How to position a teleprompter for video calls
A good teleprompter setup keeps your eyes within an inch or two of your camera. The closer the text is to the lens, the more you'll appear to look at your audience instead of reading.
- For a webcam built into a laptop screen: open the popout window and drag it to the very top of your screen, right under the camera notch. Resize it so it's narrow but tall.
- For an external camera mounted above a monitor: position the popout window in the top center of your monitor, so the camera is just above your eyeline.
- For a hardware teleprompter rig: turn on mirror mode and feed this window into the prompter's display.
Tips for natural delivery
- Practice once before recording. Even with a teleprompter, scripts read flat the first time through. Run it once at your real speed, then record.
- Mark pauses in your script. Use ellipses (
...) or line breaks where you want to breathe. The text scrolls smoothly, but your delivery shouldn't. - Look slightly above the text. Your eyes will appear more engaged with the camera if you focus 1/3 of the way down the visible area — exactly where the eyeline marker sits.
- Don't read every word. Use the script as a guide. If you know the next sentence, look up.
Why words-per-minute matters
Most broadcast news anchors read at 150–160 wpm. Conversational speech sits closer to 130–150. If you set the teleprompter too fast, you'll race; too slow, and you'll start adding filler words to fill the silence.
The estimated read time below the script tells you how long your delivery will take at the current speed. Adjust until it matches your target length.