Mr Hyde's Other Notebook

Corporate Trivia Challenge

Always good to lock in the first show of the year. Just confirmed a Corporate Trivia event coming up in a few weeks. 

Sounds like part Teambuilding part Motivation will be required, but will know more after my briefing tomorrow.

http://www.Trivia.com.au

The Amazing Lynda

People are asking, what is The Amazing Lynda up to now that she isn't being chopped into pieces, floated in the air etc?...

We still work together doing the Corporate Trivia Challenge. Lynda puts the music and questions together and runs the technical side on the night. She also helps out in the Team Building events.
 

and what else....Lynda does the graphic design for our Ebooks  Sleight of Mind, The Worlds Greatest Puzzles etc. and our newest The Secret Notebook of Mr. Hyde, which is written for Magicians. She has also put together a CDRom on Bird Identification, A Bird in the Hand and is collaborating on a Bird Care Manual.

But what about spare time..Last year Lynda and her friend Robyn started a stall at the Mitchell Rd. Antiques Design Gallery, Alexandria Sydney. Specialising in Funky 1970's stuff.

You can also visit her blogs   Hyde & Seek (Games collection) & Bird Hyde (It's not all about Bird watching)

Winners are Grinners

It's all smiles at another Corporate Trivia Challenge Event run in Sydney recently.

Even when they lose, it's smiles all round These guys from Toyota didn't mind taking out the wooden spoon.
'Its all about the Journey'

Trivia Champions

Basking in the glory of winning the Corporate Trivia Challenge,the folks from Schwarzkopf show off their LP's. A riotously fun filled night at the Peppers Fairmont Resort in the Blue Mountains.

Teambuilding Trivia / MC Event Gold Coast

The day after the trip to Newcastle it was off to the Gold Coast for a corporate event.

Sydney Airport as always was chaos, straining at the seams with the added school holiday traffic. Gold Coast airport much the same with renovations going on. The Sofitel however was a sea of calm. One of my favourite GC hotels, great friendly staff and brilliantly comfy beds.

SPAR Australia were running a large conference and we had been picked to run a fun Trivia / Comedy night for them. They had different alternatives on the night, but we were pleased around 140 choose to be at our event.

It was a great night, despite the fact that some people disputed the "company questions" that had been supplied to us. Comedy Trivia nights are great for Conference entertainment, not too taxing, easy to set up and works well as an icebreaker especially if people don't know each other well.

Corporate MC - Corporate Magician

Things are really hotting up again on the work front, so may not get time for much posting in the next few weeks.

Next up is a full day session for the University of Newcastle. This is my 7th session with them over the last two years! A combination of Team Building and Personal Development topics, plus of course a large injection of fun.

Straight after that, Lynda and I fly to the Sofitel Gold Coast, to run a custom Trivia event for SPAR.

The following week is a 3 Day Master of Ceremony job at a conference here in the Blue Mountains.

Zip back up to Qld to discuss a Team Building assignment with a client and then back to Melbourne for the Association of Financial Advisors Conference. This is a huge affair with over 500 delegates that I did last year and was thrilled to be invited back. I'll be doing a mix of MC and Shows for them, adding appropriate magic where I can.

Immediately that's finished another full day MC event for Prysimian and then an afterdinner show that night, a combination I really enjoy.

That lot takes me to the end of October.I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

So, if you are thinking of using me for an event, please be patient if I don't get back to you immediately. I'm probably either - On Stage or On a plane or possibly taking a small nap.

Trivia Questions - What makes a great one? Part 3

Just a quick post today as we are heading to the city to run a Trivia Night for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors RICS.

One of the things that we always try and do with our Corporate Events is to include a few custom questions. These are either written by us or provided by our clients. It's a great way to tie an entertainment night into the whole conference or reinforce some learning points.

eg.
what was the keyword that the CEO wanted us to remember this year?
what is the sales increase we need to hit?

One problem we often face is that the questions provided have answers that are too long, non specific or too hard to mark!

A great trivia question should be easy to mark. It's either right or wrong.
One word is great. A phrase or a concept is bad.
Don't ask what the "mission statement" or "vision" for the company is.

Also don't ask for several things in the one answer.
"Please name 4 of the 7 Directors"  This is very time consuming to answer.

Short and sweet answers make for great Trivia questions.
They are easier to mark and therefore help a fast moving night with no long delays.

Trivia Questions - What makes a great one? Part 2

Trivia is not just bits of information that few people know! It's more than that.

It's a mistake that I see quite often at Trivia events, especially with people trying to cram a lot of questions into the night. In their search to get more and more questions they start including questions that are really just general knowledge or quiz questions.

I believe that a great Trivia question should have an element of FUN about it. They should make you smile at least and tap into a feeling of "ohh, that's interesting" or  "I know this one ......" or "I'll try and  remember that one."

What is the Capital of Guatamala, is NOT a great Trivia question.
Who won last years Melbourne Cup is NOT a great Trivia question.

What is Paul McCartney's middle name, is a great Trivia question, (especially when you hear the answer).

In the Trivia events that we run www.Trivia.com.au we try and get a high laugh to facts ratio. Interesting fun questions make for a great Trivia Night that is entertaining for everybody, not just the team that comes first. As I said yesterday, it's the journey not the destination that is important.

Trivia Questions - What makes a great one?

So what makes a great Trivia question?

When we are designing our Corporate Trivia Challenge shows we set ourselves a few guidelines.
Over the next few days I'll share some tips on how to fine tune your own Trivia nights

1/ Not too obscure.

Not too hard, not too easy. Running a Trivia night, you want to keep everyone enthused and involved. If the questions are too hard people will lose interest. Too easy and you give yourself problems with 100% answers, tie breakers and a lack of challenge.

We aim for about  50% to 75% spread.
That is the team that wins gets about 70-80%  correct.
The teams that come last get about 50% correct.

I believe in a successful Trivia Night it's more about the losing teams than the winning teams. It's the journey not the destination that's important. The fun everyone has along the way.

Special Events Australia

A quick "Heads Up" that Lynda and I will be presenting a short showcase sampling of our "Corporate Trivia Challenge" for the International Special Events Society ISES on Tuesday Night.

The Venue is the Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney starting at 6pm.

We don't have a great deal of time allocated to us, but looking forward to a night of fun with Industry professionals.

See you there?