QuizList

This week is all about quizmasters.  Now, for a change this doesn’t signal a rant about how awful some of them are, but more about what resources exist and how to find a pub which might want your services.

Some of you will know my day job, some don’t;  in the course of it I sometimes venture into prisons and secure units and once I was asked by someone in one of these settings  ’what do you need to work in your profession?’  My reply was ‘a brass neck’ – not to do with the people you meet there but the frequently objectionable other professionals you encounter.  I would say the same about quizmastering;  don’t go into the area if you’re going to be overly sensitive about criticism of your fab questions and barracking about your accent etc.    The late Professor Propellorhead’s article on this site, http://quizlist.com/articles/thoughts-of-a-quizmaster/, will give you some indication of what to expect;  and we also have Bible John’s dos and don’ts: http://quizlist.com/articles/bible-johns-guide-to-a-good-pub-quiz/.

Quizmastering is a profession you can enter with very little investment – as regards the tools of the trade, all you need is questions (easily obtainable from the Web – see, for instance, this link http://www.quiz-media.co.uk/partners/id/115_6), answer sheets, and access to a microphone.  But how do you find a pub that wants your services as a QM?  The best way is word of mouth – ask other QMs, ask locals about which pubs used to do quizzes and might be interested in re-starting them, and best of all, ask those seasoned pub quiz teams that you just know spend (part of) the week trawling round other quizzes where there might be a ‘vacancy’ coming up.

Now, of course, there are some websites which (formally or informally) offer a matching service for QMs looking for a pub and pubs looking for a QM.  For a start, you can always mail QuizList and I’ll do my best to match QMs and pubs up.  I’m also thinking of creating an area where I can post these details which should remove the need for me to forward mails back and forth, and I will speak to Carl who is the technical genius on this site about doing this.  Will keep you posted. The redoubtable Dr Paul’s mine of quiz information did, I believe, also set out to offer this service, and has details of a book which will help would-be quizmasters  http://www.quiz-media.co.uk/partners/id/115_1.

Another correspondent’s  useful blog on ‘Today in History’ also has some quizmastering facts and a link to a book called ‘The Easy Quizmaster’:  http://todaysthedayquiz.blogspot.com/.

This is only scratching the surface of what’s available – let me know of any good resources I’ve missed.  Quizmasters – keep doing those quizzes, we do appreciate your efforts even though we don’t say it,  but for god’s sake please don’t download that picture round with Mr (Bastard) Men on it ever again…