Hello there,
I was asked to escort some (important) people around in town next week, while taking photos of them having fun. Since I have a DSLR, I am somewhat deemed to take good pictures of anything.

Problem is, I have next to no experience with photographing people and don't want to end up shooting for the trash bin or boring snapshits.

So, I'd like to ask you, if you can refer me to any good literature, hints or rules of thumb concerning groups of people and how to get decent imagery out of them.
I read into general composition and lighting quite a bit, so I hope I'm not too unfamiliar with the concept.

My gear ist quilte limited right now, so I'll have to make do with my 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens, a 50mm f1.7 prime, and well, my 200mm f4 might be out of the question anyway.
I'll have mostly daylight and will be quite close to them.

I thank you in advance.

Pic mostly unrelated