Trivia host New York City

We are three weeks away from our next mega public trivia night at The Bell House in Brooklyn: Pat in the Hat, the ultimate book trivia night, hosted by NY1 morning news anchor (and TrivWorks “Special Host”) Pat Kiernan!

While practically all of my time and blog “real estate” is devoted to TrivWorks’ core business of employee team building, corporate entertainment and office holiday party entertainment in New York City and beyond, since 2011 we have also produced the biggest trivia night in NYC, bringing up to 300 young & hip folks to Gowanus to participate in a raucous contest unlike any other. In addition to our events hosted by Pat, we have had the privilege of partnering with Gothamist, The Economist, Science Friday and other media outlets to create what in my mind is the ultimate form of fun, engaging & rambunctious live entertainment there is!

Prior to creating these huge events, I was a bar trivia host – in 2006 I started The Gael Pub’s weekly trivia night, which was named one of the city’s best by several local media publications, and a couple of years later also started a weekly pub quiz night in Manhattan’s Social Bar & Lounge. Throw in some informal special events, and I was hosting 8-10 public trivia nights a month.

These days I only host customized trivia nights for corporate groups. However, here’s what I learned from the other side of the microphone, which should be valuable to anybody who wants to emerge victorious at one of these gigs:

• 1.     Diversify your team – This is really critical if your goal is not just to have fun, but to win. Nobody knows EVERYTHING, and if you think you do, then you’ve just proven my point. You need to remember, this is a team contest – so take advantage of that fact! Know the category beforehand (as in “books,” like our upcoming event on October 21^st) and assemble your ringers. If the theme is more broad like “Pop Culture,” “The 90s” etc., stack your team with individuals who are really strong in key areas: TV, movies, current events, celebrity news etc.

• 2.     Pick a trivia night that’s appropriate – Not all of these events are created equal. Some are easier, some are harder; sometimes the material leans heavy in a certain area, say films or science. You need to do your research, which means not showing up cold and expecting to win (a few years back, I went with my wife and sister-in-law to a quiz night in Southern California, where we were visiting. I thought I would dominate, being in the profession I am – big mistake. The host was asking about anatomy, diseases, and product logos. Oh, and he passed out a blank map for us to identify African countries. It was a disaster – I think we came in close to the bottom).

• 3.     Never leave an answer blank – This always confounded me when grading stacks of answer sheets. Why on Earth would you leave any answer blank? It’s like the lotto: “You can’t win if you don’t play.” Yes, the odds are low that you will guess the correct answer, but they are ZERO if you leave it blank (at my events, we also reward funny wrong answers: if you write something which makes the room laugh, we’ll give you the point as a reward).

• 4.     Never get penalized – Another tip framed in the negative, however by not doing something you’re not supposed to do, you increase your chances of winning. What could you get points removed for? It depends on the game, host etc. – however, some rules of thumb: don’t get caught cheating, don’t take too long submitting your answer sheet, don’t violate specific instructions (ie: if it says name two of something, don’t name three of something – simple stuff like that). Self-inflicted wounds such as these will keep you from claiming victory.

• 5.     Go with your strongest answer – I’ve seen it happen time and again: the answer is read out, and the team goes absolutely berserk because they HAD the right answer, but went with the wrong one. Groupthink can have a terrible effect on accuracy, especially when only one member of the team is strongly advocating for something. I think you’ll do better if you let the person who has the post passion about a possible answer go for it, than if you take a consensus based on what everything thinks could POTENTIALLY be correct

If all else fails, you can always:

• Bribe the quizmaster –Just kidding – don’t do this (until AFTER the contest is over, that is – I have yet to meet a host who will turn down a free post-gig shot with the winning – or losing – team!)