Conference microphone system rental for round tables, boardrooms, panels and plenaries: delegate and chair microphones, handheld and lapel mics for Q&A and stage, mixing, and a clean feed to the interpreters, run by a technician.
Trusted Credentials
Why Microphones Matter
In a multilingual meeting the microphone does two jobs: it lets the room hear the speaker, and it feeds the booths. A comment made off-mic is lost to every listener who depends on interpretation.
Interpreters sit behind glass and listen through headphones to the sound that comes through the microphones. If a delegate leans back, speaks without pressing the button or calls out from the audience, the interpreter hears little or nothing and cannot render it.
When several people talk at once, nobody can interpret the overlap. A discussion system with request-to-speak buttons and a chair unit that can close other microphones gives the meeting a clear order of speakers that interpreters can follow.
Hiss, feedback and a speaker too far from the microphone all force interpreters to guess at names and figures. A properly set up and mixed microphone system is the cheapest way to protect the accuracy you are paying interpreters for.
Units and Layouts
What sits on the table, how different layouts are miked, and how the sound reaches the booths. We confirm the configuration once we see your floor plan and programme.
A tabletop microphone for each seat, or shared between two neighbours, with a button to request or open the microphone and an indicator showing when it is live. Delegates speak from their seat and the whole room, and the booths, hear them.
The chair's microphone usually has a priority function that mutes delegate microphones so the chair can bring the meeting back to order or give the floor to the next speaker. It is the simplest tool for keeping one voice at a time.
Every participant is a potential speaker, so each seat or pair of seats gets a delegate unit and the chair gets a chair unit. Delegates who need interpretation listen on receivers, so they hear the interpreter rather than the room.
Panellists use tabletop, handheld or lapel microphones depending on the stage set and whether they move. The moderator needs a microphone of their own, and each panellist should have one rather than passing a single mic along the row.
A lectern microphone for speakers and wireless handheld microphones carried to the audience for questions. Ask questioners to wait for the microphone: a shouted question is not interpreted, and the speaker's answer then makes no sense to half the room.
The live microphones are mixed into one floor feed that goes to the interpreter consoles. When a speaker uses a language a booth does not cover, that booth takes relay: it listens to another booth's output and interprets from it. Consoles let interpreters select the floor or a relay channel. Booth and equipment standards are explained on our booth page.
An audio mixing console brings together delegate units, stage and handheld microphones, and sends the result to the room loudspeakers, to the interpreters and, if needed, to recording. Our technician coordinates levels and connections with the venue AV team.
How It Works
Seating plan, number of speaking participants, panels and Q&A sessions, languages, and whether you need booths and interpreters as well.
Delegate and chair units, stage and handheld microphones, mixing, and the connection to the booths and the venue sound. You receive a written quote.
We cable and test every unit, set levels to avoid feedback, and check with the interpreters that the floor feed and relay channels are clear before delegates arrive.
The technician manages open microphones, moves handhelds to the audience, keeps levels steady and handles faults. We dismantle and remove everything at the end.
Set-Up Checklist
Transparent Pricing
Equipment prices are confidential and shared in a written quote. Send your seating plan, dates and languages on WhatsApp.
FAQ
It is a set of tabletop microphones for delegates and the chair, connected to a central control and mixing point. Delegates press a button to speak, the chair can manage the floor, and the sound goes to the room and to the interpreters.
A delegate unit lets a participant request or open their microphone. A chair unit does the same and usually adds a priority function to mute delegate microphones, so the chair can keep order and pass the floor.
The live microphones are mixed into a floor feed that goes to the interpreter consoles in the booths. Interpreters hear the speaker through that feed, interpret, and their output goes to the delegates' receivers on separate channels.
Relay is when a booth interprets from another booth's output instead of the original speaker, for example when a speaker uses a language that booth does not cover. The consoles must be set up so interpreters can switch between the floor and relay channels; our technician checks this at the sound check.
Not always. At a round table where everyone speaks, one unit per seat is easiest. One unit between two neighbours can work when speaking is less frequent. We suggest the ratio once we see the seating plan.
Seated panels often use tabletop or handheld microphones; panellists who move or gesture a lot are easier with lapel microphones. Give the moderator a separate microphone and each panellist their own, so no one speaks off-mic while a microphone is passed.
With wireless handheld microphones carried to the person asking. The moderator should ask people to wait for the microphone, because a question that is not picked up cannot be interpreted.
Yes. Our mixing console can send the microphone sound to the venue loudspeakers and take feeds from the venue where needed. Our technician agrees the connections and levels with the venue AV team before the event.
Yes. A technician installs and tests the system, stays through the sessions to manage open microphones and handhelds, and dismantles at the end. Larger set-ups with several rooms may need more than one.
It depends on the number of delegate units, stage and handheld microphones, mixing, the number of days, the venue and technician cover. We do not publish equipment prices; send your seating plan and we reply with a written quote.
You May Also Need
Soundproof booths and interpreter consoles for your floor feed.
Transmitters, receivers, microphones and mixing consoles.
Complete simultaneous interpretation set-ups for events.
Portable kits for site visits and booth-free interpreting.
Send the seating plan, dates and languages on WhatsApp. We will design the microphone set-up, link it to the booths if you need interpretation, and send a written quote.