Dubbed Facebook for quiz hosts, speedquizzing.com‘s new social features add a great deal of scope to how quiz hosts can promote themselves, along with their events, through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Check out the new smartphone quiz host directory at http://www.speedquizzing.com/pub/hosts/… and if you are already an active smartphone pub quiz host, then you can set up your own promotional profile page, just like this one http://www.speedquizzing.com/pub/hosts/jonny_birkin/, at the website right now.

All of our forthcoming events now have their own URL (like this one http://www.speedquizzing.com/pub/events/gb/york/8/) and can therefore be easily promoted and shared through social media.

Get involved !!

SpeedQuizzing quiz hosting software, version 2.5.0 is out now and is better than ever. Current users will want to read this article as there has been some notable changes.

New Native Installers

The cross-platfom .AIR file that we used to use for our installer has been replaced with operating system-specific installers. So that is an .EXE for Windows and a DMG for Mac OS X.

The software still uses the Adobe Air runtime, but now our installers themselves will handle the installation of the runtime (when required) as part of the overall installation process.

IMPORTANT!! You cannot auto-update to version 2.5.0 

Because of these new installers, you CANNOT automatically update to version 2.5.0 from any previous versions of SpeedQuizzing. You need to visit http://www.speedquizzing.com/download/ and download one of the new installers (EXE or DMG). Once downloaded, when you run the new installer files, they will update your existing SpeedQuizzing software as per usual.

Going forward from version 2.5.0, automatic software updates will be available again.

New WIFi Mode

The main new feature in version 2.5.0 is Wifi Mode. We still recommend a wired connection between your computer and router when hosting professional events, however WiFi Mode is useful for practising, testing and also when your computer (such as Macbook Pro Retina display models) is built without an Ethernet port!

Some of you might miss it. Others probably not, but the SpeedQuizzing team have decided it was time to say goodbye to the old-look website and poster designs (flat pint of larger and all!).

Our hot new design, featured above, (as well as being on the homepage at http://speedquizzing.com and available to download as an editable A2 poster from http://www.speedquizzing.com/software/docs/info_advertising_material/) aims to portray a much more contemporary pub/bar environment, while also trying to capture the essence of SpeedQuizzing which is of course the speed, pace and urgency of the game play.

Extra editable layers have been introduced to the PSD version of the downloadable poster. These will allows a quiz host to quickly give the poster their own unique look with the minimum of Photoshop skills.

Any feedback for the SpeedQuizzing team regarding the new look will be greatly appreciated.

SpeedQuizzing Version 2.6.0 is here

Version 2.6.0 of the SpeedQuizzing host software, which is now available as an update/download, http://www.speedquizzing.com/download/, boasts a brand new Keypad game entitled Evil mode plus a major improvement with regards to how the results are displayed during Keypad and Nearest wins games in general.

As well as this, there are some very exciting new hidden features for the Keypad games aimed at advanced users who want to spice up their established SpeedQuizzing events.

1. Evil mode

Evil mode is an alternative feature to Go Wide. It is designed to spice up the Keypad game increasing the jeopardy per question.

Evil mode is perfect for introducing an extra element of suspense in the final keypad round and is simpler to understand than the Go Wide feature. Evil mode instructions (see image on the rough).

2. More comprehensive feedback

As you can see below, at the end of the 10 second countdown during Keypad and Nearest Wins games the host can now see precisely what answers have been submitted.

Whereas before the software only displayed either “incorrect” or “correct” on the left hand side, it now displays precisely what answer each team inputted whether they got it right, wrong or even if they went wide.

You’ll notice that team ”5 alive” went wide and you can now see both of the answers which they selected. All of this information is now viewable right up until the host moves on to the next question.

3. Hidden Features

In the interests of not wanting to make it look like the cockpit of a spaceship when new users first open up the SpeedQuizzing host software, it is important that we don’t just keep throwing new features and controls at the interface.

On the other hand however it is equally important that experienced hosts are offered evolving functionality to keep their regular quiz nights fresh for their recurring teams. Our solution (in version 2.6.0) is to incorporate a brand new compliment of advanced features to enhance the Keypad games but we have opted to keep them hidden from the novice user. There is no mention of them in the SpeedQuizzing docs or video tutorials so the only place to find out about them is here on the new SpeedQuizzing forum. http://www.speedquizzing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=44

Note, we are sorry but we are having to replace the old forum with a new one which will mean signing up a fresh.

Also included in V2.6.0 is the humble beginnings of what we intend to call the Live Screen. (second screen output). It is very much a work in progress (Beta mode) but it is there for anyone to check out and feed back on, but it is not officially released or supported as yet. You can find out more about this on the new forum. http://www.speedquizzing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=47

SpeedQuizzing have had a prosperous year with a steady increase of quiz hosts and venues turning on to our new approach towards quiz hosting. That said, it has been theorised from various parties that this steady increase could have been significantly stronger if we had had a stronger brand and a more contemporary website in place.

The last six weeks have been all about this and is now (date of this article) all in place. The article focuses on key points of this journey while also showcasing the outcome.

Finding the right style

Most of the look and feel of SpeedQuizzing since it’s conception has come from myself. Sure, I have designed a fair few good logos in the past and created some reasonable looking websites, but this time we wanted to shine out beyond my skill set and therefore have for the first time farmed in the help of outsiders. Having more minds to bounce ideas around with can be very helpful as Alan and myself, being brothers, often have polar-opposite opinions to each other which can be unproductive.

