Best Technique and Printer for "Flash and Dash"

Hi, as the christmas season is fast approaching I've been contacted by a few hotels to provide a no commission/no fee photography service for their christmas parties. I've done a few of these things in the past (black tie events, that kind of thing). In the past I have shot for approx 1 hour before the dinner and then used the time during the dinner to download the images and print / mount 7x5 images for sale immedaitely after. Problem with this technique is that you're not guaranteed to sell all your prints and if you take group shots there could be immediate demand for more copies.

I use a canon i965 which is a great printer but slow if you have a queue of people waiting for prints ! .... saw a guy at a PR event using a Kodak sub dye printer that bashed prints out in seconds. That way he only printed what his customer wanted (he previewed them on a laptop).

I have 9 events coming up over the christmas period with an audience of approx 1600 people in total, if I manage this right it could be a useful pay day but would be great to hear how any of you guys would manage the situation. Would it be worth my while investing in a good quality sub dye printer and if so any recommendations. Am thinking also about providing 9x6 images to negate the need for cropping, are there printers out there that can produce this size of print without me needing to get my trimmer out ?

Cheers

I've been going over this for the past three months. I've spoken to a few pros on the Las Vegas Strip & even checked out the Photo spots @ Universal Studios. Still Have not decided yet but have narrowed it down to a few. First all I prefer not to sell injet photos to anyone, With the currrent Dye subs on the market with the research I've done the list is as follows.

1) Kodak 8660 most big family parks has these in use but from what I hear Kodak changes them out monthly

2) Kodak 8500 is a workhorse and most event photographers say this is a good model to start with, but Sony has a model also in the mix.

3) Olympus P440 is a great, dependable inexpensive but does not get much hype.

Kodak is releasing a new model this month D1400 waitng on reviews supposed to be priced around $550.00

Myself I think I'm going for the Kodak 8500 or D1400 & just maybe take a hard look @ the Epson R800. But that will be my last choice since it's a high end inkjet, I'll have to see how quick the ink drys before I go that way.

Hi - thanks for your help vegas. I'll keep my eyes open for these units. What are your thoughts on printing before payment ? ... is this something you would do or would you have your customers view the images on a laptop prior to them making a purchasing decision......
Many thanks

I've found out to save money on your part Print as you go. I've shot events and went to 1 hour photo places and had 4x6 printed and sell on site but sales is slow until the last day & in casinos people prefer 5x7 & up. Using the web has many pluses but impulse buys can be very profitable. Again still scouting and trying to lockin a promoter before putting out the extra cash.
Good Luck