First confirmed job

[jaypie77]

Background story:

I just confirmed my first paid semi-professional shoot. An old political contact of mine has asked me to shoot a 2-day conference and I need to prepare fast (1 month away). The reason a photographer is being hired for this year is that last year's shots were done by busy staff members with P&S's and the results were lacking. So I'm being brought in because I did a lot of photos for this friend a couple years back and those went well. The difference, of course, is that those were all outdoor, daytime. This upcoming project will all be indoors in conference rooms and I'm not that experienced in that department.

So here's where I need all the help I can get:

I have the following equipment: 2 300D's, ef 20mm 2.8, ef 28mm 2.8, efs 18-55, ef 50mm 1.8, ef 200mm 2.8, ef 75-300mm. Will those lenses cover it? Should I pick up anything in-between? Should I rent or buy?

I don't know anything about and have very limited experience with off-camera flashes. I used flashes when I worked for a local publication before I became a photo geek. What should I get as an ideal solution? What would be a more economical compromise solution?

Finally: techniques, common-mistakes, good shots to look out for, anecdotes, stories, etc. Any information you can provide me would be great.

One last thing, I almost forgot, PRICING. I don't even know where to begin for pricing on this kind of thing, what should I consider and what are going rates? I want to do this at personal-favor prices, but I don't want to undershoot too much and hurt the industry. So far: travel, accomodations, meals are all covered by the friend.

ANY HELP WOULD BE AWESOME!

[tim]

What are you taking photos of? Individuals? Groups? Rooms full of people, and if so, small or large rooms? What's the lighting like? How high are the ceilings?

With what you've told us already, i'd probably tend to use a standard lens, my Tamron 28-75 would work fine, though you might need something wider, like the kit lens or your 20mm, for shots in smaller rooms. If the ceilings are low i'd use bounce flash, if not i'd use a small soft box or diffuser of some kind on an external flash. I'd probably go with the 550EX or the Sigma 500 super for this, since you'll want all the power you can get. For large rooms there's no point bothering with an external flash, if you don't want to put huge strobes around the place you'll have to use ambient light.

I'm not a pro in any way, but my tendency for this job would be to work out an hourly rate, taking into account the location, travel, expenses, and your gear. It's not like the photos will have any value to anyone but the people at the conference, so trying to sell prints afterwards might not be worthwhile - though on that you should get advice from someone who's actually done it before not from me.

[PhotosGuy]

This upcoming project.. The final use of the pics is? Details please, in addition to what Tim asked.
I almost forgot, PRICING Since it's for a friend, why not ask what the budget is?

[rg-tom]

you're lacking a fast tele by the looks of it, you'd be really well off with a 70-200 F2.8 on one body and if you had a 28-75 on the other, or just switching between the 20 / 28 and 50