Since working on SpeedQuizzing, we have come to understand that our product is fundamentally tricky to design for. It is a software product but too clinical a look (like Apple for example) is not fun, ‘gamey’ or ‘pubby’ enough to portray a system that allows you play a fun game in a pub. `however, focusing too much on the fun, game and pub aspect also has it’s own issues. One being that SpeedQuizzing has potential as a product in other areas also such education and therefore too many photos of adults playing the game on booze-filled tables sends the wrong message for them. Another consideration is the fact that bars like to identify themselves as being nothing like pubs. To bar people, pubs represent the past whereas bars are the progressive drinking venues. With this in mind, a bar would never host anything billed as a ‘pub quiz’ like a ‘Smartphone Pub Quiz’. However, simply by losing the the word pub, ‘Smartphone Quiz’, this instantly sounds like something that you could play in forward thinking bar.

Taking all of this into account we now have these clear definitions.

• SpeedQuizzing - As well as being our company name, this is the name of the game you play. Whether you play in a pub, bar, church hall or field what you are doing is playing SpeedQuizzing. SpeedQuizzing is the fast response quiz game.
• Smartphone Pub Quiz – Is our umbrella name for the application of the SpeedQuizzing game used in a pub or bar scenario. Fundamentally, these events are pub quizzes and therefore this is the most meaningful name.
• Variant Names – For use on event posters, Smartphone Quiz, Smartphone Trivia Night, Smartphone Trivia Show are variations of the Smartphone Pub Quiz concept, but specifically tailored for either a type of venue, such as a bar, or a locale such as the USA.

Logo Creation

For our new logos, we worked with the very talented Petr Barak of Malbar Design. First up was the SpeedQuizzing company logo. We asked that he created something that was more of an enhancement than as brand new design as we did not want all the media we current have the dons the old logo to become obsolete over night.

The brief for the Smartphone Pub Quiz logo was to create something that would look great on posters and clearly conveyed the smartphone pub quiz concept.

After a few drafts were sent back and forth between Petr and myself, we tested his creations by sending a questionnaire around some of our partners and associates. These associates included a mixture of quiz hosts, press and marketing professionals, one graphic designer and a manager of operations . The infographic below displays the results of this research.

From this research we learned that, like us, most were in favour of the newly created SpeedQuizzing logo and therefore this design (below), in all its colourful variant splendour is our company logo going forwards.

Regarding the Smartphone Pub Quiz logo, there was much more division in the feedback. Some thought it as spot on whilst others found it too ‘pubby’.  The was also the issue that our key visual photo depicting hands and drinks, in bar, playing SpeedQuizzing, has a very bar-like feel to it. When overlaid with this rather pub-like logo, many felt a clash of styles.

Also, regarding posters, we tried to gain an insight into whether our posters actually needed to have a photo depicting the game in play at all or whether simply a massive graphical logo had more impact. The feedback on this was again a mixed bag of opinion but one thing that came apparent was that neither of these approaches to the poster design captured the fun and excitement of one of our events and that they probably should.

Poster Designer 1.0

This process inspired me to build something rather special for our customers. Something we have talked about for years.

We now have a web application on our website called Poster Designer. It does exactly what is says on the tin. Our hosts, via the event booking system on our website, can design a poster, in minutes whenever they log on. The poster they create will be added both to their event page on the website, but more importantly be saved and printed at up to a whopping A1 size.

Instructions on how to access and use our Poster Designer tool can be found here.

The below image shows two posters generated with Poster Designer.. 

From what we had learnt through this feedback, the Poster Designer will now allow a quiz host to choose the variation of the logo that they prefer. If they want to look extra-pubby then they can. If they want to create a bar feel with no mention of the word ‘pub’ then they can. Also, photos of people having fun at a quiz night are now an option and many colour variations are in there too.

The convenience factor of being able to create a custom poster, in high resolution, in a few clicks of a mouse is really going to appeal to our quiz hosts while at the same time guarantying us a great deal of brand consistency as these posters start to crop up inside and outside of more and more pubs and bars.

The Outcome

From December 2013, visitors to speedquizzing.com will see that we have significantly raised our game. The website itself is fully responsive which means it will look and function great on all of your devices from your desktop computer right down to your smartphone and with a much fresher look all round.

The Gallery

Thank again to Petr Barak of Malbar Design. Please enjoy this gallery of the work he created for us.

In the space of just a few years, we like to think that our SpeedQuizzing smartphone pub quizzing system has completely revolutionised the experience of pub quiz gameplay, allowing teams to compete by using their touch-screen devices to play along in real time with the quizmaster, thus removing the possibility of cheating (players have no chance to look up the answers to questions when playing in real time) and creating a more engaging gameplay experience in the process.

Not content with merely changing the format of pub quizzing, we are determined to keep creating new quiz experiences as we continue to develop our app. One feature which proves as much is the new Voting Questions (beta) which has been featured in a recent version of our hosting software.

This new feature has been causing quite a stir amongst quiz-goers, turning quiz conventions pretty much upside down. Unlike a regular question where the answer is a hard fact, a voting question is more of a survey of opinions where the majority answer becomes the correct answer – in a way it’s like the reverse of TV gameshow Pointless – your team wins points if your answer correlates with the answer chosen by the most other teams in the room.

Using the Multiple Choice screen, these voting questions can often end in total hilarity and when playing one, you and your team need to consider a few factors. For starters, if you want to win the points, you are not simply answering with your team’s opinion, you are answering with what your team thinks the majority of teams in the room will think.

For example, when your quizmaster asks, “Which are best… A.) the Star Wars films or B.) the Harry Potter films”, a hot potato of a question like that will instantly divide a room. Your team might have a strong opinion either way but the answer you go with needs to be more about second guessing how your fellow teams will answer than responding with your actual opinion. You’ll find yourself scanning the room and having to think a lot harder than ever about who exactly it is that you’re playing against!

Predicting majority opinion comes very naturally to some people and is a very different type of skill to remembering hard facts. Therefore, when these voting questions are sporadically thrown into play at a smartphone quiz night, they offer a welcome and refreshing change, representing an opportunity for all involved to engage another part of their brain and experience a totally different kind of quizzing.

