Handy guide to booking corporate quizzes
The majority of the quizzes that are hosted using the SpeedQuizzing software are for regular venues, whether it is weekly, fortnightly or monthly. One area that is becoming increasingly popular is for corporate functions, so this handy guide has been put together to give you helpful advice on how to work towards booking more corporate events.
What is a corporate quiz?
Corporate events are being held all the time. Companies are very often holding an event for the purpose of networking, team building, awards, celebrations etc. Most of the time, companies are looking for something different as a feature at the event in order to encourage a better turn out at future events and make the event memorable for other clients.
It is important to bear in mind that there many different ways in which corporate events operate:
1. A company may want to hold an event purely for it’s staff. Maybe as a team building event or charity fundraiser. Numbers are usually quite low but everyone knows each other pretty well.
2. A company may hold an event to invite along other companies. This is usually done for social purposes to allow delegates to network with one another.
3. Institutes / Groups / Organisations put on many events for certain companies who are members to attend. They are sometimes from within the same sector of business but can often vary.
4. Charity events happen very often and can be held in a couple of ways. The charity itself might put on an event and invite a network of clients. A company may hold an event where all proceeds go towards a certain charity. It may be attended by people within the one company or from many.
5. Formal dinners or awards ceremonies are common annual events for a lot of different sector. These are usually large events with high attendance and a big variety of attendees.
Of course there are likely to be many other styles of corporate events but the above is a good example of the different types to give you an idea of what to expect.
How does a quiz fit into corporate events?
Quite easily in short. The advantage of using SpeedQuizzing is that you can tailor the timings by adding or taking off questions as you go along to suit any time constraints that may well be in place. As the scoring is all done by the software and the results are given instantly a good way of selling this is that pen and paper quizzes take such a long time to mark up.
There are different places in an event that the quiz can fit in. If there is likely to be a meal involved in the event you may want to host the quiz after everyone has been fed. If it’s a buffet style event, this could be in the middle of the quiz. Another way of incorporating a meal might be to slot a round in between each course, this can be done but requires working with the venue to produce an accurate guide to the evening in regards to times.
It may well be that food is not involved at all, and the event itself is simply a quiz and therefore you might want to just to schedule in a comfort break in the middle.
One important thing to remember is that at a corporate event, there don’t need to be as many breaks as a regular quiz, in fact in giving out too many breaks, you may find it difficult to keep the momentum going. A lot of the time, people are there to network regardless and you might find it difficult to seat everyone again as quickly as you like.
What do I need for the event?
The set up is usually going to be the same as a regular event in most circumstances, a PA system is needed and obviously your laptop and router will need to come with you also. Whilst we tend to say that Live Screen is not required (and this always remains true when using SpeedQuizzing) there is probably more reason to have it when hosting at a corporate event.
For one good reason, you can personalise the Live Screen to show corporate logos and sponsors of the event, this usually makes a client very happy. The same goes for customising the device adverts too. Another good reason is that the venue is perhaps going to be larger, and gives everyone a good opportunity to also read the question. Teams seeing their names up on the screen after a Speed Bonus point has been achieved is all in the spirit of the quiz. Finally, putting those final scores up in the screen is likely to attract many photos and possibly leading to tagging you or your business on Social Media (encourage this if possible).
The majority of hosts will not have a TV screen or projector to bring with you but most conference facilities and hotels will, see if there is a way that you can use this for the Live Screen, as it is a corporate event, they should always let you. If the event is not being held at a conference centre or hotel then when the client is booking, perhaps try to suggest venues to use that do have TV screens or projectors that you can use.
Should the structure of a corporate quiz differ from that of a weekly quiz?
Yes, not by much but to give them the best experience, you need to structure it just right. At your weekly events, general knowledge questions are fine, people are attending your quizzes and will expect this. If they don’t do well they can come back the following week hoping that the questions will be more suitable to them.
