Quizmaster’s Guide
Members of our regular quiz teams who fancy having a go at setting and presenting the quiz are more than welcome to try their hand in the quizmaster’s chair (the abuse comes free)! Please see Sylvia at the bar to reserve a place on the list of guest presenters.
Here are a few simple tips which we hope you will find useful:
Always bear in mind the emphasis is very much upon guests having a great night out with family and friends. Winning is immaterial. The quiz is a team versus team affair... not quizmaster versus teams, so aim to keep around 50% of the questions as easy as possible, 30% intermediate and 20% to ‘sort the men from the boys’. But what constitutes an ‘easy’ question?
In truth, there isn’t one. But people can easily switch off if the quiz is full of obscure questions. The key is to keep your quiz well balanced. One person’s specialist subject is another person’s weak point so try and mix up the questions as much as possible. Ask questions on at least 10 different subject areas, with a maximum of 4 questions on each subject. Popular subjects include news, current affairs, history, geography, science, politics, sport, music, food & drink, transport, books, films, television, radio and trivia. But the choice is yours.
Also try to avoid asking too many ‘who’ questions. A balance of who, what, why, when, how, true or false, multiple choice and logic questions will reap far greater dividends. Also avoid the use of ‘pub quiz’ books. Many contain the same questions and have long since done the rounds on the pub quiz circuit.
The quizmaster needs to promote a light hearted atmosphere, with plenty of friendly inter-team banter. The quiz should last around 90 minutes from start to finish, including a 10 minute break at half time. We have found the following quiz format fits in very well with these timings:
General knowledge round (40 questions / points)
Picture round (20 images / points)
Specialist subject round (maximum 10 points)
Optional music round (10 tracks or sound bites / 10 points) **
Jackpot round (3 questions / points)
** If you wish to set a music round, our CD player will play both CD-R and CD-RW discs. CD’s must be formatted as a standard audio disc (closed session). Data or multi-session discs will not play.
A typical quiz schedule runs as follows:
These notes are only intended as a general guide. We hope you found them useful.