Only pub quizzes using the SpeedQuizzing system have features as exciting as this. Find one near you!

We’ve done our absolute best to ensure that SpeedQuizzing has been a joyously disruptive presence in the pubs and bars of the UK over the past few years, shaking up the tired and ailing format of the pub quiz and giving it a whole new lease of life through allowing players to participate using their touch-screen devices; both improving the gameplay experience and ruling out cheating for good in one fell swoop (if you’re quizzing on your smartphone, there’s no way you can be looking up the answers on it at the same time!)

However, we are not without our nasty streak, and we’ve just set about proving it by adding a new feature to the system; the ominously na

med ‘Evil Mode’. Tipped as a future scourge of the quizzerati, this game-changing feature leaves players facing a serious gameplay re-think. A new addition to SpeedQuizzing’s ‘Keypad Games’, Evil Mode ratchets the jeopardy levels up by several notches towards the end of a quiz. But how specifically?

In a regular Keypad round, players aim to win points by making their best guess at the correct answer – if they choose correctly, they score. If they guess wrong, nothing happens. Evil Mode flips the game on its head by tweaking these rules, so a correct answer still scores you points, but incorrect answers mean you LOSE points, which means that when Evil Mode is in play, the stakes are twice as high.

Think of it like this: when you’re answering a question in a regular Keypad round you’re like Indiana Jones clobbering a hoodlum. In Evil Mode, you’re Indiana Jones leaping into thin air to get to the Holy Grail. What do you mean “That’s an outlandish analogy”?!

The key to coping with Evil Mode is conservative quizzing. And when we say that, we don’t mean you need to have George Osborne on your side, we mean you need to be careful with your guesses; only answer if you’re at least fairly sure of the answer. 25% sure stabs in the dark will get you nowhere good here. Evil Mode demands cautious, clever and cerebral quizzing; the chance to win a prize and the glory that comes with a quiz win depends on it.

Only pub quizzes using the SpeedQuizzing system have features as exciting as this. Find one near you!

Many of the greatest innovations tend to be beautifully simple (at face value anyway), from the London Underground map to the modernist homes of the 60s that said “D’you know what? sod mock Tudor, let’s have clean lines and practical features!”

We sought to imitate this simplistic approach with our SpeedQuizzing smartphone pub quiz app, and we like to think our creation has the way we quiz throughout the land. This app has attracted a new breed of pub quizzer who like their gameplay to be both fast and fair (the rapid pace of SpeedQuizzing makes it impossible to cheat by looking up the answers to questions).

So far, so beautifully simple, and the uncomplicated ethos of making the SpeedQuizzing app easy to use for players and quizmasters goes to the very heart of the game’s mechanics. One feature which exemplifies this is the unique single letter answering system used in the core ‘Keypad’ rounds.

When SpeedQuizzing’s Keypad games were being developed, the objective was to make SpeedQuizzing hosting software capable of marking the player’s answers itself, thus making life simple for the quizmaster. This was straight-forward for both multiple choice and numeric question types because the answers will always be absolutely one thing or another; A,B,C,D,E,F and so on for multiple choice questions or a number for numeric questions.

No problems there, but our development team faced a far tougher challenge in getting the app to effectively mark questions which would require players to enter a whole word – whatever your view on spelling errors and typos, most people would agree that if a quizzer answers a question correctly in essence, they should be awarded the point. Programming the app to account for spelling variations and a huge range of possible typos and spelling mistakes would have been an impossible task…

Enter stage left single letter answering! Here’s how it works… On a Letters question in a Keypad round, the quizmaster reads out a question as normal, but asks that all competing teams simply answer by keying in the first letter of the answer, whilst also abiding by a couple of simple rules (1. if the answer is a person’s name, input the first letter of their first name, omitting any titles such as Dr or President. 2. If the answer is a title such as a book, song or film, disregard any instances of “The” or “A” at the beginning… So for example, if the answer was “The Lion King”, you would be correct if you keyed in the letter “L” ). Some savvy players have even capitalised on this single letter entry method of input by guessing what letter an answer might be likely to start with, when they don’t know the answer to a question (it’s worth remembering more words start with ‘S’ than any other letter!)

Thanks to innovations like the single letter answering method, it has been possible for the SpeedQuizzing app to offer beautifully simple gameplay for quiz hosts and players alike. Only pubs and bars using the SpeedQuizzing system offer features like this, so we recommend you make the effort to find one in your area for the cutting edge quizzing experience that’s sweeping the nation!

Whether you’re a bona fide muso straight out of Never Mind The Buzzcocks or the type of quizzer who would join the majority of University Challenge or Only Connect contestants in groaning at the sound of a music question, there’s no denying that a good music round is one of the cornerstones of any self-respecting quiz.

What goes for TV goes for the pubs of Great Britain too, and throughout the course of the past half century or so, no pub quiz has been complete without a music round, generally following the format of competitors being played a clip, writing down their answer and repeating that process over several questions.

Our app-based smartphone pub quiz system SpeedQuizzing now seeks to offer players who may well be justifiably bored of this process a dynamic and engaging alternative. For the players, our Sound Clips round is all about two things: firstly identifying the correct clip when it is played, but also being up there with the fastest to do so, as SpeedQuizzing music rounds feature a unique sliding-scale scoring system which is designed to reward alertness.

The quiz host has control of a playlist of 12 songs (short clips lasting approximately 5 seconds each). To begin with, the host nominates one of the 12 clips by announcing the song title to the players in the room. This game uses SpeedQuizzing’s Buzzer screen, so he or she might say “Hit your buzzer when you hear the song ‘Lose Yourself to Dance’ by Daft Punk.” The playlist is then started and during this time all of the players sit poised on tenterhooks, fingers ready to strike, waiting for the nominated song to begin. Each time a clip has been played and identified, the remaining list of clips naturally gets shorter until they have all been played.

