Let’s Get Quizzical… Check Out Twiznight in aid of Pieta House

Rory McEvoy tells us how Twiznight started, and how you can take part and help Pieta House

My idea for @twiznight started with a single tweeted question on Twitter on March 20^th 2013. The number and speed of responses gave me an idea for a quiz. Since early April I’ve been running @twiznight quizzes on Twitter every Monday night at 9.30pm. In just seven months we have attracted 2,200 followers. The format of the quiz has remained pretty much the same from the start. 12 questions, 10 fastest answers, top score wins the prize. The competition is fast and furious, with good banter and fun interaction with the sponsor’s brand. There’s also the “Guest Question” whereby a celebrity asks a video question each week. Players reply to each question with the hashtag of the sponsoring business for e.g. #Herdotie , and in 90 per cent of cases, these become Trending Topics on Twitter on the night of the quiz, which helps the sponsoring business get “noticed” on Twitter. Pieta House Charity Quiz As a result of the influence that Twiznight has had on Trending topics on Twitter, attracting a large number of followers and creating such a buzz, we decided to host a celebrity charity edition of the quiz. Pieta House (@pietahouse) was chosen to try and help raise awareness and funding for their work on suicide prevention. The date of the quiz is the 30^th December at 8.30pm. The reaction to the charity quiz has been overwhelming, with 16 businesses sponsoring prizes to a value of €3,500, including 6 hotel breaks. We have already raised close to €2,000 in donations and from the auctioning of several signed Dublin jerseys and a signed Irish rugby jersey. What we hope will create a lot of buzz around the event is that we have managed to get 20 well know personalities who are active on Twitter to get involved. Each of these are asking a question for the quiz via video clip, creating an almost TV show feel to the event. The celebrities will also be promoting the event through their Twitter accounts coming up the event and with a combined following of over 1 million followers this should raise good awareness for Pieta House. We hope to raise €5,000 for Pieta House by New Years and more importantly raise huge awareness for them and maybe even create a worldwide Trending topic on the night! To donate to my fundraising drive for Pieta House, click on this linkwww.mycharity.ie/event/twiznight_pietahouse