Jakes Quiz

Prologue

It was three months into lockdown. Our resident company entertainer was away on holiday and my moment to shine had finally come. I was asked if i wanted to run something fun for the all office meeting...

I played it cool, but this was all I'd ever wanted, after months of working from home and desperately trying to pay attention in meetings. Enough was enough. This was my moment.

With a little help from Mentimeter, a survey tool for business types trying to spice up dull presentations. I created a first of it's kind quiz to remind everyone of the fun parts of work. Everyone voted and anyone in the majority of votes got points. Everyone was so engaged with my dumb surveys they forgot to keep track of their points...

The Beginning

More time in lockdown passed...

The remnants of my old life had long since gone away, everything was empty. When suddenly the sound of slack rang through my bedroom office, like the bat signal over the streets of Gotham. Work needed a hero. They needed me. Could I, Jake Sharpe, make a mandatory all–day remote company meeting tolerable?

It was an impossible task, but this time I had a budget for prizes and unlimited free time.

Preying on 70’s nostalgia like I was there

Inspired by one of my all time heroes, TV presenter Noel Edmonds and Swap Shop. I created a short skit and shared it with some colleagues to test the water. We thought it was alright, so we started filming scenes with me dressed in a suit and bowtie around East London.

I wanted to harness that 70s quiz show nostalgia and create a faux sense of community by reminding everyone of the good old days. Unfortunately I wasn’t actually alive in the 70s, but if I was I’d be sitting in a pretty cushty director role by now.

As the threads started to come together, something clicked, setting the tone for the entire quiz. The task was simple. Find the line between performance art and taking the piss. To create something so overwhelming. That my colleagues, expecting a day of company presentations, would be forced to pay attention. Like a sudden punch to the face or an episode Spongebob Squarepants.

ACTIVITY I : The Connections Round

It had been a year of an endless online coffees, remote all hands' and 1-1s. We were all feeling disconnected. How could I, a humble boy from the South of England, foster real feelings of connection in our post touch world?

Using the board game quiz Linkee as inspiration, I hid random images in each of the presenter's slides. Players had to look out for each of the images and find the connections between them. Whilst simultaneously listening to everyones incredibly exciting and engaging presentations.

At the time I'd been listening to a lot of Barry White and really loved his spoken word introductions. I thought it was a good idea to teach everyone the rules of the game in a similar way, using the medium of song. I'll be thanking royalty free, attribution not required music at the Grammys.

ACTIVITY II : The Fashion Round

It was the first dry weekend since lockdown had eased and we needed an intro yesterday. I grabbed my nearest bin bag, a camera and some friends for protection. After a magical day of people staring at me on the street, this weird Enter the void pastiche was born. It helped jolt everyone out of that post-lunch slump and might even make me look interesting on Hinge.

A day of quietly pretending you're paying attention was fast approaching. I knew what my colleagues would need; creativity, collaboration and strict judgement criteria. Inspired by the spectacle that was 'Trash Dinosaur' by the Asana design team. The Fashion Round had players in teams of ten create disgusting heinous crimes against fashion. Each team had to create an outfit these were then judged and publicly shamed by myself.

ACTIVITY III : The Internet Round

Have you ever been to a pub quiz and thought, fucking hell they love this don't they? Those boomers. Revelling in their "lived experience", treating young people like they're stupid. All because they weren't alive when this band came out, or this large contiguous empire were formed. I'd had enough again. The internet round, originally titled the "Are you a boomer quiz" was designed only to alienate.

This was my opportunity to showcase some dank memes and test the more internet savvy members of the company. For everyone else, I wanted them to feel like they'd been missing out on the wonders of internet culture. Like seriously who doesn't know about Dramageddon, it was wild.