See a SpeedQuizzing music round in motion and you are likely to be gobsmacked by the reaction times of regular players. People can literally recognise a song within milliseconds of it starting. However, it is not all about being the fastest, with points available for teams who get there more slowly too. The scoring works like this: Every team who hits their screen while the correct clip is playing gets 4 points, regardless of speed, however, the fastest gets 8, the next fastest 7, the next fastest 6 and finally, the next fastest 5. This sliding scale means there is always fierce competition to be the fastest during this round.

Steady on though! Being too eager can often cause your team to fall flat on your faces as cunning quiz hosts will often set traps in the form of soundalike clips. For example, records that use samples from other records or two versions of the same song by different artists are a great resource for tripping up those who are not adequately zoned-in to the sound clips.

As well as being a great game to play, from a quiz host’s perspective, these rounds are breeze to set up too. The host simply copies 12 audio files from their own music collection (MP3 format) to a specific folder on their computer. After doing so, the next time they open their quiz hosting software, these music clips will be ready to play in the music round. The start and end points of each clip are set to a usable default, for those in a hurry. For more particular hosts, setting which part of each song is played as the clip can be done easily using an editor within the software.

Although music clips are the obvious choice of subject matter for this type of round, hosts can also use the software to create other great audio identification games such as identifying clips of dialogue from movies, guess the mystery voice rounds or identifying famous speeches.

The ability to do all this and more is the difference between a regular music round and a SpeedQuizzing music round. We know which sounds better to us, find a smartphone pub quiz in your local area and decide for yourself!

BPM at The NEC

BPM is an annual trade event for DJ and pro-audio gear held at The NEC in Birmingham, this year running from the 12th to the 14th of September. As one of the biggest events of it’s kind in the UK, BPM is a significant event in the calendar for many involved in DJing and entertainment technology.

Why exhibit SpeedQuizzing at a DJ event?

Funnily enough,around 75% of all existing SpeedQuizzing hosts are or were mobile DJs, due to the many similarities between the two trades. DJs are generally very comfortable setting up tech/gear and used to addressing a crowd with a microphone. Through our slogan “Creating midweek work for DJs since 2012″, we are playing on the fact that it is pretty hard for a mobile DJ, in the current economic climate, to find paid DJ work from Mondays through to Thursdays. Therefore, we encourage them to add smartphone quiz hosting as another string to their bows. With this in mind, BPM seemed like the perfect opportunity to showcase SpeedQuizzing and grab the attention of some budding quiz host talent.

The Exhibition: A new quiz starting every 10 minutes…

SpeedQuizzing co-creator Alan Leach, accompanied by fellow quiz hosts Jamie Webber and Stoo Pittaway, manned our stand, discussing the concept of SpeedQuizzing with attendees and distributing our promotion flyers (below left). In order to stand out from the crowd at the exhibition, and highlight the fun and fast nature of the quiz, it was clear that we needed to get people involved. Throughout the event, a new quiz was started every 10 minutes – meaning our extensive range of questions certainly came in handy.

Using our own Samsung tablets, preinstalled with the SpeedQuizzing app, everyone passing by the stand was encouraged to join the fun and try SpeedQuizzing for themselves – hopefully getting a few questions right! As expected of an event centred around DJs and pro-audio equipment, the venue was very loud. Therefore, each question was read out and displayed on a projector screen. Like any good pub quiz, top prizes were up for grabs as we gave out our “I kicked ass at the BPM 2014 Smartphone Quiz” t-shirts to the winning teams.

Aside from the fact that Alan (who isn’t a big fan of repetitive dance music) had to endure three days of loud techno beats banging at him from every direction whilst hosting the quiz, the event was a roaring success for SpeedQuizzing.

Increase in business since BPM

BPM was a great chance for us to demonstrate the potential of our smartphone quiz to lots of new people and spark the interest of DJs who want to bring their pub quizzes into the future with SpeedQuizzing. Seeing the quiz in action, and getting involved themselves, the event highlighted to many DJs just how easy it is to start hosting their own quiz. Running so many quizzes also enabled us to showcase the diversity of SpeedQuizzing through different game-play styles. Since the event, we have experienced a marked increase in new users, providing clear evidence that people gained a positive understanding of the software at BPM.

After the success of BPM, we will definitely be looking to have a presence at other trade events in the future.

- John Leach, SpeedQuizzing co-creator.

The response we gathered from the BPM event has highlighted the vast potential of trade events for SpeedQuizzing, so with this event proving such a success, you may just be seeing SpeedQuizzing at a trade event near you!

Stoo Pittaway, record breaker

On the 6th October, Birmingham based quiz host Stoo Pittaway broke the world record for the longest quiz, using the SpeedQuizzing software to run the event. The mammoth pub quiz was hosted at The Actress and Bishop, Birmingham for a total of 34 hours and 39 minutes, beating the previous record by 1 hour and 31 minutes. The full quiz was also streamed live on the Internet, where we were able to follow Stoo’s progress and see how tired he was looking. As well as breaking records, the event has raised over £1,000 for The Stiliyan Petrov Foundation. The charity, which was launched by former Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov, offers support to leukaemia suffers and their families.

‘Longest marathon as a quiz master’

The current Guinness World Record for the ‘longest marathon as a quiz master’, which stands at 33 hours and 8 minutes, is held by Jason Hinkledire of Pennsylvania, USA. A total of 1,896 questions were asked in the marathon, which was run in a traditional pub quiz format. The record was achieved in April 2014, so he will no doubt be disappointed to hear that his record has been beaten after just 6 months.

