I’ve always had a problem following scripts, be they song sheets in church or a speech for a business networking, I tend to read the same thing a few times and end up hopelessly lost, so when it came up in a Zoom session today, I thought… Teleprompter.
What is a teleprompter?
Whenever anyone needed to make a video where they would need to say words that they haven’t memorised, a traditional teleprompter would be something printed out on a long roll of paper and a member of staff would turn a handle as the news reader would speak, slowing down and speeding up when the reader did, so the words could flow out of their mouths.
Modern teleprompters are a mirror mounted at an angle and a screen that displays text in reverse, so the mirror image of those words appears in the reflection.
Some use a coated glass that enables the camera to record you through the glass and the words appear on the teleprompter are invisible to the audience.
PromptSmart for iPad, iPhone & Android devices
You can use a smartphone or tablet with PromptSmart that allows you to turn your device into a teleprompter. It listens to your voice and scrolls automatically when you read the words. If you go off script, or if you stop, it stops. It costs £20 for the Pro version. Don’t bother installing the Lite version as it’s only a trial of the Pro version.
PromptSmart also have a subscription service called Studio for the Mac, which gives extended subscriptions for the Apple and Android devices.
Teleprompt.me - Online Teleprompter
Teleprompt.me is an online teleprompter that you access on a Laptop with the Google Chrome browser. It uses your microphone to detect your voice and scroll the text appropriately. It is free to use, and is operating system independent and you can flip the text if you are using it on a monitor flat on a table with a mirrored surface to reflect the words.
