These are just a few of the questions you might encounter at Matt Sterling’s trivia night.
“People love to feel smart, and they love to win,” he says. “But I’ve made some strong friendships from my years as a trivia host. I’ve attended weddings and met a ton of people I would never have known before — I love connecting people. That’s really what I do.”
Sterling started his days as a host just as a bartender silently playing along. “I started as a bartender, and morphed into doing trivia night. We didn’t want it to be too structured or too serious,” he says. “I try to let people know up front that it’s all about having fun.”
Questions, answered
Growing up, Sterling never thought his Jeopardy obsession would turn into a full-time career. He would watch Alex Trebek nearly every night with his father. “I grew up watching Jeopardy with my dad almost every night. I’m a big game show guy,” he says. “I mean, Alex Trebek is my trivia idol.”
He still watches the show as often as he can, using it as inspiration. “I pay attention to what’s going on in the world,” he says. “I test your knowledge on everything from current events to the stuff you learned in grade school.”
His philosophy is that anyone should be able to answer at least one of the questions. That’s why he always includes a current events round, in addition to general knowledge, music, and a ~secret theme~ that changes each week. Says Sterling, “Trivia should be free-flowing, enjoyable, and accessible. I try not to take myself too seriously, and that helps people have more fun.”
Mastering useless facts
Now, he brings his broad mastery of useless facts to companies around the world with his “Trivia Night” virtual experience.
At first, he wasn’t sure whether a classic trivia night would feel as fun online. But going virtual has surprised him in more ways than one. “The Marco team has been so supportive. They've done a really great job of helping me build my tech experience, and that makes me more excited to Zoom in to all these different teams across the country,” he says. “With virtual experiences, I see such a diverse group of people of all ages, spread across the country. It really pushes me to broaden my pool of questions and see how challenging I can make it, while still keeping it fun.”
Each trivia show runs about an hour. “I still run it from inside the bar, so it still feels casual,” says Sterling. “I start each experience by giving everyone a rundown of how it works, let people get comfortable and grab themselves a drink, and then we split into teams.”
He only has a few rules: pay attention, don’t Google the answers, and try to have fun.
“It’s a great way for people to interact in a fun, relaxed way, especially if they’re not able to see each other in person,” he says. “I’m here to help them enjoy themselves. It’s a nice break in the day where you can challenge yourself and maybe make some new friends.”
Join Matt for a classic trivia night
Test your knowledge of useless facts with Matt’s classic bar trivia night. It’s guaranteed to entertain you with what you didn’t know you didn’t know…until now. Book Matt for your team today.
