How to host a virtual quiz night with friends and family during the lockdown
The virus has brought the whole world to a standstill and has shown us how much humans are connected in one way or another. I mean look at those numbers — over 5 million confirmed cases worldwide— It’s absolutely mental and feels like we are in a real life blockbuster. Get me out!
Different countries have reacted in different ways and different people have developed coping mechanisms during this “new normal” phase. As for me I’ve been cooking a lot but also connecting with my friends in ways we’ve never done before. We share gifs, funny videos and recipes with each other almost everyday, to make sure we stay sane, and of course we are beginning our regular quiz nights — which will of course continue post lockdown.
Quiz or Trivia nights are a great way to bond with your friends and family or even team members at work. How can I host my own quiz night you may ask? Fret no more, I’m here to help!
Step 1:
Gather your friends. Who will be attending the quiz night? Make a list if you need to and inform them. Is there a dress code? Are you sending invitations? In my case, I sent calendar invitations to all the ladies with joining instructions for “Google Meet”. You can use other platforms such as Houseparty (max 8 guests), Zoom, Google Hangouts, or the oul Whatsapp (max 4 guests).
You’ll most likely end up being the quiz master if you brought up the idea, otherwise you can appoint another member of the group. You need someone who is fun and can engage well with the group.
Step 2:
Determine your themes — for our quiz night, we had four themes with five questions each: general trivia, music, movies and friends trivia. This took up about 1.5 hours. The ladies enjoyed it so much, we had to improvise. We asked each other random questions and also played a “guess the song” game at the end of the “presentation”.
Step 3:
Plan your questions. What will you ask in each round? Make sure you select questions that resonate with the group. My group was made up of Nigerian girls who grew up together in Ireland so lots of Nigerian/Irish infused banter and memories.
To make the game a little more interactive, I put together a questionnaire for the girls to complete beforehand, with questions such as “tell us your most embarrassing moment”, “your dream holiday”, and “most hilarious memory”, amongst others.
Step 4:
Make it visual — You can use Canva to create slides or you can upload your questions to platforms such as kahoot.com. Both platforms allow you to design an interactive quiz for your guests. I used Canva because they had a template that spoke directly to my soul. With the template I was able to create different types of questions and made the presentation more interactive by including photos, gifs and videos.
If you’re making it visual, make sure to use a video app that allows you to present. Also, make sure you test the presentation prior to quiz day. I believe that whatever is worth doing is worth doing well!
Now it’s time for you to get to work. Here’s an editable Canva template you can use for your next quiz night. Thank me later!
