Renting a lens, asking for advice

I will be doing sime inside work at the end of this month. The setting will be inside of an arena where the lighting is really high off of the floor. Some of the booths may or may not have their own lamps, spotlights, etc. I will mainly be taking pictures of groups of people talking and the occasional single person photo. The only lenses I have now are the 18-55 and a couple 70-300. I plan to rent a good lens for a few days and would like opinions on what you would think would work best.

If you are using a full frame camera, how about a 24-70 f/2.8 which will allow for groups if the space you are working in is a bit confined, and at 70mm it will be fine for portraits. The f/2.8 maximum aperture will be handy if you are not using flash, and if you are looking for something to use other than your 18-55 then I suspect you are not going to use flash, other wise that lens would probably work for you, and save the need to rent.
If you did not need the portrait length, the a 16-35 f/2.8 would work very well for groups.

Phototeacher wrote in post #16752814
If you are using a full frame camera, how about a 24-70 f/2.8 which will allow for groups if the space you are working in is a bit confined, and at 70mm it will be fine for portraits. The f/2.8 maximum aperture will be handy if you are not using flash, and if you are looking for something to use other than your 18-55 then I suspect you are not going to use flash, other wise that lens would probably work for you, and save the need to rent.
If you did not need the portrait length, the a 16-35 f/2.8 would work very well for groups.

Thanks for the response. I forgot to mention I have a T1i. I'm not sure about using the flash due to not knowing not knowing the lighting conditions because every event they have there are different. I just wanted to make sure I was ready incase I can't use the flash.

Well without the flash, a fast lens would be preferable, and I feel that a zoom will give you the versatility of not having to switch from lens to lens.

On your T1i's 1.5 X sensor, the 16-35 f/2.8 might be a consideration. (24-50mm equivalent, and 50 isn't too bad for headshots. I am more familiar with the 1.3 crop and the full frame bodies, so I would definitely go with the 24-70. That's a 36-105 equivalent, and think I would lean towards it for you camera body also.

Rent a flash, if you dont have one. Even if they have bright overhead lighting, its usually dreadful with eyesocket and neck shadows.

gonzogolf wrote in post #16753157
Rent a flash, if you dont have one. Even if they have bright overhead lighting, its usually dreadful with eyesocket and neck shadows.

Would it make sense to just use the 18-55 and rent a flash other than whats on the camera?

shaunmcfd wrote in post #16753190
Would it make sense to just use the 18-55 and rent a flash other than whats on the camera?

if by "a flash other than whats on the camera" you mean the popup, by all means. The popup is a horrible little light source. If you dont have any experience with flash photography it might be helpful to just purchase a decent flash. Some of the YN models are nearly as a cheap as a lens rental and get some practice in. Balancing the ambient and using bounce techniques you can do some pretty great things.