How do you use a teleprompter for the first time?

Paste the script in, make the text big enough to read from where you'll sit, put the screen as close to the lens as you can, and read it out loud once before you record. Start with the prompter following your voice rather than a fixed speed, so you don't have to tune a scroll rate before you've found your pace.

How fast should a teleprompter scroll?

At your speaking pace, which is about 150 words a minute for most people. On a fixed-speed prompter that means setting the speed, reading a paragraph, and adjusting until you neither chase the text nor wait for it. A voice-following prompter sets the speed from your reading, so there's nothing to tune.

How do you read a teleprompter without looking like you're reading?

Keep the text next to the lens in a few big lines, so your eyes barely travel; let the prompter move at your pace, so you never speed up to catch it; and write the script in short, sayable sentences, so you don't stumble. The stumbles and the eye travel are what people notice, not the reading.

Do you need a glass teleprompter rig?

Not for most videos. A phone or a laptop app with the text under the lens works for talking-head videos, Shorts and calls. A glass rig puts the text exactly on the lens, which matters for close-ups and long pieces to camera; if you use one, mirror the text so it reads correctly in the glass.

What's the difference between voice mode and pace mode?

Pace mode scrolls at a speed you set and keeps going whether you do or not. Voice mode listens as you read and moves the text to follow you, so a pause is a pause and an ad-lib doesn't leave you behind. Voice mode is the one to start with; pace mode is for rehearsing a fixed length or reading in a noisy room.

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How to Use a Teleprompter: A Beginner's Guide to Reading Naturally on Camera

By Tyler BundyOctober 21, 20266 min read

Using a teleprompter is four decisions: where the text sits, how big it is, how it moves, and how you read it. Get the first three right and the fourth mostly takes care of itself. Here's each one, in the order you'll meet them, with the mistakes that give people away.

I read my first videos off a laptop screen, eyes down and up, and you can see it in every one of them. Everything below is what fixed that.

What does a teleprompter actually do?

It puts the words where your eyes are, so you can read while looking at the camera. That's the whole idea, and the three kinds differ only in how close to the lens they get the text.

A glass rig reflects a screen onto glass in front of the lens, so the text is exactly where the camera is. It's what the news uses. Precise, and a bit of setup.
An app on a phone, tablet or laptop shows the text on the screen under or beside the camera. Close enough for talking-head videos, Shorts and video calls, and nothing to set up.
A floating window on your computer sits over whatever you're recording in, right under the webcam, so a Zoom call or a screen recording can be read without a second device.

ScriptFox is the second and third kind: the browser app on a laptop, the phone app with the script beside the camera, and a desktop floating window for calls and recordings.

Where should the text be, and how big?

As close to the lens as you can get it, in a few big lines.

Distance matters more than people think. The further the text sits from the camera, the more your eyes travel to read it, and the viewer reads the travel. On a laptop, drag the window to the top-center of the screen, right under the webcam. On a phone, the text goes at the top, under the camera. On a glass rig it's on the lens, which is why rigs exist.

Size: big enough to read without leaning in from where you'll actually sit. Three to five lines visible at once is about right. A wall of small text makes your eyes scan; a few big lines keep them still. If you find yourself squinting, the text is too small, and the squint is on camera.

How fast should it scroll?

At your pace. Nobody else's.

Most people speak at about 150 words a minute. A deliberate read, a lesson or a eulogy, runs nearer 125; a Short runs 175 and up. Which number is yours depends on the video, and the honest way to find out is to time a script you've already written and read a paragraph against a stopwatch.

This is where the two scrolling modes come in.

Pace mode scrolls at a speed you set and keeps going whether you do or not. You set it, read a paragraph, and adjust until you neither chase the text nor wait for it. It's fine for rehearsing a fixed length, and it's the only option in a loud room.

Voice mode listens as you read and moves the text to follow you. A pause is a pause. An ad-lib doesn't leave you behind. A stumble means the text sits still and waits, which is also how you find the lines that need rewriting. There's nothing to tune, which is why it's the one to start with.

ScriptFox opens in voice mode, with pace mode a switch away for the rooms where voice won't work. If you want the whole routine I run before every recording, it's in how I use a teleprompter so every video isn't a fresh fight.

How do you read it so nobody can tell?

Three things, and none of them is "be a better performer."

Write it to be said. Short sentences. Contractions. The point first. If a line makes you run out of breath before the idea lands, it's written wrong, not read wrong. The full method is in why your script sounds unnatural out loud.

Let the text follow you, not the other way round. Speeding up to catch a prompter is the most visible thing you can do on camera. If the prompter moves at your pace, you never have to.

Look at the lens, not the text. With the text next to the lens in a few big lines, your eyes stay close enough that the viewer can't see the difference. Look at the lens for the first and last line of every section; those are the moments people remember.

The longer version, with camera setups, is in how to not look like you're reading a teleprompter.

How do you rehearse with a teleprompter?

Once, out loud, standing up, at your real pace. Fifteen minutes.

Paste the script in. Read it straight through without stopping to fix anything. Every place you stumble, the text will sit and wait for you in voice mode, which makes the stumbles easy to find afterwards: those lines get rewritten. Then read it again. The second read is usually the take.

If the script is long, rehearse by section. Most prompters, ScriptFox included, let you jump to a section and restart it, so a stumble in minute six doesn't mean starting from minute one.

Time it while you're at it. If you have five minutes and the timer says seven, cut a section now rather than talking fast later.

What are the mistakes that give people away?

Text too far from the lens. The eye travel is visible. Move it.
Text too small. The squint is visible. Make it bigger, fewer lines.
Chasing a fixed speed. The rush is audible. Use voice mode, or slow the scroll until you're waiting on it slightly.
Reading a script written for the page. The long sentences come out as a breath you don't have. Rewrite them short.
Never looking at the lens. Even a good setup needs the first and last line of each section delivered to the camera.
Recording the first read. The first read is the rehearsal. The second is the take.

The takeaway

Put the text next to the lens, big, in a few lines. Let it move at your pace, which means voice mode unless the room is loud. Write the script to be said, not read. Rehearse once, out loud, and fix the lines that snag.

Then record the second read. If you want to try it, the free tier includes 30 minutes of voice-following a month, no card, on a laptop, a phone, or a floating window over a call.