Salvete, Kahoot!’ers! Each year, thousands of Classics students come together at the annual Texas State Junior Classical League convention to foster learning about ancient Greek and Latin topics. The TSJCL is one of more than 1,000 chapters of the National Junior Classical League, one of the largest student-driven organizations in the world, comprised of more than 45,000 students.

This year, for the first time, Kahoot! collaborated with the awesome TSJCL teacher and student organizers to bring a Kahoot! gaming tournament to the two day event hosted at a local Austin high school. Talk about learning extra loud! Find out how we did it, and how to incorporate a gaming tournament at your next school, district, or state-wide event!

Step-by-step guide

How to incorporate a Kahoot! tournament into your event.

1) Kick off the first round with a pre-event challenge

Share a mobile challenge with your event attendees at least a week before the event. Be sure to include instructions on how to download the Kahoot! app. For the TSJCL convention, we worked with teachers to prepare two challenges for varying levels of ability in Latin, to ensure as many students as possible could participate.

The organizers shared the challenges with the challenge PINs via email and, after the challenges closed, downloaded the report data to shortlist the top students to go through to the next round in the tournament. This approach also had the additional benefit of building anticipation and excitement for the upcoming event.

2) Host a live semi-final and watch the energy at your event go through the roof!

For the TSJCL convention, we decided on three total game rounds – the initial challenge, the semi-final, and the final – but feel free to incorporate as many rounds as you like, depending on the length and size of the event. We hosted our semi-final kahoot games (for both ability levels) in a large room, to help boost energy. Other students and parents were also invited to spectate!

3) Close out your event with a riveting final round

Keep the momentum going and the motivation high by hosting the final round of your tournament towards the end of your event. We hosted the final kahoot games at the TSJCL convention an hour before the closing assembly. If you can, choose a more dramatic venue, such as a theater, gym, or concert hall, to host the game on a larger screen. This will also encourage spectators and more excitement! Make sure you hand out prizes right after the game whilst the final podium is still up on the screen, so the winners can feel true success.

Top tips

Our tips and tricks for using Kahoot! at your school event.

When it comes to planning the games, the more, the merrier!

With Kahoot! Pro for schools, you can team up with your colleagues and save time creating games together. This makes working on kahoots for your event a breeze! Simply share kahoots in your team space and organize them in folders for easy navigation.

Use a naming convention for playing tournament games

To ensure you can track which players will go through the next round of the tournament, agree on a set naming convention that players need to use the join kahoots with. For example, the TSJCL used the convention of first initial, last name, and unique state ID related to the student. You could incorporate grade level, subject, or ability level into your chosen naming convention.

Don’t forget the prizes!

Be sure to offer fun prizes for the game winners – we gave gift cards and special Kahoot! swag to the top 3 performers in the games – and consider offering a smaller item for all participants, for example, stickers. This will incentivize attendees to participate in the tournament, as well as ramp up competition in the final!

Check venue space for the games

Before hosting any live games, make sure you check your audiovisual setup, as well as your internet connection. Will all players be able to see the kahoot screen from all parts of the venue? Can everyone hear the Kahoot! music? Try running a couple of kahoot games to test out the space before showtime. If you expect a lot of players joining, we recommend connecting your computer via cable, leaving the wifi to participants.

Want to level up your next event? Get started with Kahoot! Pro for schools from just $3 per teacher per month, to boost teacher collaboration and creativity.