Posts by David
Taking the Terror Out of Running Huge Trivia Events
When I first started hosting pub quiz nights 5 years ago, my approach was completely low-tech. With a small crowd of fewer than 25 people, I found that all I needed was a stack of trivia questions, a pen and paper to jot down scores, and piles of answer sheets for the participants. When my…
Read MoreThe 7 Biggest Killers of Morale in the Workplace
Offices can be pretty awful environments, packed with anxiety, politics, pettiness and negative energy. If you’re like me, you’ve worked jobs which have made you want to slit your wrists. Based on my experience both working in negative office environments and creating positive team building activities in NYC and elsewhere, below are the 7 biggest…
Read MoreUsing Live Trivia for Audience Engagement & Brand Awareness: The Economist Case Study
This week, I had the honor of producing and hosting another very special trivia event with The Economist, the distinguished weekly news magazine known for broad and insightful coverage of current events, politics, economics and world history. Readers of The Economist are equally bright, intellectually curious consumers of global affairs, and in an impressive effort…
Read MoreWe’ll Be Right Back After This Short Break
I’ll be taking a short break from blogging today, in order to recover from this week’s incredible back-to-back, large-scale trivia events: A Night of Pop Culture to Support VH1 Save The Music at The Bell House, and Pub Quiz – The Economist Way. Thank you to the nearly 400 NYC trivia enthusiasts who attended both…
Read MoreEvent Recap: VH1 Save The Music Foundation Trivia Fund Raiser
What a spectacular event! By every measure, last night’s night of pop culture trivia in support of VH1 Save The Music Foundation was a huge success. Demonstrating the tremendous passion New Yorkers feel for both music education and trivia,a sold-out audience of 250 people came out to The Bell House to support the cause of…
Read MoreSpotlight: VH1 Save The Music Foundation
Tonight, TrivWorks is thrilled to be producing a special trivia fund raiser event in Brooklyn in support of an incredible organization, VH1 Save The Music. Now in its 14th year, the mission of the foundation is to promote music education in our local schools through awareness, education and fund raising, all in the spirit of “brainpower”…
Read MoreExpert, Schmexpert: 6 Details Even Professional Event Planners Overlook
This week, TrivWorks will be producing several large-scale trivia events in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including a fund raiser for VH1 Save The Music Foundation and a brand awareness event for The Economist. As any event planner will tell you, big events are made up of countless small details, and with the many stresses which inevitably…
Read MoreCustomizing Corporate Team Building Activities: Silly or Significant?
I was recently on the phone with a prospective client, who was interested in building a team building trivia party for her office. While explaining my company’s range of services, she asked an astute question: what is the value of customizing a team building event? I’m glad she asked that, because I feel passionate about…
Read MoreThe 7 Annoying People You Meet Hosting Trivia Nights
I read a great article yesterday posted on The Awl, entitled “The Seven Annoying Friends You Meet At Trivia Night.” The gist of the article, which every pub quiz enthusiast from Manhattan to Long Beach will enjoy, is that every trivia team has at least one or more characters who fit a certain mold- that…
Read MoreWhat Does the Perfect Trivia Team Building Event Look Like?
Ah, perfection- that most elusive of goals. For those of us who work in the live event industry, we know how hard – actually, impossible – it is to run a “perfect” event, what with so many plates spinning and balls in the air at once. With team building and corporate entertainment activities, the usual…
Read MorePartner Shout-Outs: VH1 Save The Music Trivia Night
One week from today, on Tuesday, June 14th, we are thrilled to be producing a very special trivia fund raiser for VH1 Save The Music, a foundation devoted to keeping music education in public schools. I have long been passionate about this cause, a passion which I share with my wife, a New York City…
Read MoreConfessions of A Trivia Host: Nobody is a Public Speaking Expert
As a professional trivia host, I am always on the lookout for opportunities to practice and improve my public speaking skills. While I spend most weeknights producing and hosting live trivia parties and corporate team building activities in New York City, by day I serve as director of adult learning & enrichment programs at the…
Read MoreWhy Some Pub Quizzes Stink, And How to Improve Them
A recently published article in the BBC News Magazine caught my eye this week, entitled “Can pub quizzes survive in the Smartphone era?” The gist of the piece, as you might imagine, is that in a world where everyone texts and has Google in their pocket, can the traditional pub quiz night ever be the…
Read MoreFrequently Asked Questions About Trivia Team Building
With the rise in popularity of pub quiz has come a growing interest in using live trivia as a corporate team building activity. However, as a relatively new approach to an area long characterized by ropes courses, scavenger hunts and 3-legged races, companies probably have a few questions of their own about how trivia can…
Read MoreMatching Company Culture with Summer Associate & Intern Entertainment
Each summer, New York City and other large metropolitan areas are flooded with summer associates & interns – undergrad & graduate students from across the country and world, who arrive for highly competitive (and often lucrative) temporary positions at leading financial, legal and other professional institutions. This summer staff typically works hard and plays hard,…
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