Attempting to break a world record…

The idea of attempting to break a world record first originated from a discussion of how to publicise SpeedQuizzing and the recent rise of targeted viral videos. Although a video lasting 34 hours and 39 minutes is unlikely to become the next YouTube hit, this led Stoo to consider how he could use his talents as a SpeedQuizzing host to break a world record. This was, of course, also motivated by a lifelong dream of being a Guinness World Record holder. There are many world records based around pub quizzes, yet, the longest quiz seemed like the most realistic and the best suited to using the SpeedQuizzing platform. Negating the need to mark quiz sheets and read out answers, SpeedQuizzing made Stoo’s record breaking attempt much faster and simpler, allowing him to maintain momentum in his quiz – and stay awake! The SpeedQuizzing software, which Stoo was confident he could rely upon, provided the ideal tool to help him through this endurance test.

I was looking for a way to prove that SpeedQuizzing was faster than a traditional quiz.

- Stoo Pittaway

34 hours and 39 minutes of quizzing

The event could not have worked without the teams we had – their energy and spirits remained high all the way through, which kept the momentum up.

- Stoo Pittaway

Stoo worked as quizmaster, asking the questions and running the SpeedQuizzing host software throughout the 34 hours and 39 minutes, noting that; “the software didn’t falter once, it made it really easy”. Each team was provided with a tablet to use as their SpeedQuizzing keypad and had these were swapped with fully charged devices once their batteries ran low. Different question styles, including multiple choice, numeric and SpeedQuizzing’s unique letters questions, where only the first letter of the answer is required, were used to keep the rounds varied. The event was the cumulation of weeks of planning and organising, involving many other people, such as those running behind the scenes to get players signed up and of course the quiz players themselves.

Stoo brought a lot of players along for the ride, some of whom stuck it out for the full record breaking time – a great testament to our system that people were willing to play SpeedQuizzing for almost 35 hours. As the quiz progressed into the night, the venue became a slumber party, with players turning to their onesies and sleeping bags. The end of the marathon quiz was timed to coincide with Stoo’s weekly quiz, meaning some regular players came down to give Stoo a final boost and join in the celebrations.

Awaiting authentication

Although plenty of catch up sleep was needed after the quiz, Stoo still managed to run his weekly SpeedQuizzing event the following week. While Stoo surpassed the standing record for the longest marathon as a quiz host, authentication by Guinness World Records is a long and complex process, meaning that, at the time of publication of this article, official approval is yet to be received. As Stoo joked “there were certain points I thought it would never end”, one thing is for certain; Stoo will not be attempting something like this again any time soon.

SpeedQuizzing host Version 3

We have been working hard developing the SpeedQuizzing software to bring new features that make SpeedQuizzing slicker and more fun than ever. In response to user feedback, a few of the main enhancements to the software include:

• Multilingual support displaying international characters for questions and answers.
• Live Screen feature available for all game-play styles, including Buzzin’ and Sound Clips.
• A new sound selection feature, allowing teams to select their buzzer sound from the handset

Could you be a beta tester?

With our new software in the making, we are now looking for hosts to take part in our beta test and try out the software enhancements at quiz events. If you want to get early access to these upcoming features, there are just a few things we would like to know about you:

• Are you a host who regularly books activations and has a profile picture and bio on the SpeedQuizzing host page?
• Are you prepared to update to a new version whenever we provide the file or link?
• Do you accept that, although new versions are tested before being released to beta users, there is always potential for bugs and glitches which could affect the smooth running of your quiz nights?

If this sounds like you, get in touch and email joe@speedquizzing.com.

Don’t forget, professional SpeedQuizzing hosts can also join our Hosts Facebook Group.

Hosting a SpeedQuizzing event for the first time?

Get ready for your opening night with expert help and advice from an experienced SpeedQuizzing host. From hardware set-up to software features, our new training sessions cover everything you need to prepare for your first event. Sessions run on Mondays, 11 am – 2:30 pm at our facility in York and cost £50 per attendee, including lunch.

Find out more details and book your spot by clicking here.

We’re getting into the festive spirit here at SpeedQuizzing and we’re feeling generous with our Christmas gifts this year. To bring a bit of festive cheer to your quiz, we are giving you:

• 1 free Christmas themed keypad round.
• 1 free UK Events 2014 keypad round, covering some of the biggest stories of the year.

You won’t find these gifts under your Christmas tree, but they will be waiting for you to download from the SpeedQuizzing Forum and the SpeedQuizzing Hosts Facebook group from the 15th of December, just in time for your Christmas quiz!

SpeedQuizzing in Christmas Week

We all know Christmas is an expensive time and turn out to pub quizzes can be unpredictable during the festive period. So, if you’re hosting a quiz between Christmas Day and New Years Day, you will recieve 1 free activation and 1 free General Knowledge/Trivia Quizpack, including 61 questions. For your free Activation and Quizpack, please email joe@speedquizzing.com, unless you purchase your SpeedQuizzing activations through Unit 1, then please contact Jon at Unit 1.

Merry Quizmas from everyone at SpeedQuizzing!

Please note: these offers are only available to paying SpeedQuizzing hosts.

Introduction

Even though I’ve been hosting SmartPhone Pub Quizzes for longer than anyone else, it hasn’t always been plain sailing in terms of numbers of paying customers attending my nights. I suffer the same as everyone else from students going home for holidays, big football matches coinciding with a quiz night, venues not promoting my nights properly and a general apathy from quizzers who tell you they’ve had the best fun they’ve ever had but still don’t show up the following week.

Without a doubt though the biggest problem I’ve faced is the same clever teams winning week in week out.

Not only can this affect how busy your quizzes are, it can also sour the atmosphere somewhat creating animosity between teams and also cause some teams to lose interest in the latter rounds and start chatting during questions.

Nearest Wins

The first thing we (myself and my brother John) introduced as an attempt to combat this was the Nearest Wins question. This is nothing new as it has been going on at pen and paper quizzes for a long time.

