Conference Equipment Hire for a Two-Day, 90-Delegate Event

90 Delegates — Conference Centre, Surrey — [May 2026]

•       Event Type: Corporate Conference

•       Delegates: 90

•       Setting: Conference Centre, Surrey

•       Hire Partner: Allens Hire

This is a different brief to a wedding or gala event. The equipment here is working hard for two days — it gets used repeatedly, needs to look professional throughout, and needs to accommodate a catering team doing dozens of tea and coffee rounds, a formal dinner service, and two days of networking lunches from the same base.

Here’s how we equipped it.

The Conference Spaces

Main Auditorium

The main conference hall was set in theatre style for the keynote sessions — 90 delegate chairs in rows with a clear run of aisle down the centre. We supplied Black Conference Chairs throughout: a commercial-grade stacking chair with an upholstered seat that remains comfortable over a 90-minute presentation in a way that a standard folding or garden chair simply doesn’t.

For the top table and panel sessions, we set a run of 6ft Trestle Tables across the front of the auditorium, dressed in Dark Navy Cloths from the Expressions range — the association’s brand colour. Six Black Banqueting Chairs at the panel table, providing a visual distinction from the delegate seating behind them.

Water service at the panel table: large glass jugs and Highball Glasses — simple, clean, and appropriate for a professional setting.

Breakout Rooms

Three breakout rooms ran simultaneously during the workshop sessions. Each was set boardroom style using 6ft Trestle Tables end-to-end to create a boardroom rectangle, with Black Conference Chairs around the outside at 12 per room.

Each table was dressed with a Dark Navy Cloth to match the main auditorium, with a water jug and glasses set at intervals along the table — the same spec as the main auditorium, maintaining a consistent look across all conference spaces.

Refreshment Stations

A two-day conference runs on tea and coffee. Managing refreshment service for 90 delegates across arrival, mid-morning, lunch, mid-afternoon, and the following morning means the crockery and serviceware is in almost constant rotation. Getting this right is not glamorous, but it’s where an event runs smoothly or starts to fall apart.

Arrival & Break Service

We provided three refreshment stations — one in the main foyer and one outside each cluster of breakout rooms — each stocked with:

•       White China Coffee Cups and Saucers (150 total across all stations)

•       White China Tea Cups and Saucers

•       White China Side Plates for the pastry and biscuit service

•       White China Milk Jugs and Sugar Bowls

•       Stainless Steel Teaspoons at each station

•       Large glass jugs for cold water and juice

The key to a smooth multi-break service is quantity — enough cups in rotation that the caterer can serve a full delegate round without waiting for the previous batch to come back from the wash-up. We spec’d 150 cups for 90 delegates to give exactly that buffer.

Lunch Service

The networking lunch both days ran buffet-style in the main foyer. We supplied:

•       White China Plates (23cm) — 120 units to allow for seconds

•       White China Bowls for the salad and soup service

•       Robert Welch Iona cutlery: table knife, fork, dessert spoon, and teaspoon at the buffet line

•       Stainless Steel Serving Spoons, Tongs, and Ladles for the buffet stations

•       White China Serving Platters and Rectangular Porcelain Serving Dishes

Networking & Exhibition Space

The foyer area between the main auditorium and the breakout rooms hosted the exhibitor stands, networking breaks, and buffet lunches. We provided twelve Poseur Tables with a mix of Black Round Tops and Black Square Tops on chrome bases — enough to fill the space without crowding it, and positioned to create natural clusters for networking rather than a single long line along the wall.

Poseur tables do a lot of quiet work at a conference. They give delegates a reason to stop, a surface for a coffee cup and a business card, and an easy way to join a conversation that’s already under way.

For delegates who wanted a seat during the longer breaks, we added eight Black Collingwood Armchairs in paired clusters with Genoa Coffee Tables — a breakout area within the breakout space for quieter conversation and laptop work.

The Conference Dinner

Day one concluded with a formal dinner for all 90 delegates in the main auditorium, reset from theatre-style rows to banqueting rounds after the final session. This is where the brief shifted from functional conference equipment to fine dining hire — and where having a single supplier across both elements of the event made coordination significantly simpler.

Tables & Chairs

Nine 6ft Round Tables at ten covers each, with the association’s chairman’s table slightly distinguished by the use of Mahogany Banqueting Chairs with ivory seat pads rather than the standard black chairs used at the other eight tables.

China

We specified Villeroy & Boch Stella Coupe for the dinner — a step up from the conference break crockery that signals to delegates that the day has moved from working session to formal occasion. Full dinner service: flat plate (29cm), side plate (16cm), deep plate for the soup, and a 25cm plate for dessert, with White China Coffee Cups and Saucers for the post-dinner service.

Cutlery

Robert Welch Iona continued from the conference service — the consistency of pattern across the full event meant no jarring visual break between the day’s buffet service and the evening’s dinner.

Glassware

•       Riedel Restaurant Champagne Glasses for the arrival drinks

•       Riedel Restaurant Cabernet/Merlot for red wine at dinner

•       Riedel Restaurant Riesling/Sauvignon Blanc for white wine at dinner

•       Riedel Restaurant Water Glasses on the table throughout

•       Nachtmann Noblesse Ice Buckets — one per two tables for wine service

Linen

White 132″ Round Cloths from the Expressions range on all nine dining tables, with Navy Napkins from the Matisse range at each cover, picking out the association’s brand colour.

Logistics Across Two Days

A two-day conference presents a different logistics challenge to a single-day event. The refreshment crockery is in use continuously from 8.30am on day one through to 4pm on day two. The dinner equipment needs to be set, used, cleared, and the room returned to conference layout by 8am the following morning.

We coordinated the delivery schedule with the venue and the caterer in advance: conference furniture and refreshment service equipment delivered the afternoon before day one; dinner equipment in a separate crate delivered the morning of day one and held in storage until the room flip in the afternoon. The room flip itself — from theatre-style conference layout to dinner and back again — was managed by the caterer’s team with Allens equipment clearly labelled to avoid confusion in the turnaround.

Top Tips for Corporate Conference Equipment

•       Over-specify your refreshment crockery. The calculation isn’t “one cup per delegate” — it’s “how many delegates am I serving simultaneously at each break, and how fast can the caterer turn cups around?” For 90 delegates, 150 cups gives you the buffer you need.

•       Carry one colour from the conference into the dinner. We switched to white cloths for the dinner but kept the association’s navy in the napkins, so the evening felt like a step up from the day rather than a different event.

•       Poseur tables in the networking space are not optional. Standing delegates with drinks and plates in their hands need somewhere to put things down. Poseur tables are what makes a buffet lunch feel like a networking opportunity rather than an awkward juggling act.

•       Brief the caterer on the room flip timeline. The changeover from conference to dinner and back again is the most time-pressured element of a two-day event. Know what equipment is being moved, in what order, and by whom — before the event, not on the day.

•       A single hire supplier across the full conference is simpler than two. When the conference crockery and the dinner glassware come from the same company, there’s one delivery schedule, one contact, and one collection.

Running a conference, AGM, training day or multi-day business event? Contact Allens Hire to discuss a full-event equipment package. With depots in London, Southampton, Bristol, Luton and Exeter, we deliver across Surrey, London, the South East and the South West, with delivery and collection timed around your venue’s schedule.