2012 in Review: An Incredible Year for Live Trivia & Team Building in NYC!
What an absolutely amazing year it has been! As we wrap up 2012, I wanted to take a step back like last year, and review all of the great things which TrivWorks was so fortunate to be a part of.
With so much to be thankful for packed into a single year, let’s split this into several distinct categories:
Corporate Team Building
I am delighted to share that the demand for trivia team building activities in NYC and beyond surged in 2012! We produced twice as many corporate events as we did last year, each one fully-customized for each individual group’s attendees and unique goals- be they to motivate & boost morale, integrate new team members, or simply reward hard-working staff for a job well-done.
In addition to being invited back to work with longtime clients, we had the honor of adding many new companies & organizations to our roster of distinguished clients this year, including Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Winston & Strawn, Genentech, Nielsen, International Strategy & Investment Group, Plural Investments, Ambrose Employer Group, Children’s Museum of the Arts, Kashrus Development, Hyperfactory, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing and more!
Brand Engagement / Experiential Marketing
We were delighted to employ our unique form of trivia brand engagement and experiential marketing for a variety of groups and events, helping some of the world’s most prestigious and well-known brands such as The Economist, Advertising Age and JDate go “offline.” By producing highly customized trivia parties targeting specific audiences, we were able to both reward loyal brand enthusiasts and stakeholders, as well as excite potential new enthusiasts through fully-immersive, high-energy contests!
Corporate Conference & Gala Entertainment
We were absolutely thrilled to be invited to produce very special customized trivia entertainment contests built into a number of annual corporate and nonprofit “big events,” including The Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly (GA), as well as Public Health Solutions’ “Food For Thought” annual fund raising gala – emceed & hosted by NY1 morning news anchor Pat Kiernan!
Pat Kiernan Trivia Nights
Speaking of Pat, TrivWorks’ amazing “Special Host,” we had an absolute blast this year launching a series of incredibly popular public trivia nights at The Bell House in Brooklyn, as well as a debut Manhattan event at Highline Ballroom! Drawing audiences of up to 300 people at a time, we had so much fun creating this new series of high-energy team trivia contests, with the opportunity for people to win absolutely amazing theme-appropriate prizes, as well as go onstage for 1-on-1 trivia with Pat!
Pat’s trivia night themes included:
- “Why We Love NYC” – We drew sold-out crowds to two nights at The Bell House, as well as one night at Highline ballroom for this incredibly popular theme, testing attendees’ knowledge of the greatest NYC movie scenes, songs, characters and more! We screened the debut of “Sh*t Pat Kiernan Says,” a response to the viral “Sh*t New Yorkers Say” video, as well as had special guest appearances by NY1’s Roger Clark & Jamie Shupak, comedian Eliot Glazer, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
- “The 90s” – Based on an online poll, we quickly sold out two 90s-themed pop culture trivia nights: TV shows, movies, fads, fashion, you name it! Roger Clark returned for an impromptu “showdown” with Pat, and we held what was perhaps one of my favorite moments of the entire year: a 90s dance contest, held onstage between two willing teams! An epic battle of “The Macarena” vs. “The Electric Slide,” I think anyone present will remember that moment as fondly as I do!
- “15 Minutes of Fame” – Another online poll, this time conducted by our friends at Gothamist, allowed our audience to select this insanely fun theme, testing attendee’ knowledge of the world’s greatest 1-hit wonders, fleeting fads and celebrity flashes in the pan! As this was also the first trivia night Pat held since moving to Brooklyn earlier in the summer, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz stopped by to test Pat’s knowledge of King’s County with his own set of trivia questions, as well as officially declare “Pat Kiernan Day!” How amazingly awesome was that!
- “Anything But Politics” Sandy Trivia Fund Raiser– After our scheduled “Halloween”-themed trivia night was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, we realized that the storm’s devastating impact was far greater than anyone could have anticipated. Realizing that our mission had changed, we quickly rescheduled with a new theme, and announced that 100% of ticket proceeds would benefit Sandy relief. We had an absolutely amazing night, selling out the house and raising $5K for Sandy victims. What a way to end the year!
Other Public Trivia Nights
It was such a blast to help NYC comedians Eliot Glazer and H. Alan Scott produce their true labor of love: “Golden Girls vs. Designing Women” trivia night! One of the most unique and creative events I’ve ever had the chance to be a part of, these two guys had the brilliance to tap into NYC’s underserved audience of passionate “Golden Girls” and “Designing Women” enthusiasts. Planned to coincide with Brooklyn Pride Week, we packed The Bell House with the most rabidly fanatic fans of both shows, asking trivia questions, playing video clips, giving away themed prizes – and of course, serving cheesecake to all of the hundreds of participants in attendance!
