Lecture recording with audience involvement. How to set up on a budget?
Here's the situation: I run tech for a small nonprofit that hosts a monthly event where different speakers give lectures and the students give presentations. There's often questions from the audience, or group discussions. The lectures and presentations are recorded and posted on youtube, and the room is pretty small. The main goal is getting a good clean recording for the VOD.
Due to the nonprofit nature, my budget for next year is extremely limited. I ***MIGHT*** get $500 bucks to spend on tech. Here's the existing equipment I have at my disposal:
- My personal Pixel 4 xl
- An ipad from 2018
- My personal windows surface laptop
- A pair of wireless phone lav mics
- A pile of extension cords, chargers, and power strips
Other Details:
- The room is ~50 x ~75 feet
- There's floor outlets everywhere
- We get a 30 minute lunch during which I try to charge wireless mics
The set up goes like this; the ipad has the lav mic receiver and a charging cable plugged in while it records video. We pass the two lav mics around like hot potatoes. I run powerpoint off my computer, and my phone takes photos and video if the ipad kicks the bucket. The event often goes for 9 hours, so the lav mics are always nearly dead by the time we're wrapping up.
We have about a dozen students, and sometimes a panel of advisors that give pointers. In an ideal world, I'd give each table (6 in total) a mic with 2 left over for the presenters. But I have no idea how any of that would connect together, or if its even reasonable.
Any suggestions would be very appreciated.