It doesn’t matter whether you’re organising a team building session, awards show or a Christmas party, a quiz night is a safe bet.
There’s nothing stopping you from putting on your own DIY event, but a professionally hosted trivia night can be a really fun, exciting and memorable event for all involved.
It’s a service we and many quiz companies offer. However, too many companies hide their costs until they’re sending a quote out.
The reason for this is there’s no one-size fits all rule for organising a quiz night. Many of the costs are dependent on the needs of the individual client.
Using our expertise and past experiences, we’ll discuss the different factors involved that may affect how we price our services and some pros and cons of each. The following overview should allow you to weigh up your options when organising and ensure you don’t feel like you’re being ripped off.
Let’s jump straight in.
In-person v virtual v hybrid event costs
Not all events are made equal. The costs associated with events can vary significantly based on the event type that’s right for you.
In-person events
Booking a venue for a live event can be one of the biggest costs of your event.
Prices can range from as little as £100 a night for a bar or small event space to upwards of £10,000 for a conference centre, arena or prestigious venue.
Here at KwizzBit, we leave venue hire to you. But we do work closely with you in-venue to help deliver the best quiz experience possible, which incurs its own set of costs which can include setting up technology like PA systems, on-site event management and travel costs.
Virtual events
Hosting a virtual event is typically much less expensive than other events.
As they exist online, you don’t need to fork out for a venue. Nor are they restricted by geographical location or capacity, meaning you can include everyone no matter where they are in the world.
This doesn’t mean virtual events are free. Virtual events often require access to video streaming technologies which incur their own costs based on the number of participants. For example, a license for Zoom’s Webinar and Events platforms, which are our personal favourites for delivering quizzes, can range from £69 to £352 for between 500 and 1000 participants.
Despite their low cost, virtual events struggle to replicate the raw feeling and excitement of a live event atmosphere.
Hybrid events
Hybrid events combine in-person and virtual events into one seamless experience. Because of this they tend to be the most expensive as they incur the costs of both event types, and then some.
In truth, using Zoom and a microphone in a large venue may not create a great experience for the virtual attendant. Pulling off the hybrid approach could require a more sophisticated streaming setup, including a video camera, stream encoder, RTMP server and a technician to manage the event.
Planning any hybrid event would need to take careful consideration of your venue and set up to be able to create an engaging virtual experience that sits alongside it.
Professional quizmasters v celebrity hosts v self-hosting costs
A good host can be the difference between a good event and a great one. There are several tried and tested ways you can go.
Professional quizmasters
Hiring a quiz host or compere who specialises in corporate events can deliver a world-class hosting experience for your event without breaking the bank. Prices can typically range from £200 to over £1000 a night for an experienced showman.
At KwizzBit, we have a directory of trusted quizmasters who are available to host quiz events across the UK.
Celebrity hosts
Choosing a celebrity to host your event can add a real sense of glamour and excitement to your event, which can be perfect for special occasions.
The cost of hiring a celebrity can vary wildly from person to person and is influenced by a variety of personal factors including their media profile, cultural importance, and their current popularity.
Booking a star can be a headache, so as part of our event management service we liaise with talent agencies and negotiate on your behalf and add the cost to your official quote.
The average fee we’ve negotiated for clients was £3000 per event. However, you can expect to pay at least £1500 for a minor household name with bigger stars commanding up to a 5-figure fee for their time.
Self-hosting
Are you operating within a smaller budget? If so, delegating hosting duties to members of your organisation is a cost-effective way of delivering your quiz event.
It might not be showbiz, but having familiar faces take the stage can create an intimate quiz experience, which can be perfect for smaller, tight-knit teams.
In our experience, we’ve trained many stakeholders within businesses to host quizzes with a simple video meeting and demonstration.
Quiz writing costs
Anyone can Google a list of questions, but professional quiz writing is a scientific process.
Bespoke quiz writing involves extensive research, writing and testing to ensure a high-quality quiz event free from grammar errors, spelling mistakes and wrong answers.
Good question writing tailors the quiz to your audience, taking the following into consideration:
• Age range
• Difficulty level
• Gender bias
• Cultural sensitivity
• Geographical location.
The cost of quiz writing from our in-house team starts at £100 for a 4-round general knowledge event with extra fees for extra rounds, specialist topics and personalised quizzes centred on your organisation, industry, or achievements. Using pre-existing content from the system comes at no extra cost.
Number of participants
A key factor affecting price is the number of participants. It’s as simple as more people equals a larger cost.
Charging per person is the standard for events companies, which can sometimes feel arbitrary. However, with KwizzBit, participant numbers are tied directly to our server costs.
Playing a quiz is free for the user but comes at a cost to us. Every time a player answers a question, it sends a signal through our servers to our database to check for the correct answer, how long it took to answer and calculate points. Once processed, another signal is sent back to the host and player with the results.
The more participants you have, the harder the system must work. And, with the option to connect as many as 6,000 players per game, that’s a potential 6,000 signals to send and receive almost instantly.
Singular events also run concurrently with our regular gameplay enjoyed by pubs, businesses and home players at any time of the week, meaning KwizzBit is effectively juggling gameplay from thousands of users at any one time.
It’s important to consider participant numbers into the costs to ensure events run smoothly. Think of it like traditional quizzes ensuring they have enough pens and paper sheets available, or that there’s enough buzzers and Play-Doh for other interactive quiz styles.
Marketing & promotion costs
How involved quiz and events companies are in marketing and promotion varies significantly, with some providing the hosting service only, whilst others may provide a full-scale promotional assault.
At KwizzBit, we focus on two key areas to help bring events to life.
White labelling
A white label product legally allows you to add your brand name to it without the need to produce or develop the product yourself.
Simply put, you can add your organisation’s branding directly onto the quiz. With traditional quizzes this would include branded quiz sheets, but as a smartphone quiz KwizzBit works differently.
Custom branding for Nintendo’s 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros.
Branding is applied to a host’s account, which in turn applies the branding to the playing device of every single player connected to that game. It can be a great way to get your organisation’s message across, promote a product or event or to offset the cost with sponsorship.
We work alongside your marketing team to create branding that not only reflects your organisation’s needs, but looks absolutely tip top on everyone’s mobile.
Landing pages
Creating a standalone webpage can be a useful extra to help communicate with your audience about the event.
Landing pages are designed to give your audience everything they need to know about an event. This includes standard stuff like time, date and location. They also give players joining and playing instructions which are useful for digital quiz newbies and technophobes.
Virtual events in particular benefit from landing pages to link your audience to live streams and can easily be sent out via email or put on social media groups.
Event management
Event managers work tirelessly behind the scenes to bring your quiz night to life.
An initial discovery meeting between themselves and yourselves allows them to understand your needs and tailor a comprehensive event plan off the back of it subject to approval.
Event plans will lay the framework of delivery they must adhere to, which includes fixed deadlines, scheduled progress reports, rehearsals, and the implementation of any tasks required to pull your event together. All KwizzBit clients are assigned a dedicated event manager to build the perfect quiz night for you and your organisation.
Prices for our live trivia events start at £999 which covers the event planning and management process, and access to the system.
