Every week someone messages us with the same question: “We’re doing an event – how many headsets should we rent?”

And every week we give the same reply: tell us who needs to talk, not how many people are working.

That distinction is where most people get the number wrong. A 40-person event team does not need 40 headsets. It probably needs eight.

From our experience running comms for events across Lagos, we see this confusion all the time – and it costs people money. This post gives you a simple way to land on the right number, so you’re not paying for gear sitting in a case all evening.

The golden rule

Give a headset to anyone whose timing affects someone else’s job.

That’s it. The DJ needs to know when the couple is at the door. The lighting operator needs to know the speeches are ending. The camera director needs to cue camera two. These people get headsets.

The person arranging centrepieces, the security man at the gate, the photographer roaming for candids – their timing affects nobody downstream. No headset. (Security teams are usually better served by simple walkie-talkies anyway – here’s when walkies beat intercom headsets.)

Role-by-role: who’s on comms

Walk through your event and tick off the roles that apply:

The caller. Every event has one person who runs the show – the planner, stage manager, or producer. They always get a headset. They’re the reason comms exist.

Front-of-house audio. The sound engineer must hear cues (“speeches in two minutes – open the podium mic”).

Lighting operator. If your event has any lighting changes at all, this person is on comms.

Video director and camera operators. For anything filmed or streamed, every camera operator needs an ear. A camera op without comms is a camera op who misses cues – guaranteed.

Floor/stage manager. The caller’s hands and legs. Wireless, always, because they move.

MC handler or talent wrangler. The person who makes sure the MC, pastor, or CEO is standing in the right place 60 seconds before they’re needed.

Vendor liaison (big events). At large Lagos weddings, one person on comms coordinating caterers and logistics saves the planner from chasing everyone herself.

Worked examples

A Lagos wedding (300–500 guests)

Planner (caller), assistant planner on the floor, sound engineer, lighting op, MC handler. Five headsets. Add a video director and two camera operators if there’s a livestream: eight. This is the setup behind how top Lagos planners stay calm all day.

A corporate conference or product launch

Stage manager (caller), AV/sound engineer, lighting, video switcher, two camera ops, speaker handler backstage. Seven. If there’s a breakout room or registration desk that needs cueing, add one.

A church Sunday production

Service director (caller), FOH sound, livestream director, two or three camera operators, stage hand for transitions. Six to seven. We’ve written more about this in why Lagos churches are ditching hand signals.

A concert or live broadcast

This is the big league: show caller, FOH engineer, monitor engineer, lighting director, video director, four to six camera ops, stage manager, backline tech. Ten to fourteen, usually across two channels – production on one, cameras on the other. See the full anatomy in our live concert broadcast tech breakdown.

When to split into channels

One channel works until roughly seven or eight active talkers. Beyond that, the chatter gets noisy – the lighting op doesn’t need to hear the video director calling shots all night. The fix is a second channel: video team on channel B, production on channel A, with the caller able to talk to both.

If your count from this post lands above eight, mention it when booking and we’ll configure a two-channel system. It costs little extra and transforms the experience. (Channel discipline matters too – see how pro crews talk on headsets.)

Two practical tips before you book

Add one spare. Not five – one. A spare beltpack covers a battery issue or an unexpected extra crew member. Good rental companies include spare batteries by default; ours always do.

Mix wired and wireless. Fixed positions (FOH desk, video switcher) can use cheaper wired packs; roaming roles go wireless. This routinely cuts the comms budget by a third. Details in wired vs wireless intercoms in Lagos, and real pricing in our rental cost guide.

Still not sure?

Describe your event to us – type, venue, crew – and we’ll tell you the exact number and configuration, free, before you spend anything. We’d rather you rent six headsets that get used than ten that don’t.

Message 527 Sounds on WhatsApp and we’ll work it out together.