In addition to hosting several free “trivia teasers” in The Bell House’s Front Lounge, I also had the pleasure of continuing my informal weekly pub quiz series every Monday at Social Bar & Lounge in Manhattan. In addition to the usual $25 bar tab, we threw in the occasional “special theme” night – most notably our “Magic/Bird on Broadway” trivia event, held in partnership with the show and the NBA, which was an absolute BLAST!
Strategic Partnerships
There is absolutely no way we could have had such an incredibly successful year without the help of a distinguished group of strategic partners! Whether by helping us promote what we do, providing prizes at public events or both, we would like to recognize and thank:
- Our public event host venues The Bell House & Highline Ballroom
- mental_floss – America’s #1 trivia magazine, who also helped us produce an amazing online Halloween trivia contest!
- “Who Wants to Be a Millionire”
- Jazz at Lincoln Center
- 92Y / 92YTribeca
- A Slice of Brooklyn Tours
- On Location Tours
- Dave & Buster’s
- NBA
- Nickelodeon
- Kramer’s Seinfeld Reality Tour
- Green-Wood Cemetery
- Andy Warhol Sites Tour
- Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
- Wafels & Dinges
- Bananagrams
- Daly Pie
- Newsies The Musical
- War Horse on Broadway
- Godspell on Broadway
- Sister Act The Musical
- Ghost The Musical
- End of the Rainbow on Broadway
- Magic/Bird on Broadway
- Silence! The Musical
- Freud’s Last Session
- How to Be a New Yorker
- The Awesome 80s Prom
Media Coverage
Of course, we owe much of our success this year to the incredible press coverage we were fortunate enough to receive for both our corporate and public events! Some of the highlights from this past year include:
- BizBash – The leading media resource for the professional events industry, we were so incredibly honored to have been named one of NYC’s hottest corporate entertainment & team building ideas for 2012!
- Time Out New York – One of the most important publications in the city, we are so grateful for having not only listing each of our public events, but also for this great feature article about our first “Why We Love NYC” trivia night, as well as for naming me one of NYC’s best trivia hosts! It was also so incredibly cool to see Pat Kiernan on the cover this year as TONY’s choice for “#1 Coolest Job in NYC.”
- Gothamist – The greatest online news source for all things NYC, we are so incredibly grateful for the amazing support they have given to our trivia night series with Pat, including event announcements, theme polls, event recaps and more!
- Entrepreneur Magazine – I was so incredibly honored to be interviewed for an article, “5 Ways to Reward Employees When Raises Aren’t an Option”
- The Huffington Post – It was such an honor to have their NYC pop culture guru interview Pat about his role with TrivWorks, as well as promote our Sandy trivia fund raiser to their national audience!
- The Village Voice – We absolutely love providing The Voice with teaser trivia questions for our upcoming public events, as well as having their amazing street team join us as well!
- Crain’s New York Business – It was so incredibly flattering to be featured in this article on how NYC businesses successfully utilize social media
- Brooklyn Based – One of the Internet’s greatest resources for all things Brooklyn, thank you for interviewing Pat about our trivia event partnership – and interviewing me, too!
- Brooklyn Exposed – An absolutely incredible feature article about TrivWorks in a hugely popular Brooklyn blog – thank you!
Videos
We made a series of videos this year, a new format for me which I really enjoy! I am particularly proud of our new promotional video, which captures the energy and feel of our trivia team building events well:
We debuted “Sh*t Pat Kiernan Says” at our “Why We Love NYC” trivia night at The Bell House. If you squint your eyes, you can see my brief cameo roles throughout (look for the sideburns):
Here is the video which was hosted on mental_floss’s Website as part of a Halloween trivia contest- so much fun to do this!
After Halloween trivia got cancelled due to Sandy, I made this contest video wearing my Popeye costume:
One of my proudest moments of the year was when we decided to donate 100% of ticket revenue for our last Bell House trivia night to Sandy relief:
Of course, nothing made me feel better than when I announced we’d donate 50% of our holiday party revenue to Sandy relief as well:
One of the greatest moments in Brooklyn trivia history, Borough President Marty Markowitz made a surprise appearance at The Bell House!
Finally, I want to send a heartfelt thanks to the amazing TrivWorks team who make these fun & unique events possible: Connor, Gaby, Alisa, Yishai, Caitlin, Liz, Shana, Joanne, Dan, Kris, Michal, Abby, Rex, Janie, the incredible Pat Kiernan, our Website/social media guru Jim, my gorgeous wife Sarah – and of course, the TrivWorks intern!
