Structure
The structure of the quiz depends on the time you wish to fill, the enthusiasm of the crowd and the effort that the questionmaster wants to put in.

Types of round:

Marathon round - 30 hard but linked questions, designed to give them something to do after they pay but before you start. Hand in at half time, separate prize.

10 questions on a particular topic (sport, TV, astronomy...)

10 questions in a particular theme (all answers start with Z, or the first letter of each answer makes up an 11th answer - anagram or straight)>

Picture round - 10 or 20 pictures on a sheet - name them, date them, what links them, etc.

Music round - cassette (or minidisc) or 10 or 20 ten-second clips - name the year, the artist, the TV/Film/Stage show, name the colour/place/girl's name - more effort to prepare, but really lifts the evening, and gives the questionmmaster a few minutes break! Needs playing through twice (at least), so before and after a break is often good. And testing the equipment before you star is A GOOD THING TO DO.

Bonus Question - one random question, first to get to the quizmaster with the answer wins (unfair on those at back of pub, OK for single room event)

Bonus Question - one random answer on a slip - nearest to correct answer wins instant prize (a drink, packet of crisps, etc)

Jackpot Round - three questions - one easy, one hard, one impossible number - first two right and nearest for the third wins. Make them work a little for the money! Or just the impossible number to give everyone an even chance.

And don't forget to build in breaks to buy drinks - and to do the marking!

So when planning a quiz, assume anything from 10-20 minutes for each round:

'Big Quiz' (typical 8.00 start - 10.45 finish)

Medium Quiz (8.30 start - 10.30 finish)

Small Quiz (9.00 start - 10.30 finish)

 

Of course there are infinitely flexible variations - just see what you feel like, how much time you have to prepare and to run the quiz. An effective 'Big Quiz' needs precision timing, and often a second person to do the marking whilst the quizmaster gets on with the next round. Swapping sheets between the teams to mark can take as long as the round itself. 

Prizes
Of course this depends on the nature of the quiz - fundraisers might offer a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates or a donated prize of some sort. School quizzes inevitable go for book vouchers. But pub quizzes have a choice - typically money or beer. 

Free to enter - a round of drinks for high scorer in each section (say 4 per evening) plus a voucher for 8 pints or equivalent for the overall winner. 

Paid entry - usually £1 per person or £5 per team - for a busy quiz, this might generate a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize. For a quieter quiz, just a first prize.

Jackpot round - separate fee per entry, as many answers as you like, but 50p per answer - all the money goes to the nearest answer, or alternatively this can be used as the accumulator, so if not answered correctly for several weeks, large attention-grabbing jackpots can be built up. 

WARNING - huge jackpots are one sure way to breed discontent - people start to take it VERY seriously: inevitably the professional quizzers notice the advert in the windown saying "Jackpot £200", and if a non-regular wins the jackpot (or worse still, one of the quizmaster's cronies) then - apart from the argument/fight/tears - you can lose the very clientele you have carefully built up over the weeks. Smaller guaranteed wins each week are much better for regular customer development.

it is a good idea to try to ensure that the largest number of teams possible win something - perhaps by limiting one bonus round win only - the idea is to send as many people home as possible feeling they've had a good time, not to create a sense of futility - if one team consistently scoops all the available prizes, the others will simply stop coming.

All the above is less relevant if the brewery or some local business is sponsoring the quiz and offering special prizes, but the assumption we are working on is a self-financing regular quiz. And whether the quizmaster gets paid at all, paid from entry fees, or paid as a member of staff and through the books is a question only the publican can answer. 

Joke/Daft Questions

Question 7. Name four of the seven dwarfs.
Question 8. Name the other three

Question 28. Which lives longer: the medicinal leech or the African flying squirrel?

Guaranteed to raise a laugh or a groan, and if they are an either/or question, even the casuals can have a go. But it keeps the atmosphere light, and stops the professionals dominating the evening.