Being prepared for the event is a must for any organized activity, and hosting a trivia night is no different...it's not as simple as showing up and asking a bunch of questions.
Show up at least 1 hour before your event, so you have time in case something goes wrong. Some things to consider when preparing for your trivia night.
Do you have a good sound system? If you are hosting in a bar or pub, have you tested their system? If you show up and the sound system doesn't work, it's possible that you will not be heard, especially by the teams in the back of the pub. If you are using your own system, test it out the day before the quiz in case something is broken.
Test your music. Test your playlist the day before the event to make sure it's what you want. Showing up and realizing you forgot to sync your ipod/iphone with your iTunes can make it a long night! You don't want to have to sing the songs yourself...
Don't leave the printing of the handouts until the last minute. I've done this in the past and the ink in my printer ran out...I frantically drove around the city on a Sunday night looking for an open print shop and ended up hand writing 50 score sheets and starting an hour late...and ended up with a bad case of writers cramp!
If you are providing prizes, have them on hand before the quiz starts. You don't want to announce to the winning team that there are no prizes this week because the bar ran out of gift certificates!
Make sure you pack all your cables with you. If you are using the automated scoring sheet, and running the trivia in a bar, bring a VGA cable to hook up to the TV in the bar. Also remember the audio cables, power cables, and any other cable you may need. In some cases, having a spare is also recommended!
Being prepared is a great way to reduce stress, and make sure you and your players have the best time possible.
