That's a good point. That was partly why I thought about little recorders and lavs. We'd label each recorder with the name of the speaker and each recording would be separate without needing anyone to monitor, which is its own blessing and curse. I've never had a problem with using the Tascam DR10L though, since it has a safety track, but the problem there is I can't find any place that rents them. Dunno that the client is up for buying 5k worth of recorders upfront and then returning them. That leaves the Zoom H1n, but that has no safety track. Yikes.
Table mics were considered, but I think it might disrupt the tone of the event, which is a group of people gathering to talk about personal experiences. IMO half of people never quite use handheld or table mics correctly though. These won't be trained professional talent, but just regular people who had a common experience.