Quiz Night:
This time, we get to ask the questions!
Meet a trivia mastermind
If you took part in our EL Quiz Night in June, you’ll have met BRANKA, the founder of Be Inquizitive. I’ve been to her weekly quiz night at Plonk and I think she’s fab. I was interested to find out more about her and how she got into it.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m originally from Australia. My parents arrived in Adelaide from former Yugoslavia (with not a word of English) and I popped out 28 days later! Yep, she shouldn’t have been on a plane, but I’m grateful she was! When I went to school I still didn’t speak any English – I think that’s why I’m so conscious of people with English as their second language.
What drove you to make the change from being a teacher to a quiz mistress?
I’ve always enjoyed trivia; I ran quizzes for staff do’s back home and then started going regularly with a group of friends here in Singapore. When we had kids, we decided to raise them without a helper, which meant I stopped teaching. It all fell into place when our regular host wanted to go back to study and there was a gap. I could write questions during the day when kids were at school and host in the evening after they were in bed. Being a stay-at-home mum and not working for the first time does play with the mind, so the social contact and engaging my brain were positive steps for me too. Funnily enough, I had hated public speaking at school but was pushed to go to Toastmasters by my English teachers (and still hated it). As a teacher, I would do anything to avoid the microphone – so it goes to show that an old dog can learn new tricks!
How do you think trivia helps bring people together?
It’s a good time to catch up with friends but also the regulars get to know each other so the banter and comradery make for a fun and friendly atmosphere. It’s also great with Singapore being a transient place and one where many people travel for work, so at times several groups combine to form one team. I’ve seen friendships made in these situations and new relationships have begun too. Who knows, we may get our first quiz wedding!
What’s the process of researching and finding suitable questions for a quiz?
Living in a multicultural country with great diversity means the questions need to be diverse too. It’s also why I put questions on the screen – as a teacher I understand there are seven styles of learning and although I can’t cater to them all I try to cater to some, especially to the non-native English speakers. I try to work out what the “regular” demographics are and I try to pitch to my best ability. I feel the best questions are where people really want to know the answer, and those questions where the answer is on the tip of the tongue – those moments of “Oooh, yeah, damn, now I remember that!”. You also want the teams to be close in score so there is still a feeling that anyone can win – there’s nothing worse than a quiz night with a massive gap between first place and the rest, or when people are scoring only ones and twos in each round. It’s the hardest balancing act. Being human, I don’t always get it right –and, as my husband says, I’m harder on myself then anyone else.
What are the qualities needed to make a quiz mistress or master?
Have a presence, be able to banter with the people and heckle back when needed, but still be respectful. Be able to keep the pace comfortable for everyone. It’s good to get to know the teams before and after the quiz too – it’s easier to heckle a person on the mic when you know their name! I think you also need to be interested in trivia yourself, keeping it current at times too and keeping variety in the questions and styles. Some teams come to more than one venue, so I’m always writing new questions.
Has anything changed about trivia quizzes over the years?
Yes, mobile phones! Although most teams are brainwashed into no phones during the rounds, some people are so competitive that they just can’t wait for the answers to be read out and instead check on Google for the answers; so the element of surprise is gone. I find this frustrating. But my personal goal is to make it through the night without someone coming up with their phone and with Wikipedia on the screen to debate an answer ... so far, this is going well!