Trivia nights are a popular theme for various game nights where people answer questions regarding various topics. These can range from popular media to some obscure topics. As the name suggests, this is all lesser-known general knowledge that doesn’t serve any particular purpose. But it is cool to know nonetheless. In trivia nights, competitors answer questions regarding trivia of their favorite things and play for a prize.
To hold a successful movie trivia night, you must consider many things. Invitations, decorations, refreshments, the questions themselves, prizes, etc. However, if you need for your movie trivia night to stand out, you may need to put in some extra effort. Here are some tips to help you with that.
Prepare Good Questions
Trivia nights are all about questions and answering them. For your attendees to have fun, your question selection must be good. If the questions are too easy, then everyone will get them and there would be no contest. If they are too difficult, then competitors can struggle with them and get frustrated.
So, a good trivia night has a healthy selection of questions with varying difficulties. Mix your questions up between easy and difficult to ensure everyone has a fighting chance. That way you can strike a good balance and prevent your participants from getting bored or frustrated.
Send Out Fun Invitations
A trivia night is supposed to be a fun event. As such, the invitations and advertising for it needs to be on par. You can’t send out boring or dull invitations and will need to spice them up. Use funky clip art and colors to add some flavor to your invites. You can do the same for posters which you may put in different places if your event is open to inviting people other than friends.
You can create these game night flyers easily with PosterMyWall which has an intuitive interface easily usable by anyone. Plus, you can use the hundreds of templates there to give yourself a head start and make your job easier.
For example, this template makes use of colorful neon signage art style to get the message across. It adds a bit of flavor to what would have been a bland flyer. There are fields for venue and timings which you can modify to suit your needs, download, and go from there.
Have Good Prizes
A trivia night is still essentially a competition where players are playing for a prize. As such, you must ensure that the end goal is appropriate. If you put up a prize that doesn’t appeal to your players then they won’t be too invested in the event. If you put up a very expensive prize, then it may be hard on your bank account.
So, you need to find the balance between prizes. Tickets to other events are always a good prize, and so are gift cards. If nothing else, you can offer a cash prize. If you’re having your movie trivia night at a special venue like a bar or a coffee shop, then you can also get deals or free meals at the establishment as well for your winners. You may need to speak with the management beforehand however.
Bring Backups
Things can go wrong all the time and movie trivia nights aren’t exempt from this. During your event, several things can go haywire. You may use a laptop, a big screen or a projector to show scores and what not, and a speaker system for audio. But one or more of those can break down during the event. As such, it is better to have physical backups on hand to keep the show going.
Prepare your questions on paper and keep track of score by writing it down on score sheets. This allows you to keep the game running even if tech issues arise.
Have Fun
This may be strange to many but your energy helps in creating the overall atmosphere. If you are bored and uninterested in the event, then your participants and audience will be too. But if you’re energetic and actively engaging your audience, then they too will have fun. Energy can be infectious so it is vital that you bring it to your event.
Final Thoughts
A movie trivia night is a fun little event that you’ll likely hold on a weekend to allow people to flex their knowledge about various films and productions. This is a treat for all movie nerds who can put all that knowledge to good use and compete with others for a nice prize and bragging rights. The advice listed above, although simple, is effective in creating a fun event for both your participants and the audience. Follow it, have fun, create an energetic and welcoming atmosphere and your event will be successful.