Gearing Up for the Big Game

January 28, 2015
Bars
By Aiden Williams

Believe it or not, preparing for the “Big Game” and for trivia night are not that different. Both take preparation, game planning, and in-game management. While your last name might not be Lombardi, Knoll, Shula, or Belichick, you can still become a game-winning coach and go down in history with the greats.

Written by

Aiden Williams

A friend convinced me to come to “trivia night” in early 2008, and I fell in love with Last Call Trivia as a dedicated and competitive participant. I quickly became a host where I enjoyed the performance aspect as well as interacting with the crowd and getting to know them better week after week. The opportunity arose to work with Last Call Trivia full time in January 2011 and I now have the pleasure of leading the hard-working Staffing and Recruitment Department. When I’m not working, you can usually find me spoiling my pets, hosting a weekly Trivia Night, kayaking, disc golfing, attending Super Bowl LVI, practicing my Spanish and Italian, rooting on my Kentucky Wildcats, and mourning the retirement of Peyton Manning.All Posts

Preparation

Before kick-off, that’s football speak for trivia night, you can set your team up for success. Make sure you have enough staff scheduled to handle the volume of trivia teams. Chances are, guests will all be ordering food and drinks around the start time of trivia, so make sure the kitchen staff is ready for an influx of simultaneous orders. Making sure your restaurant is staffed properly can ensure the guests have a great experience and look forward to returning.

Game Planning

Any successful team has great players in all positions. Think of your “roster” as your menu, and your position players as your nightly specials. Not many people know the name of the left tackle, but everyone knows the quarterback’s name. Make sure you have a food and/or drink special that everyone knows and loves. Items such as wings, pizza, and domestic beer, which also happen to be great snacks for the Big Game now that I mention it, will be sure fire hits with your trivia crowd! Give the people want they want and you’ll be an MVP in no time.

In-Game Management

Would you rather the head coach be in a box or on the field? Just like the head coach, you need to be “on the field” and available for your guests and staff. Be visible. Be energetic. Be grateful. Interact with the trivia teams (but not while they’re trying to listen to the question!) and get their feedback. Ask them if they knew the answer to question number seven. Tell them you wouldn’t have known the capital of Djibouti, either. It’s Djibouti, by the way. If you show interest in the teams, they’ll want to return for the personal interaction they received in addition to the great time they had.

Now you’re all set. You’re prepared, you’ve made your game plan, and you’ll be managing like the best of them. Ready, set, hike!