Script Teleprompter

Knowledge Base

How to Use the Web Teleprompter

The Web-Based Teleprompter displays your script in a clean, large font on your monitor. Control scroll speed with keyboard or remote. Position monitor below your camera lens so you appear to look directly at the lens while reading.

Teleprompter Positioning

Place your monitor directly below your camera, as close as possible. Your eyes should travel a minimal distance between script and camera. The closer the monitor to the lens, the more you appear to make direct eye contact with viewers.

Optimal Settings

• Font Size: Use 36-48pt font. If you have to squint, it's too small.
• Line Length: 60-70 characters per line prevents your eyes from darting across the screen.
• Scroll Speed: Slow and steady. Practice to sync with your natural speaking pace.
• Brightness: Dim your monitor to reduce eye strain. Use black background, white text.

Tips for Natural Delivery

Don't stare motionless at the script. Vary your gaze, look at different heights and widths on the screen to simulate natural eye movement. Pause occasionally, look away from the camera, blink naturally. Practice before recording so you're not dependent on the script.

FAQ

Q: Will people know I'm reading from a teleprompter?
A: If done well, no. Most professional presenters use prompters. The key is varying your gaze and avoiding robotic delivery.

Q: Should I memorize or always use a prompter?
A: Memorize the intro, outro, and key phrases. Use prompter for detailed content. Hybrid approach sounds most natural.

Reading without sounding like reading

Scroll speed should follow your natural pace rather than setting it. Most people read aloud somewhere between 130 and 160 words per minute for narration, and slower for anything technical the listener has to absorb. Setting the prompter faster than you comfortably speak produces the rushed, slightly breathless delivery audiences recognise instantly as somebody chasing text.

Write for the ear before loading anything. Sentences that read well on a page frequently do not survive being spoken, because written prose uses subordinate clauses a speaker cannot sustain in one breath. Reading the script aloud once before recording finds every sentence that needs breaking in two.

Mark the script rather than trusting yourself to remember. A double space where a pause belongs, a line break before an important phrase, and short paragraphs rather than solid blocks all change delivery without changing a word. Formatting is the main tool available for controlling emphasis from a prompter.

Eyeline is what gives prompter reading away on camera. The text has to sit as close to the lens as possible, ideally reflected over it, so your eyes stay in the right place. A prompter beside the camera produces a subject apparently addressing somebody just out of frame, and viewers notice without knowing why.

Record in sections. A five minute script attempted in one take means restarting from the beginning after every stumble, and the delivery deteriorates with each attempt as frustration builds. Recording in paragraph-length pieces means one fluffed line costs one paragraph, and the energy stays consistent.

Vocabulary

Words per minute. The rate of speech, used to estimate how long a script runs. Conversational delivery sits around 150 words per minute, and narration intended to be absorbed carefully runs slower.

Beam splitter. The half-silvered glass in a prompter, reflecting the script toward the presenter while letting the camera see through it. What allows a presenter to read while apparently looking directly into the lens.

Eyeline. Where a presenter appears to be looking. Reading from a screen beside the camera moves it noticeably off-centre, which viewers read as evasive or distracted even when they cannot identify the cause.

Pickup. A re-recorded portion of a script replacing a section that did not work, rather than redoing the whole thing. Requires the voice and room to match, which is why they are easiest done in the same session.