After 25+ years of operating teleprompters for everyone from Fortune 500 CEOs to presidents, comedians to news anchors, we've observed what separates natural-looking teleprompter readers from those who look like they're reading. The good news: these skills can be learned.
This guide shares the techniques professionals use to deliver teleprompter content naturally and confidently.
The Fundamental Mindset Shift
Here's the most important thing to understand: you're not reading—you're communicating. The teleprompter contains your thoughts. Your job is to share those thoughts with your audience as if they're occurring to you naturally.
News anchors don't look like they're reading because they've internalized this distinction. They see the words as prompts for ideas they're sharing, not text they're reciting.
Eye Technique: The Key to Natural Delivery
Read Ahead, Not Word-by-Word
Amateur teleprompter readers track every word with their eyes. Professionals read in chunks—phrases and sentences—while their eyes stay slightly ahead of what they're saying.
Try this: When you read a book aloud, your eyes don't follow each word as you speak it. They're always a few words ahead. The same principle applies to teleprompters.
Soft Focus, Not Hard Stare
Don't lock your eyes on the screen. Maintain a soft focus that takes in groups of words. This creates a more natural eye appearance and reduces the "reading" look.
Blink Naturally
Nervous readers often forget to blink, creating an intense, uncomfortable appearance. Remind yourself to blink at natural intervals—typically at the end of thoughts or phrases.
Delivery Techniques
Vary Your Pace
Nothing sounds more robotic than speaking at a constant speed. Slow down for important points. Speed up slightly through transitional phrases. Pause for emphasis.
Emphasize Key Words
In every sentence, certain words carry more weight. Identify these and give them slightly more emphasis. This creates natural-sounding speech patterns.
Use Pauses Strategically
Pauses are powerful. They give your audience time to absorb important points, create anticipation, and make you appear thoughtful rather than rushed. Don't be afraid of brief silences.
Breathe at Natural Points
Take breaths at punctuation marks and thought breaks, not mid-sentence. This maintains the natural rhythm of speech and prevents the rushed, breathless quality that nervous readers often have.
Physical Techniques
Head Movement
For presidential-style teleprompters (two glass panels), alternate your gaze between them naturally, as if you're addressing different sections of your audience. Don't ping-pong robotically—vary the timing and include moments looking straight ahead.
Facial Expression
Your face should match your content. If you're delivering serious information, look engaged and concerned. If it's positive news, allow yourself to show it. Dead-face reading is a giveaway.
Gestures
For video or stage presentations, natural hand gestures reinforce your message and prevent stiffness. You can gesture while reading—it actually helps you feel more natural.
Body Position
Stand or sit with good posture, but not rigidly. Slight movement—weight shifts, small position changes—makes you appear more natural than statue-like stillness.
Working with Your Operator
A good teleprompter operator matches the scroll speed to your natural pace. But you need to communicate your preferences:
- During rehearsal: Tell them if it feels too fast or slow
- Preferred position: Some readers like text at the top of the screen, others in the middle
- Font size: Larger isn't always better—find what lets you take in phrases naturally
- Scroll style: Some prefer smooth continuous scroll, others like chunk-by-chunk
The best teleprompter sessions happen when there's a rhythm between speaker and operator. After a few minutes, a good operator knows your patterns and the prompter becomes invisible.
Rehearsal Strategies
Read Through First
Before stepping up to the prompter, read the entire script on paper. Understand its structure, identify tricky words or phrases, and know where the key points are.
Practice Out Loud
Read the script aloud at least once before your prompter session. Hearing yourself speak the words helps your brain process them as speech rather than text.
Mark Emphasis and Pauses
If the script is yours to mark up, indicate where you want to emphasize words or insert pauses. These notations can be included in the prompter display.
Do a Full Run-Through
Always rehearse with the teleprompter before going live or recording. This is your chance to adjust speed, positioning, and work out any delivery issues.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Don't Read Every Word
If you stumble or the prompter glitches, don't restart sentences from the beginning. Paraphrase, skip ahead, or simply pause and continue. The audience doesn't have the script—they won't know you deviated.
Don't Speak Unnaturally Fast
Nervous readers often speed up. Trust the operator to match your pace. Speak at your natural rate.
Don't Lock Your Head
Small head movements are natural. Holding your head perfectly still while reading looks robotic.
Don't Forget Your Audience
Remember there are real people watching. You're communicating with them, not performing for a machine.
Tips for Different Contexts
On-Camera (Corporate Videos, Commercials)
The lens is your audience. Imagine you're talking to one specific person. This creates the intimate, conversational quality that connects with viewers.
Live Audience (Speeches, Keynotes)
Let your eyes occasionally break from the prompter to make real eye contact with audience members. This creates connection and breaks up the "reading" appearance.
News/Broadcast Style
Broadcast requires efficiency—clear delivery with minimal flourish. Practice crisp articulation and clean thought transitions.
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Get a QuoteThe Secret: Practice
Like any skill, teleprompter reading improves with practice. The first few times feel awkward. After a dozen sessions, it becomes second nature. After hundreds, it's invisible.
The speakers who look most natural on teleprompter aren't naturally gifted—they've simply done it enough times that reading while appearing to speak naturally has become automatic.
Give yourself permission to be imperfect during early sessions. Focus on improvement, not perfection. And work with professional operators who can help you find your rhythm.