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How to run a pub quiz

OK so it's all set up but what do you do on the night to make sure it runs like a pro gig?

In other words – You’ve built it and they will come - But when they come what will they find?  

You need a quiz question master and he or she needs tools. 

Who?

• Someone who won’t be fazed by public speaking
• Who can confidently and clearly read out the questions
• Who won’t get led of track by banter or phased (hopefully not) by a heckler or argumentative know it all quiz geek.  

Where will the quizmaster sit? 

• Make sure space is kept for them. 
• One that can’t be overlooked by team spies!   

How will they be heard?

• Unless it’s a really small venue, you will need a P.A system capable of being heard above general pub conversation – not everyone will be taking part in the quiz.
• Many pubs will have this sort of thing.
• If not see if they can hire one or check out your local Yellow Pages on or offline and look for disco or PA hire suppliers.
• A simple system will be pretty cheap but be sure to practice with it first so you don’t get embarrassing sound losses or ear bashing feedback. 

Who will mark the questions?

Most question masters can mark up to 10 teams’ answers between rounds, but they may need a helper.  

Alternatively in a more "friendly" quiz you may let teams swap papers and mark each others’ quizzes between rounds then hand in marked answers for you to keep score. 

On The Night

The quizmaster announces that the quiz will start in 30 minutes, 20, 10, 5 etc. and collects team names and entry fees.

• Give each team some answer sheets for each round. One per player and a couple of spares
• Have a stock of pens for them if needed.
• Quizmaster Scoresheet - Record the team names on your scoresheet
• Get free answer and scoresheets when you download our free 10,000 question set or from Freequizzes (go to their home page and look on the left hand side of page)

Start the quiz

• Start by reading out team names (giving everyone a name check) and begin the quiz.
• Each question should be read out once, a short break then repeated
• At the end of the round, quickly recap all 10 questions.

Collect sheets from teams for marking (perhaps announcing that if they’re not handed in within a minute, the team gets 0 points) or get teams to swap papers then read out each question then its answer.

• Give the cumulative scores at the end of each round.    

Remember the golden rule – the quizmaster is always right and the idea of the quiz is to get the answer on his or her answer sheet. 

• At the end of the quiz give out final scores with perhaps the top three in reverse order.
• Have a tiebreak question ready (usually a number answer with the first correct answer or closest answer as the winner).
• Run your cash jackpot if applicable, give out the prizes.

Then finally, announce the date and time of the next quiz and start preparing! 

Above all - GOOD LUCK and have fun too!

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