Name the trivia night in the running for an Illawarra business award

The first few weeks he struggled to get teams to sign up, and even resorted to getting the bar staff to play to help fill out the numbers.

Fast forward a little over a year and Mr Sara nearly ran out of buzzers.

Officially known as "Trivia Nights hosted by Dan's Trivia", Mr Sara's operation has been nominated as an outstanding new business in the Illawarra and South Coast Local Business Awards.

"When it got sent through, I mean, was gobsmacked," Mr Sara said.

"It was very humbling to be considered. I'm just turning up to a pub a couple of nights a week, having a couple of beers and asking some questions - having a bit of fun with some people."

Mr Sara's unique personality helps makes his event different. Throughout the night he will joke with the teams, swear occasionally and he doesn't mind getting back what he hands out.

"I quite often joke that the teams have Stockholm Syndrome," he said.

"They love turning up on a Monday night for me to abuse them, they seem to love it when I give it to them.

"Well, to be fair, they give it back, too."

Mr Sara says his experiences as a wedding MC, a DJ and a high school teacher, helped him develop the persona he uses as a host.

"You deal with a lot of people in different ways, and I just found that it clicked."

Dan's Trivia uses "game show style" buzzers instead of a pen and paper and has now expanded to two nights a week. He also hosts trivia on Thursday nights at the Unanderra Hotel.

The best part of the trivia nights for Mr Sara, however, is meeting new faces at trivia.

"People blow my mind ... it's a real highlight, seeing people that are really intelligent work at things."

The trivia nights also raise money for the i98 Convoy and sponsor local group the Throttle Jockies.

Voting on the Local Business Awards closes on May 14, and can be done here.