Teleprompters are helpful not mandatory. You don’t have to use one, but in working with cameras you may quickly come to appreciate the reasons they exist!

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The recommended App is “Parrot”. This can be positioned horizontally as well as vertically.Teleprompters work best with complete sentences, so you will need to write what you want to say in full. They do not work well if you want to extemporise around bullet point reminders - you will struggle with timing.

 

The device you download the Teleprompter onto cannot also be used for filming or audio recording. You will need a separate device. A larger iPad is better than a smaller phone.

Position the iPad right below the camera lens for that “eye contact” effect. Per the guidelines for filming, this should be at eye level.

 

Add in several line breaks at the start so that you have time to position yourself and do the hand clap syncing of audio and visual - this is particularly important if it is you alone operating the camera, sound recording device and teleprompter.

 

It may sound pretentious but be sure to number your takes, like the movie people do - giving an identical name and number to both video and audio tracks. In the case of the video, simply speak out the name and number as you clap hands. Trust me, with potential multiple video and audio recordings all looking and sounding very similar you can get horribly lost in matching a particular video with the actual sound track for it, particularly if you’re up against a tight deadline or you’re tired after a long day prepping and presenting.

 

Set the teleprompter speed to the best setting for you. This will be trial and error - you will need to rehearse this.

 

To have the smallest distance between the camera lens and rotating text (ie, to maintain “eye contact”), try to read the text as it reaches the top line on your iPad. 

 

Do not launch into your first sentence straight after the hand clap - make sure you have several beats of simply looking and smiling at the camera. This footage is helpful in the edit to smooth the transitions between segments.

 

Learn to read quickly - if possible learn to take in two lines at a time. A classic teleprompter give away is to pause at the end of a line when there should be no pause (“We are commanded to love ..... one another”). Punctuation is so important in writing for teleprompter. Punctuate your commas and full stops well and read according to punctuation not to line breaks - remember that the end of a line is not necessarily the end of a sentence. 

 

Build in pauses after key points or sections of your talk by adding line breaks. In some cases you may need multiple line breaks. This allows the viewers and listeners to digest important info. Tame the teleprompter. You must dictate the pace. Do not allow it to hurry you on to the next point.

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Write out numbers in words. “172,371” takes longer to say than the space taken by numerals takes to rotate from view. So type out “One hundred and seventy two thousand, three hundred and seventy-one.”

 

Read lengthy scriptures from a physical Bible or phone Bible App, not from the teleprompter. Unless you‘re famous for having a photographic memory, this looks more authentic. However, to ensure the teleprompter moves at the correct speed with your Bible reading, simply input the full scriptures into the teleprompter. If you speak at your normal speed, when you look up the teleprompter text should be at just the right spot for you to pick up again “direct to camera”. 

 

Write down prayers so you can look down at physical notes while praying - this is better than reading prayers off a teleprompter, which to all intents and purposes means staring directly at viewers while praying - which is both disconcerting and not authentic.

 

As with all public speaking, bring energy to your speaking, be animated, emphasise words with intonation (make sure you choose the right words though!), smile when what you say would benefit from a smile, and frown when what you say would benefit from a frown. The skill is to look and sound natural, as if you are not reading at all.