JC56, assuming that this is real and not a prank as suggested , it sounds like your doing old fashioned banquet photography,

My formula, at least the one I used not that I own it,

35mm camera, 50mm lens, ASA 100 film, f11, focus at 10' and tape the focus ring!, enough auto flash to shoot f11, flash mounted off camera above and to the left on a bracket.

NO Zoom, NO focusing, concentrate on framing and being where you need to be, your feet are your zoom and depth of field handles your focus, this is down and dirty get the shot photography not artsy stuff,
Bob.