m headed down to San Diego from my office in Los Angeles, followed by scheduled trips to Denver, New Orleans, Malibu, back to South Florida, and then possibly Phoenix, before headed to New York.

And that’s just me personally! I’ve got other TrivWorks emcees around the country leaving their hometowns in the coming weeks to produce team trivia events for corporate groups in Southern California, Cincinnati, Chicago and Virginia. Considering what this operation used to look like when I first started out, all of this travel is just…well, mind-boggling.

In the Beginning: TrivWorks 1.0

I first launched this company as a side business while living in NYC in 2009, taking it full-time in 2011 and eventually moving to California in 2016. During that entire time, two facts remained virtually constant: A) nearly all of my gigs were corporate entertainment in New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area, and B) it was me hosting/producing every gig. Honestly, this company was little more than one guy with a Website and a knack for putting together really great trivia events for corporate groups.

The number of “travel” gigs I did during that time was low: beyond the tri-state area, I went to D.C., Baltimore and Boston a couple of times each, as well as one-off trips to Chicago, Orlando, Philadelphia and Athens, GA. I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple of places, but not many. I really was a local business, servicing primarily companies in the greater New York area.

Becoming a National Brand

When my family and I moved from New York City to Los Angeles two years ago (which you can read about here), I had a clear vision of not just establishing a West Coast presence, but truly expanding the brand nationally. My goal was to become THE go-to vendor for team building trivia events and corporate game shows; to firmly establish my brand as the industry leader in this niche area.

It was this move which REALLY expanded my reach nationally.

Prior to my move, I had to get over a mental hump which every entrepreneur attaining a certain degree of success must one day face: letting go. Up until that point, it was pretty much me at EVERY gig: large or small, near or far, if you hired TrivWorks to produce your corporate event entertainment or trivia team building event in NYC and surrounding areas, 99 out of 100 times I would be showing up to lead it.

That all changed the minute my wife and I decided to move our family West.

I spent the better part of a year prior to the move identifying, recruiting and training people whom I could trust to lead my events without me. It wasn’t easy, as I am VERY picky; this is my brand, after all (here’s another article about how I go about selecting emcees to hire). But find them I did; and not only are they available in NYC, but they can travel ANYWHERE. With this new pool of talent servicing the Eastern region of the country and me primarily servicing the West, there really is nothing stopping TrivWorks from going full-on nationwide.

And we have.

Offering Something Unique

Trivia has only grown in popularity as the years have gone on, from game shows to pub quiz to online and mobile apps, people love it. In order to stand out, however, I have to make sure that my brand has a unique value proposition; a core competency which sets me apart from all of the other options.

There are plenty of bar trivia companies out there, including those that service audiences nationwide. But what we do is different. TrivWorks ONLY services corporate & private clients, with fully-customized content, professional emcees, and a wide range of compelling offerings with proven formats. Our extensive roster of prestigious Fortune 500 clients speaks for itself, as do the great testimonials and media coverage we’ve been fortunate enough to obtain over nearly ten years of specialized experience.   

Add to that the recent expansion of capability to produce events anywhere in the country, for audiences as small as 15 to large-scale trivia events for over 1,500, and we’ve got something quite special indeed to offer companies wanting to entertain employees or clients with team trivia.

Where to Go From Here

In addition to all of the cities mentioned above, TrivWorks has been to so many other cool places in the past couple of years: Detroit, Las Vegas, Pasadena…the list goes on. But this is only the beginning: to turn my vision of becoming the industry leader into reality, we must continue to expand and grow like never before. I want to be well-known and well-regarded as “the guy” to call if you’re looking for customized team trivia event entertainment.

We’re getting there. Slowly but surely, it’s happening. After nearly ten years of doing this, I’m getting more and more calls from people who haven’t found me online or been referred by existing clients, but rather know me from my REPUTATION. That to me is the signal that I’m on the right track.

Onward!

Here’s another interesting article you might like: www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2018/02/07/business-lessons-learned-playing-hq-trivia.html