Using a Teleprompter – Four tips to get the most out of using a teleprompter
Over the past year more people are using video to reach their audience. If you’re one of them, you’ve probably figured out that it’s a lot harder than it looks, and you want it to be easier!
One way to make your on-camera performance easier is to use a teleprompter, but it does require some careful thought to be successful.
Your favorite news anchor makes it look much easier than it actually is—after all it’s a skillset just like anything else and it requires practice.
So with that in mind, here are four tips to make sure you can successfully use a teleprompter for your upcoming video.
- Decide whether to use bullet points or a word-for-word script. One of the key benefits of having a prompter is that you can maintain eye contact with your audience while speaking. If you find that you’re better at speaking from bullets, go ahead and put those bullets in your prompter and you’ll be able to speak without looking away at paper notes. On the other hand, if what you’re talking about requires a lot of precision, then using a prompter to make sure every word and detail is correct might be best for you. We recommend word-for-word scripts for legal presentations, scientific demonstrations or other topics where you want to be sure that your presentation is 100% correct.
- Keep your notes or script handy. Have you ever noticed that newscasters have a script on their desk? Or perhaps you’ve seen that someone like the president has notes on the podium? Don’t ever rely fully on the technology. Things can go wrong and you want to make sure you’re not caught looking bad when they do!
- Use a large font for the text on your teleprompter. One dead giveaway of using the prompter is eye movement or that classic “deer in the headlights” look. You can minimize this by using a large font so that your eyes aren’t darting all over the screen.
- Finally, keep your distance from the teleprompter. If you followed the previous bit of advice, your font should be large enough so that you can easily read it from 10 to 15 feet away. Given that your camera and prompter are a good distance away, your eyes won’t appear to moving that much and you’ll do a great job of connecting with your audience.
We hope you’ve found these tips on how to use a teleprompter helpful. If you’d like to use a prompter on your next video, please in get in touch with us. Positive Light Media has a teleprompter, and we’re happy help you put it to good use.
What are your thoughts and experiences with using a teleprompter?
If you have ideas for an upcoming blog topic, please let us know.
