Setting the speed too fast
The most common mistake I see in first sessions is a scroll speed chosen to feel impressive rather than comfortable. People set the text racing because they want to sound brisk, then spend the whole take chasing words they have not had time to read. The result is a rushed voice, clipped endings and a face that looks slightly worried.
A better starting point is slower than feels natural. Read a short paragraph aloud at the pace you would use across a table with a colleague, then adjust the scroll until the line you are speaking sits comfortably in the upper third of the screen. You should always have a few words in view ahead of the ones you are saying.
Speed is not a fixed setting either. A paragraph of figures needs a gentler scroll than a warm greeting. Many people find it useful to keep two or three speeds noted down and switch between them for different parts of a script, rather than hunting for one number that suits everything.
- Start slower than feels natural and speed up only if you are waiting on the text
- Keep the line you are speaking in the upper third of the screen
- Note a separate speed for dense sections such as numbers or names
Writing the script for the page, not the ear
A script that reads well on paper often sounds stiff once it is scrolling. Long sentences with several clauses force you to breathe in the wrong places, and formal phrasing makes you sound as if you are reading, which is exactly what you were hoping to hide. The teleprompter simply shows the problem more clearly.
Write the way you speak. Use shorter sentences, plain verbs and the contractions you would use in conversation. Then read the script out loud before it goes anywhere near the screen, and mark every spot where you stumble or run out of breath. Those marks tell you where to cut or split a sentence.
Formatting helps as much as wording. Large type, generous line spacing and a break at each natural pause give your eyes somewhere to rest. A wall of text scrolling upward invites a monotone delivery, while short lines invite the rise and fall of ordinary speech.
- Read the draft aloud and mark every stumble before loading it
- Split long sentences where you would naturally breathe
- Use a break at each pause so the line shape guides your voice
Letting your eyes drift or lock
Two opposite problems show up on camera. In the first, the reader's eyes visibly sweep left to right across each line, which looks like reading. In the second, the reader stares so hard at the glass that the face freezes and the blinking stops, which looks unnerving. Both come from treating the lens as something to survive rather than someone to talk to.
For the sweeping eyes, reduce the width of the text column so the lines are short enough that your gaze barely moves. A narrow column keeps the eye travelling down rather than across, and the viewer sees a steady look into the lens.
For the frozen stare, picture one specific person on the other side of the lens, a colleague or a customer you know, and say the script to them. Let yourself blink, nod and change expression. A small smile at the start of a sentence does more to relax the face than any amount of reminding yourself to relax.
- Narrow the text column so your eyes travel down, not across
- Picture one real person behind the lens and speak to them
- Allow normal blinking and small changes of expression
Skipping the setup and the run-through
Plenty of mistakes are made before the recording begins. A prompter placed too far from the lens makes your eyes look off to one side. A screen set too bright reflects in glasses. A script loaded for the first time at the start of the take has never been tested for pace, and you meet its awkward lines live.
Give yourself a short setup routine. Check that the text sits as close to the lens as your equipment allows, sit at the distance you will actually record from, and confirm the type is readable without leaning forward. Leaning is a quiet giveaway that the text is too small.
Then do one full run-through at recording speed before the real take. It need not be perfect. Its job is to show you where the scroll is wrong and which phrases need changing, so that the take you keep is the second or third attempt rather than the first, and you are speaking with the script instead of surprised by it.
- Place the text as close to the lens as your equipment allows
- Sit at your real recording distance and check the type size
- Do one full run-through at recording speed before the keeper take
Reading every word as if it were sacred
A final habit that causes trouble is treating the script as a promise to deliver each word exactly as written. When a phrase feels clumsy mid-take, readers push through it anyway, and the clumsiness is audible. The teleprompter is a support, not a contract.
Give yourself permission to change small things as you speak. Swap a long word for a short one, drop a filler phrase, or restate a point in your own words and rejoin the text a line later. Your eyes stay near the lens and your voice stays natural, and viewers rarely notice, because the meaning is intact.
This takes practice, since you need to keep one eye on where the script is while you improvise a few words. Start with a short practice paragraph and deliberately alter a phrase or two each time. Over a few sessions the skill of leaving and rejoining the text becomes automatic, and the whole delivery loosens.
- Treat the script as a guide you can adjust in small ways
- Practise leaving the text for a phrase and rejoining a line later
None of these mistakes is a sign that you are bad at this. They are ordinary habits that appear in nearly everyone's first attempts, and each has a plain fix: slow the scroll, write for the ear, narrow the lines, prepare the setup and loosen your grip on the words. Pick one to work on in your next recording rather than all five. Small, repeated changes build the relaxed, steady delivery that makes a teleprompter disappear.