For a corporate quiz, this is likely to be the only time this whole year that they see you and will be hoping to do well as there isn’t really a ‘next week’ as such. You will also want everyone to do relatively well, make the scores interestingly close at the end. If one team is running away with it mid-quiz, people might lose interest and the main thing a host wants to hear, is that everyone had a great time.
Make the questions easier than normal, not too easy but easier. Also, it’s best to only include what we like to call ‘fun questions’. No-one wants to ‘entertained’ by answering questions about Richard III or the Ebola virus. Instead, questions about celebrities, music, TV shows, sport will be much more welcome. Even the odd occasional rude question might go down well but judge your audience accordingly. In the SpeedQuizzing quiz packs there are many alternative fun questions you might like to use, such as close ups of items asking what they are, multiple choice questions with silly answers that are obviously not correct, fun facts about unusual locations etc. If you test their knowledge too much they might find it too stuffy and all the work that the software does is wasted.
A good tip is to head into the SpeedQuizzing question manager through your member access on the website and search through all the questions you have bought through SpeedQuizzing (assuming you have bought packs) and cherry pick the better questions more suitable to this event. Chances are, these people won’t have been to your quizzes before so it’s not like you are asking them all over again.
How do I let corporates know about the quiz and what I do?
This is where you are going to have to do a fair bit of work unless you are fortunate to host a weekly quiz in a pub where corporate clients tend to frequent.
Networking is key to letting people know of your existence, make sure you find something near you where you can discuss with others what your business involves. You must understand that no-one is going to book you there and then, this will almost never happen for anyone at a networking event. People are also more likely to book with you once they have seen you a few times as well. Networking is great for getting to know people but most deals are done after a rapport has been built up somewhat.
You may well find that in order to get the ball rolling and to show people what SpeedQuizzing is all about, that you need to agree to a lesser fee or perhaps even a freebie. This is really your call, others will tell you differently but from experience, if you want people to experience the product, it is going to be more of a struggle requesting them to pay the absolute top fee for it, it is a bit of a gamble to anyone that has never seen the quiz in action.
The best way to show it multiple clients is finding an event that is being held, that requires entertainment and has delegates from many different companies. When you manage to attend and host a quiz at an event such as this, make sure you take plenty of cards and perhaps put a card down on every table before the event, always be mindful that some people are just too afraid to ask for cards, or might have forgotten to ask you, or may well just have been too drunk. Once they have left the event, they will probably forget your company name too, unless they have your card.
Where can I find out what networking events are going on?
Start with Google, just type in ‘networking events in xxxx’ and the location of where you are trying to target. Most networking events are specifically for a certain crowd but there are many that are not.
Another good avenue to try is BNI, they are an organisation set up solely for networking and strive to bring together different businesses for different fields. Whilst it might be a bit pricey to join up straight away, they are always open to new people dropping by and usually host a ‘visitors day’ every month. This allows you to go along to see what it is all about and potentially get your name out there. Find out where your local one is and drop them a line to find out more. www.bni.co.uk.
Meetup.com is a little different, this is more designed to find groups in your area BUT more often than not, this will be filled full of people from different businesses and it a great way of getting to know new people very quickly. If you attend a group and don’t feel that anyone there will bring you any further business you simply move on and try something else. www.meetup.com
Your town / city will also have a Chambers of Commerce too, these are also filled with professionals and businesses from all walks of life. They tend to hold networking events for non-members, usually to try and show you what they have to offer. Becoming a member can also give you access to many new clients as well. Why not speak to your local Chamber about it further? www.britishchambers.org.uk
Overall, the best way to let people know about you and the quizzes that you run is to get yourselves out there talking to different businesses, you will be guaranteed to meet someone that will use you for an event at some point.
Hopefully the above will be of some assistance to you in securing some corporate bookings. Don’t forget to bring plenty of businesses cards with you wherever you go (you never know who you are going to bump into) and to all of your events. At certain events with many different customers who will have not played the quiz before, maybe leave a card on each table before the quiz?
If you have any questions you would like to ask about the above, please do not hesitate to email me on stoo@speedquizzing.com.
