Why is a Good Corporate Trivia Host So Hard to Find?

When my daughter was about a year and a half old, her pediatrician recommended a medical procedure for her which needed to be done by a surgeon. He suggested we book something ASAP, because when it comes to pediatric surgeons, he told us, “there’s not that many of them.”

I was a bit surprised to hear this, seeing how we were living in New York City at the time. Really? Not a lot of surgeons? Even with all of the hospitals and such?

Well, he was right. It turns out that pediatric surgery is a highly selective field, requiring many years of specialized training. As such, there really aren’t that many people out there – even in NYC – with the qualifications and experience necessary to deliver the service properly.

I think about this often when people call me up inquiring about my professional services. Why is it so hard to find a trivia host for corporate events? On the surface, it shouldn’t be – I’m sure there’s any number of bars or restaurants in your neighborhood offering a quiz night. Surely you could pluck one of them out from the corner and put them in front of your colleagues…right?

Think again.  

I’ve being doing this for over fifteen years, both hosting gigs and hiring people to host them on behalf of TrivWorks. I can assure you, a good trivia host is hard to find. Let’s explore why.

Hosting Trivia is Harder Than it Looks

Like I’ve written before about other forms of live entertainment such as stand-up comedy, everyone thinks it’s easy. I mean, how hard is it to read questions and answers off of a piece of paper? Well, I can assure you it’s much more difficult than that. Ever been to a bad pub quiz night? You probably had a host who A) thought he/she was funny when they weren’t; B) couldn’t control the room; C) couldn’t keep the event moving; D) had poor stage presence; E) was unprofessional; or F) all of the above.

These are actual skills which need to be developed, over time and with a lot of practice in front of real audiences. Like my pediatric surgeon example above, finding people with the right experience and unique training to reach this level of competence, well – there’s just not that many of them. (For a related article, visit “How a Professional Trivia Emcee Commands an Audience”).

Corporate Trivia Events Require Skills Most Bar Trivia Hosts Don’t Have

Truth be told, there’s LOTS of amateur bar quizmasters out there – especially post-pandemic. I’m willing to bet that the man or woman who hosts at your local watering hole hasn’t been doing it for very long, probably no more than a year or two. The majority of people hosting these types of events aren’t professional entertainers either, they’re simply local folks (even bar patrons) looking to earn some extra cash. There’s a good chance they found the gig through Craig’s list or some other impersonal means. I’m also willing to bet they’ve never hosted a corporate trivia event before.

What makes corporate events different? There’s a level of professionalism that’s expected, that’s just not readily found behind the mic at the local Irish pub on Tuesday nights. To be able to get in front of a corporate audience, you need to be highly polished in your craft, as well as your appearance and delivery. You need to be clean – super clean, as in not even a whisp of impropriety. You also need to have high energy and charisma, with the ability to completely command a room full of people.

The reality is, when it comes to trivia hosting, there’s just not a lot of people out there who can do that.

Not Every Professional Emcee or Entertainer Can Host Trivia

Every now and then, I’m asked by a client if the emcee I’m sending to their event (which could include me) will also conduct a live auction. While this may seem like a natural additional service to deliver, I always have to decline. Why? Because auctioneering is a highly specialized skill, which I simply don’t have – and neither do my emcees. We’re all experienced, we’re all professional and we’re all really good at what we do. However, we’re not auctioneers.

The same is true in reverse. Just because you’ve got a highly reputable and experienced person emceeing or performing at your event, doesn’t mean he or she can lead a team trivia contest. For the reasons outlined above, the skills necessary to run the competition properly need to be honed. Yes, there’s transferable skills that all people who make their living on stage have, such as public speaking and adapting to unpredictable situations. But there’s things that happen during corporate trivia that might throw even the most seasoned stage persona off – and it’ll show pretty quickly.

In Conclusion

I don’t mean to use this post to disparage bar quizmasters or other types of corporate entertainers. I started out as both, after all! Rather, I wish to highlight why exactly it’s so hard to find people who REALLY know what they’re doing, in this highly niche area of the interactive event entertainment industry. Finding people with the know-how, skillset and background necessary to deliver high-quality experiences to professional audiences is tough. Finding people who can do it with trivia, well – that’s even tougher.

The good news is, I’ve found some…and now, so have you!

For further reading, here’s a recent article about a prestigious organization that’s teamed up with a professional quizmaster.