7 Things a Company Trivia Night SHOULDN’T Be

I’ve written many articles here on my blog about what can make a corporate trivia night great. The host, the questions, the venue, the prizes, so many other factors – when they line up just right, it all comes together.

But what SHOULDN’T it be? What are the big no-no’s, the taboos, the surefire killers of what should’ve been a great workplace bonding experience with colleagues or clients? Whether you’re hiring a professional trivia company like TrivWorks, or trying your hand at doing it yourself, here are some of the pitfalls you want to avoid.

Trivia Night Should Not Be Boring

This is probably the single-biggest factor which will make or break an event. Your event should be FUN. If it’s not fun, then what’s the point? To that end, it’s so critically important that the gig not be a drag. Define that any way you want, but for me it mostly has to do with the hosting. You don’t want someone on the mic who’s slow, deadpan, lacking enthusiasm, charisma and/or audience engagement skills. The questions should be fun, too – I’ll get into that in a minute. But the overall vibe of the evening should be a BLAST, not a drag.

Click here for another take on making company events fun.

The Trivia Questions Shouldn’t Be Too Hard

This is one of the first things I ever wrote about here. Especially for planners with really smart, high-performing groups, there’s a natural urge to want to ask “difficult” questions. I get it, I do – no one wants to go to an event like this, and tune out because the questions are too easy. But the opposite is perhaps even worse, because if there’s one thing really smart people hate, it’s not knowing the answers. If the questions are too hard, they won’t feel any kind of satisfaction or joy; no celebrating, no trash talking, none of the stuff that makes these events great.

…But They Shouldn’t Be Too Easy, Either

If anything, I usually err on the side of making the questions a little bit easier, rather than harder. I WANT the majority of teams to get the answers, because getting the answer right feels so good – and that’s the bonding we want to see! But man, if the questions are too easy…watch out, because you’ll hear about it. People are smart, they want to feel challenged. They don’t want to feel like they’re giving up their valuable time for something that’s beneath them.

All of the Trivia Shouldn’t Be Company-Specific

This is a bad idea, one I wrote about previously as well. Nobody goes to a company trivia event and wants to feel like they’re being quizzed on the business. This is a recipe for disaster, and won’t go over the way you think it will. I’m all for including company-specific material (fun facts, inside jokes, firm history, etc.) to make the event feel personalized, but doing so sparingly. One round of questions to kick things off, or a “sprinkle” of those types of questions throughout the event is what you want – nothing more.

Pop Culture Trivia Shouldn’t Be Inappropriate to the Audience

Want to see a quiz night audience tune out? Ask some pop culture questions that are completely irrelevant to them. Especially for older audiences (I tremble to write this, as I fear I may be approaching/am already in this group), you gotta be careful not to overdo it with the current events, pop stars, celebrity news, etc. Younger folks too, you have to be mindful that they just don’t know older pop culture. I HATE that I rarely ask 80s questions anymore, but the reality is when you’ve got a room full of people who were BORN in the 90s or 2000s, those type of questions won’t be responded to. It’s kind of like how I felt playing first edition Trivial Pursuit, when they ask about 70s soap opera stars and such. I was like, “Huh?”

For more on this, check out “What’s The Shelf Life of a Pop Culture Trivia Question?”

The Venue & A/V Equipment Shouldn’t Be Unsuitable for Trivia Night

You can have the best trivia host, the greatest questions and shiniest prizes lined up for your event, however if the venue and/or equipment sucks, it won’t matter one bit. Make sure first of all that the space you’ve chosen – be it onsite at the office, or at an offsite venue – is appropriate for trivia night. Be certain it can accommodate a group of your size, that everyone can fit comfortably and has line of sight of where the host will be. Make sure that the audio projection system works, as well as the PPT screen if using. Believe me, I know from experience that a lousy PA system and/or crummy venue is going to kill the event, no matter how much time and effort you’ve put into preparing it.

People Shouldn’t Feel Uncomfortable

Two parts to this one. The first is relating to the host. Being on the microphone is a lot of fun, however this also comes with a lot of responsibility. Be witty/snarky, but don’t be mean. You want to have good-natured fun, but not single people out for ridicule, or say inappropriate things. You want people to leave feeling happy, not storm out in disgust – as I learned the hard way during my earlier days doing this.

The second part of not making people feel uncomfortable at company trivia nights is understanding not everyone is comfortable in that setting. Yes, the feel should be loose and hopefully everyone will let their guard down and have fun. But not everyone is a “people person,” not everyone likes to get onstage for 1-on-1 trivia, not everyone likes to volunteer, etc. If you force people to do things they don’t want to do – especially at a work event, in front of their colleagues – they’re not going to have a good time.

Summary: Making Company Trivia Nights Fun

The best corporate trivia parties are ones where the host is engaging and fun, the material is on point, the venue is great and so is the energy in the room. But it’s not like opening up a board game, where basically that’s all you have to do before you start playing. It doesn’t take much for what should be a fun and festive evening to go sideways, and everyone will be looking at the organizer (you) to take the blame. To make sure your event is a success, take care to have the right person on the mic, in the right space, with the right questions in his/her hands.

For further reading, check out “How to Ruin Your Company Team Building Event in 6 Easy Steps.”