Offering a “big-points” question at the end of the night like this does help, since it mean’s that there is a chance that one of the lower teams will jump up and take the prize. However there are limitations such as….

A. To enable the very bottom teams to stand a chance of getting near the top you need to make it a ridiculously high points question compared to all of the evening’s previous questions which some would argue makes a farce of the whole of the rest of the night.
B. A Nearest Wins question doesn’t do much to stop teams near the bottom from losing interest and becoming disruptive in the final rounds.
C. However random/difficult you make the Nearest Wins question there is just as much (if not more) chance of one of the cleverer teams winning the points and totally defeating the object.

Go Wide

Next we introduced Go Wide in the Keypad rounds. This give’s teams who don’t know the answer more of a chance of guessing it right, but for reduced points, (every little helps).

Evil Mode

Go Wide was closely followed by the introduction of Evil Mode in the keypad rounds. Evil mode is great for creating big movement in the leader board in the last round, but whether it favours the lower teams any more than the higher teams is debatable.

Handicap System

The other obvious thing to do is to introduce a handicap system. The winning team at my quizzes usually has around 250 points by the end, so I will say “If you win 2 weeks in a row you start 20 points down next week. If you win a 3rd week you start 30 points down, if you win a 4th week you start 40 points down and so on…”.

Although a handicap system is a good way of reigning in a runaway clever team, it is still only a minor improvement and only really helps the 2nd/3rd/4th cleverest teams to win, leaving the bottom teams to still feel disenfranchised.

Cut down on Buzzin’ rounds

Finally in my quest to help the slower, less intelligent teams I cut back on the buzzer rounds as I feel these have a habit of favouring the brighter teams more than what the Keypad rounds do. (They certainly favour the younger teams leaving your older clientele a bit bewildered when they’ve known most of the answers in a round but haven’t managed to earn a single point).

Enter The Fast Track!!! Whoop whoop

So I put my mind to work on a solution which not only has the ability to vary the outcome of first place, but also would keep every single player interested and playing competitively right up to the last question of the last round.

Eventually I came up with The Fast Track. Fast Tracking has changed the whole dynamic of my quizzes forever. My numbers are massively up, I have people coming who wouldn’t usually entertain the idea of a pub quiz at all, and once they get used to the idea, the cleverer teams actually grow to like it as it becomes strategic and mean’s they have to work harder to win but they get more of a sense of achievement when they do.

In my opinion it is the right balance of a “fun night out for all” verses a “test of intellect/knowledge”.

Now before you jump in, Fast Tracking will inevitably meet some resistance at first from the top teams, but you just need to stand your ground. In my opinion if you lose one of your cleverer beard-scratching teams to a pen and paper quiz down the road but ultimately gain another 10 teams who are looking for a fun night out as a result, does that really matter?

So how do I use Fast Tracking?

Fast Tracking work’s primarily in Keypad rounds.

I usually introduce Fast Tracking a few questions into my first Keypad round of the evening.

There is nothing in the software to click to enable fast tracking, it is just a case of announcing that you are introducing it and then keep an eye on the results at the end of each question. (For the purpose of this explanation, announcements are in green text).

“I’m going to introduce a new feature!!!”

Woohoo!

“It’s called Fast Tracking. From now on whenever the top three teams on my leader board all fail to answer a question correctly, then the team who submitted the fastest correct answer (assuming there is at least one correct answer), rather than getting bonus points they will jump into first place, putting them ahead of the current leaders by one point”.

At this point you’ll get a mixed reaction of expletives and boos from the serious teams mixed with cheers of approval from the teams who come along for a fun night out.

Now it is up to you to simply keep an eye on the results on the left hand side of the screen after each question.

On an average night for me, 95 percent of the time the results look like this where at least one of the top three teams have answered correctly.

However occasionally it will look like this where none of the top three teams have answered correctly but at least one of the lower teams has.

This is the point where I will announce “WE HAVE A FAST TRACK INTO FIRST PLACE”!!!!

Gasp of air from the crowd!

As normal I will then announce the correct answer and press the blue button.

Then before revealing the fastest team, I hold Shift on my computer keyboard which reveals the Fast Track button. and rather than announcing The Bonus Point goes to……. I announce “For the fastest correct answer, fast tracked into first place it’s….”

and I hit the blue Fast Track button which play’s the buzzer sound of the fastest team whilst automatically ascending that team into the top position on the leader board.

At first this might seem radical and there will be people who will argue that it is too extreme, especially when it means that the bottom team could win the quiz on the last question just by getting lucky with one answer.

Well yes this is true but in my opinion it’s far better than simply giving an excessively big points question at the end and here is why.

1. When Fast Tracking is in full swing teams are playing competitively against each other on every keypad question throughout the night regardless of where they are on the leader board or how near the end of the game it is.
2. The teams in the top three places can’t take advantage of the Fast Track so it favours the lower teams.
3. It creates a great atmosphere and you actually find in most cases that if a team who generally don’t perform well get Fast Tracked, they will receive a nice approving cheer from the majority of other teams.
4. It is flexible. So long as no one can see your screen, it is at your discretion whether you fast-track a team.
5. If you are using Evil Mode it will encourage the top teams to answer a question rather than play it safe when they aren’t sure of an answer in order to try to prevent one of the lower teams receiving a Fast Track.

Is Fast Tracking for me?

If you are lucky enough to have a full venue where all the teams are of relatively equal ability and they are all happy to treat it as a test to see who is “the cleverest team in the village”, then the Fast Track may not be for you.

However if you are wanting to fill a pub by creating a fun night out for anyone who want’s to take part regardless of their ability (and especially if you are having issues with brainy teams winning every week) then you really must give Fast Tracking a chance. Yes you need to have the balls to stand up to the initial naysayers, but in my experience it’s been well worth it. It is your quiz night, you make the rules and you need to rise above teams who act like they somehow own your quiz simply because they win at it a lot.

