Choosing The Right Night Or Time To Run A Pub Quiz
Choose The Right Night
There are many factors to consider before launching a new quiz night. Ideally once you have picked the night and times, that’s it. You have to put all your effort into marketing and establishing this.
In this article we’ll concentrate on Pub Quizzes, rather than fundraiser events and community centre type events.
Heat Map The Week
Discuss heat-map days and hours with the manager. For example if the bar is normally busy on a Sunday up until 6pm when it starts to empty out, start your quiz at 6pm, not 8pm.Football vs Quiz Night
If the venue shows football, remember that Tuesday & Wednesday nights are Champions League nights so if there are big glamour games on TV, you may not get started until 10pm. There are pros & cons from following football. On one hand you may gain a few extra teams (you will never hold them all after full-time). On the other hand, depending on the venue, it’s often a good idea to split these things. This means that you can establish regulars who will come in specifically because the quiz is on, without the disruptions that the football can bring.Every Week
Monthly or fortnightly pub quizzes simply do not work in most cases. Neither do stop-start or chop & change quizzes. You know all this “we’re not here next week because of the bank holiday”, etc. Weekly quizzes that go ahead every week – build momentum and will quickly attract new regulars.Stick With It
If they don’t come, if the quiz fails to take off, don’t change to another night. Change your marketing strategy. If they do turn up in small numbers, but don’t come back, readdress your format. Don’t blame “the night”. Some of the most successful quizzes I have worked on over the years have been on Monday or Tuesday nights. And yes, prior to launching them, these were “ghost towns” on a Monday too. Many publicans will dismiss a Monday or Tuesday night as a complete waist of time putting anything on because “There’s no-one out”!That’s because there’s nothing on!
There’s a good chance that anyone working within the hospitality & leisure industry, those who work at the weekend, (restaurant staff, taxi drivers…the staff from your rival pubs!) will be off on a Monday night. Or off on a Tuesday therefore they can have a drink on a Monday night.They don’t come out, because there’s nothing on!
Students & retired people don’t care what night of the week it is. Take a chance. Heat map the week. Pick the quietest night and get to work with marketing and promoting. Building a successful, established night from nothing is far more rewarding than entertaining the passers through on other nights that would have been in anyway. Comments welcome.