[Jfriah]

Oh trust me... a recent project simply couldn't get in many shots with a boom. I stopped calling it 'boom mic' and called it 'room mic'

Well, yes, getting in as close as you can and having talent speak at a decent level is helpful for a boom (and trust me, I've also had many roomy lav recordings... mixer gained up the mic channel to try to compensate for quiet-talking actor and there you go).

As for recording multiple people-- I'd think of it this way: who is speaking at one time? How is it being shot? Do you have, say, 3-4 people in a 'scene' and they take turns talking? Do they all stand around in the camera frame while the one person talks, then the next talks? Does the camera pan or push in to each person speaking? Is it going to be CUT as it goes from one person to the next? If yes to this latter--there's your answer. Record it in segments and edit it later.

If not, do your best. Get 'in the vicinity' with the boom mic and you may have to follow the conversation a bit (careful: mixers and editors dislike 'fading up/moving in' mid-line). Otherwise, you're either recording multiple lav mics to multiple channels or mixing together (careful!).

Jeff