More often than not when a team who rarely grace the top three spots get a Fast Track into first place they will stay there for a couple of questions maximum before the cleverer teams start to nudge them back down. However even if this happens, the team in question experience a big glory moment which really can re-invigorate their interest in your quiz nights for some time to come. But in addition to this when a Fast Tracked team manage to stay at the top and win first prize, this is generally perceived as a good thing with a big cheer from 90% of the crowd. (apart from admittedly maybe whoever is in second place.)

A good night for me is when one of the top three prize winning teams gets there as a result of a fast track, which I’d say probably happens on average every other week.

Fast Tracking Tips

1. For Fast Tracking to work in the way described you will need at least 4 teams.
2. Fast Tracking is flexible. If you’d rather announce that Fast Tracking will stop 5 questions before the end then that is your prerogative.
3. If you have a huge crowd and you’d like to make it less likely to happen then you can announce that it is the top 4 teams rather than 3 whom need to not answer correctly to initiate a Fast Track.
4. Likewise if you want to encourage Fast Tracks to happen more regularly you can make it apply to the top 2 teams rather than 3.
5. If you like the idea but think that jumping into first place is too extreme, then you can do 2nd or 3rd place instead just by adjusting the score manually rather than holding down Shift.
6. It can work the same in the Clips round although at the time of writing this it isn’t implemented so you simply need to amend the score manually.
7. You can also make it work manually in the Buzzin’ Advanced round. EG “If a team who aren’t in the top 3 buzz in and give a correct answer which the top three teams all disagree with, then the buzzing team will jump into first place”.
   

My favourite Fast Tracking catch phrases

• After announcing the rules “Some nights will go by without a single Fast Track, but believe me… I have seen it happen!”
• On spotting a Fast Track has occurred. ”Holy Sh*t the top three teams have failed to answer correctly, therefore we have a Fast Track into first place!”
• “You are about to witness a life-changing moment for one team in this room… we have a Fast Track!”
• After announcing a Fast Tracked team “Look at their little faces. You see how happy they are… that could be you next!”
• If you have an unusually high amount of Fast Tracks in one evening “It’s making a mockery of the whole night, but I love it!”

 Fast Tracking at Private one-off events

Anyone who has ever hosted a private quiz such as a team-building event or office party will have experienced where the teams who are doing badly start chatting or start leaving before the end. This categorically does not happen when you use Fast Tracking.

Up until now, our yearly turnover has been under the threshold which forces a UK company to become VAT (Value Added Tax) registered. However, we have now reached this threshold. While this is positive growth for SpeedQuizzing, it is with regret that from the 1st March 2015, 20% VAT will be added to the price of SpeedQuizzing Credits in the UK and in any country where VAT applies.

When purchasing SpeedQuizzing Credits, PayPal will provide you with a VAT receipt. If you are VAT registered, you will be able to reclaim the 20%. Therefore, VAT registered pubs and bars who purchase their SpeedQuizzing Credits directly will not be affected by these changes. This will, however, affect any self employed individuals who are not VAT registered.

We apologise for this and wish we were in a position to “take the hit” so to speak, but sadly the numbers simply wouldn’t add up.

If you are a non VAT registered individual working for pubs and bars that are VAT registered, then you may wish to consider asking your venue to purchase credits, as they would be able to reclaim the VAT and avoid the additional cost.

Alternatively, you may wish to purchase SpeedQuizzing Credits for forthcoming events in the month of February, before the VAT is added.

You can find out more information about VAT on the British Government website.

We thank you for your understanding in this and will be happy to explain this in further detail if anyone has any questions. Please contact Alan on 07966 425988.

Quiz Britain subscription subsidy for SpeedQuizzing customers

In an effort to encourage our customers to promote their regular SpeedQuizzing events on the fast growing Quiz Britain app and website, we are offering to contribute the lion’s share of the one-off £10 fee.

We’ve decided that the easiest way to do this is to award a free SpeedQuizzing credit (worth £7) to any SpeedQuizzing customer once we see that their listing is up on the Quiz Britain site. This will cost you £10 but with the free credit from us, it will work out only £3 to you.

Venues outside of the UK are listed on Quiz Britain’s worldwide page, which can be found here:

Before you proceed though, do please check that your event isn’t already listed on the Quiz Britain site.

Terms and conditions:

1. Your SpeedQuizzing quiz host profile must be complete on our website, including picture and bio.
2. Your events must always be promoted on our website. Clicking “Non Public Event” when booking activations will void your entitlement to the Quiz Britain subsidy.
3. Only regular events are eligible.
4. Your Quiz Britain profile must include a hyperlink back to your event profile on the SpeedQuizzing site.
5. You are responsible for informing Quiz Britain if the event ceases running either temporarily or permanently, or if there are any changes to timings etc. 

To list on Quiz Britain, go here and choose the GOLD PACKAGE  

More info on Quiz Britain:

Quiz Britain is the UK’s No.1 company for promoting quizzing, with now over 1 million visits since their launch in 2013. Lots of venues holding quiz nights, including many SpeedQuizzing venues, are listed and have their own unique page. People searching for a quiz online type in a town or city and the venues in that location are shown. This page is your own and you can put as much information of the venue and quiz when you list for the one-off £9.99 fee. The venue and quiz also gets listed on the free QuizFinder app, available on Android and iOS.

The page also links the venue website and social media profiles, as well as the SpeedQuizzing link through the logo. If you’d like your name mentioned on the free QUIZFINDER app too, then let us know. Please note Quiz Britain have already been supplied with the SpeedQuizzing logo so there is no need to upload that. However, they will need a good photo of the outside of the venue for displaying on the app.

