Hmm, I have played in a 7 pc game, but only table-top.
To help control game play:
I'd suggest limiting the number of creatures. No one should be able to have more than 2 creatures they control in combat. So, no Master Summoners.
You could go further and say that each player gets only One. Thus no animal companions, cohorts, eidolons, etc.
Mounts and familiars are often not used separately in combat, so they should be OK.
Ideally you'd just add more monsters. The issue here is that then if all seven gang up on one PC they can easily kill him.
Start by doubling HP.
So it was previously a GM and four players, and three more are joining? Good luck with that. I've been at big tables and I can attest that both you and your players will get less enjoyment from the game. And this has nothing to do with correct increase of combat challenge rating. On the upside, if you can stick it out, one or two or your players will get bored and leave.
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One thing I recommend, after having played a three year campaign with 7 PCs, is that you should treat the party as two groups for encounters. To get a CR that's right for a large party, you need more monsters and not more powerful monsters. I found that tossing in a fist full of APL -2 or -3 "minion" type creatures into each encounter let me keep the party busy, threatened and not overpowered.
In many cases, especially when the encounter is set up as a single baddie (which APs do pretty frequently), you are pretty safe just adding a second one of whatever is already there. The action economy advantage of 7v2 will likely still be more than enough. If you are worried, weaken them both slightly.
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Voideternal's advice was very thorough and precise. I'm used to large parties as well, and I let them play 20 pt. buy. So... I max hitpoints and add 50% more mooks & minions to the fight. I try to avoid solo creature encounters and if impossible I give them extra actions and add things like terrain effects or timed events that change up the flow of battle.
Also the Advanced simple template is your friend.
--Vrock the Casbah!
When I GM for large groups, I notice that the first tier of PCs get the majority of action and the PCs at the back of the marching order end up pulling rear security against a threat that never materializes. To involve everyone, I use the tips above of increasing numbers of minions, etc and I also ensure that monsters in adjoining rooms/caves/tunnels etc get an opportunity to hear the combat and approach from the rear of the PC's column, giving everyone a chance to get in on the action.
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Good suggestions so far.
I play in two different 7 person groups, with ongoing APs and campaigns. It's rare that I'm at a small table. It can be a ton of fun, but I've observed that there's a need for some specific strategies.
I think DrDeth is partially right about limiting how many creatures a player controls. But, I would add that this definitely depends on the skill level and preparation of the players.
In one campaign, we had 7 players, a druid that summoned stuff all the time, and two PCs had cohorts. That meant at least 10 PC controlled creatures got to act each combat round. Everyone knew what they were doing, planned their actions while others were taking their turns, and had stat blocks ready in advance.
In my groups, the most important gameplay rule is 'be ready for your turn.'
Each player gets a few brief moments (<5 seconds) to declare their actions, otherwise they automatically Delay. It works pretty well.
Obviously, if something changes dramatically on an initiative count prior to a player's turn, they can have more time to change their plan.
Voideternal's advice is very good. IMO, keeping track of xp for 7 players is a fool's errand.
Also, I think that as much book keeping as possible should be the players' responsibility. Things like HP, loot tracking, crafting, ammo, and buffs are all things players should monitor. The GM has enough to do.
Players in my groups are also at least partially responsible for monitoring the initiative flow. This becomes more important when there are tons of enemies and 7 PCs.
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7 PCs is just about 2 groups... double the number of all the monsters in the AP. This will make it challenging for them (and you... oh, the numbers... ). Instead of having one big bad guy at the end, make it 2, working together... and if you want to make it really tough, make them up yourself TO COMPLIMENT the one that is already in the AP.
Alternately, you can play the monsters "smarter" - and have them continually going after "one person" until they kill that person, then move to the next. This, of course, is a really mean way to GM and will drive off the players you target (if you do it for no good reason). I would suggest such targeting be against "the leader" or the "first contact" of the benevolent PCs in the group. That way you have a story hook reason why "Timmy always gets attacked first." Yes. Have them GANG UP on Timmy UNTIL HE IS PULPED! Instead of the monsters all spread out and attacking on player each, Timmy gets 4-6 all attacking him... ouchies. So unfair. But then, who said life was fair. They got orders to kill the leader/healers/buffers/whichever you pick first!
Much easier to have 'non-normal' party sizes in a home-brew than in an AP. I'm in a 'group' that consists of up to 8 PCs, but most are not at the table every session. We are running a home-brew, based out of a city, with most expeditions and quests lasting just the session. So basically, the ones who are there go on that expedition. Otherwise, the other stay in town and do whatever downtime activity they choose. In these cases, since it's home-brew, it's easy for the GM to alter the encounters to be appropriate difficulty - for the AP, you'd have to decide if you want it to be still ultra challenging or not. If you keep the encounters as normal, they will be easy, and likely be resolved quicker, which in some ways, may offset the slowdown caused by the large group. I would not say 7 is a double sized group though. Yes, there are more party members, so a TPK is much less likely, but a critical can still do the same amount of damage to a single character, so individual risk is still there (perhaps a few more buffs available). If you look at the APL rules, a party of >4 members only gets a +1 on APL, based on assistance/buffing, which you may still find appropriate. Try tweaking the encounters to be +1CR above as written and see how it goes. If the tend to be far too easy (so easy as to not be fun), give them an extra CR and see how it goes.