Should you wish to add or edit any details in the future, just email or call us and we will update within 48 hours. Also, remember your quizzers and customers can comment on your quiz so do encourage them to visit your QB venue page.

For more information about Quiz Britain visit their website or find them on Facebook or Twitter.

Question Manager 2.0

Many SpeedQuizzing members enjoy the ease of purchasing our quiz packs. However, creating your own content can make your event even more unique, from a pub quiz with a themed round to questions about the happy couple at a wedding. While some users may be familiar with our previous Question Manager Beta, we are pleased to introduce you to our brand new Question Manager 2.0. The new web application is available to all SpeedQuizzing users in the Members Area of our website. With a clean design and powerful new features, creating and editing your own content for SpeedQuizzing events has never been easier.

Create and Edit Questions

The question creator makes it easy to enter questions in all formats, from Multiple Choice to Numbers questions, while intelligent features make it quick and simple to create your own quiz. With a clean look designed to save time, you can quickly move through the form using the tab key on your keyboard. You can also let the Question Manager do some of the work for you as the form intelligently updates as you enter information. For example, to create a Keypad question, simply enter your question and answer and you will see the single letter answer appear automatically. In addition, the corresponding Game Compatibility options will be selected for you, with coloured tags to help you quickly identify question types.

Questions you have written are also easy to edit, just double click the question and you can edit the text, change the question type or add additional information to a Multiple Choice question.

Feeling inspired by a question? The new Clone Question feature allows you to take an existing question and use it as a theme for a new question, saving time when you are producing your quiz content.

Picture Questions

The interactive gameplay is a key feature of SpeedQuizzing and as everyone loves identifying their favourite band or movie poster, the new Question Manager makes it easy to create your own picture questions. To add an image, simply drag and drop a JPEG into the question editor or click to upload a file from your computer.

Round Launcher

The Round Launcher tool enables you to load rounds of questions that you have exported and access SpeedQuizzing quiz packs you have previously purchased. Launching rounds into your Organiser enables you review all the questions in a round, with different question types identified by coloured tags. You can change the order in which your questions appear by simply dragging and dropping questions. They can also be moved into different rounds by dropping them into the corresponding tab in the Organiser.

Question Library 

Written a similar question before? It’s easy to search your Question Library by keywords and narrow your results using filters on question type. Additionally, you can search for questions you have written or for those you have bought from SpeedQuizzing.

Whether your are managing large question libraries or just a few rounds, the Question Manager can also help you to get organsied with a new tagging feature. The question editor allows you to add unique tags to your questions, which are searchable in the Question Library.

As well as specific search terms, the search box also enables you to access all of your Question Library, however many questions that may include.

Export Your Round

Once your quiz is organised and ready to go, you can Export selected rounds or the full quiz. The Export feature allows you to download the quiz file and you will be ready to load your questions into the SpeedQuizzing software.

Ready to get writing?

If you’re ready to start creating your own quiz content, go to the Members Area and try out the new Question Manager today!

Another profile from one of our many talented SpeedQuizzing hosts.  This week we head over to the USA to interview host, Rob Charette.

Name? (and company you operate for if you do)

Rob “Bobby Roast Beef” Charette – XZI Productions (owner/operator)

Where do you live?

I live in Holyoke, Massachusetts in the US.

Which venues do you host quizzes at?

I am currently hosting Mondays at Platform Sports Bar in Northampton MA. Wednesdays I’m at Brennan’s Place in Holyoke MA. Thursdays I can be found at The Collegian Court in Chicopee MA.

How long have you been hosting quizzes?

I’ve only been hosting quizzes since June of 2014. Finally found my niche.

How long have you been using the SpeedQuizzing software?

Been using the SpeedQuizzing software for over a year. It’s the only method I’ve found that really impressed me when it came to hosting.

Favourite Quiz team name?

It’s a tie. Either “Helen Keller’s Tight Pants”, or “Adrian Peterson Daycare LLC”. Both tremendously offensive, which is just my style!

Which of your venues is the most popular? 

Biggest attendance is Platform Sports Bar. I’ve pulled in the biggest numbers there as of late, and the crew is FUN! I think the fan favorite would be the Collegian Court. Folks REALLY enjoy that venue. Smaller lounge atmosphere, great food too. A bit pricey, but you certainly get your money’s worth. My personal favorite is Brennan’s Place, it’s home court. A lot like “Cheers”, in that “everybody knows your name” kind of way.

Which of your venues is the rowdiest / best atmosphere?

Most rowdy atmosphere is hands down Brennan’s Place! Pretty much every team that plays there is a member of the local Smartphone Trivia League. It’s a place where a loud, boisterous event fits like a glove.

If you could host a quiz anywhere where would it be?

Fenway Park, Boston

What’s your favourite thing about SpeedQuizzing?

I love the fact that it’s so flexible. It allows for as much creativity as you can possibly throw at it, makes for a very fun game! Fast tracking and on the fly options make for endless play possibilities.

Do you use any unique rounds / ideas / features of your own or do you just stick to the SpeedQuizzing format?

I use a few. I usually take the team with the lowest score at the end of round one, and do a “would you rather” question. I’ll ask something a little embarrassing or raunchy and have the remaining teams vote on what the selected person would choose. That person reveals the answer and gets a point bonus for going up on the chopping block. Keeps low scoring teams interested and gets a laugh from everyone! I also do various challenge rounds where I utilize the nearest wins question to select a team who is then offered a challenge to complete. If they do they are awarded bonus points. It’s great fun!

Any tips for people wanting to host quizzes?

Be as creative as you possibly can. Of course you’re there to announce the questions, but above all be organic and do YOU. Your attendees know authenticity when they see it, so put your own flavor into the game. Personality is the spice to the event, own it, and season liberally.

Drops Mic.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ROBS QUIZMASTER HOST PROFILE.