Teleprompter
The Remembrall for presenters — ensuring no one forgets their lines under lights, cameras, and live pressure.
A teleprompter (or autocue in British English) is a device that displays a scrolling script text to a presenter in a position that allows them to read it while appearing to look directly at the camera lens. The classic design places a semi-transparent mirror (angled at 45 degrees) in front of the camera lens, with a screen displaying the text reflected in the mirror. From the camera's perspective, looking through the mirror, only the lens is visible — not the text. From the presenter's perspective, looking at the mirror, the text is visible while their gaze remains aligned with the lens. The result is a presenter who appears to speak from memory while actually reading every word of a script.
The teleprompter solves a specific B2B production problem: executives, subject matter experts, and corporate presenters often need to deliver precise, scripted content on camera without the verbal stumbles, pace irregularities, and "ums" that occur with completely unscripted delivery, but also without the need for extensive memorization rehearsal. A teleprompter allows a polished, scripted delivery without cutting to a script below the camera (which would require the presenter to look down, breaking eye contact) or mounting the script behind the camera (which would require the presenter to look slightly off-axis, creating a subtle but noticeable gaze direction issue).
The skill of reading a teleprompter naturally is acquired rather than innate. Inexperienced teleprompter readers exhibit tell-tale signs: a slightly glazed, fixed expression (because they're reading rather than thinking), a too-regular, slightly mechanical pacing (because they're scrolling through text rather than speaking naturally), and occasionally visible eye movement tracking left to right across the text. Professional and practiced speakers read teleprompter copy the way a voice actor reads scripts — bringing natural rhythm, inflection, and energy to the words even while reading. For B2B video, the recommendation is either to invest in teleprompter rehearsal until the delivery sounds natural, or to use a hybrid approach: interview-style questions prompting the key points, with teleprompter available for critical specific language (legal disclaimers, statistics, calls to action) that must be verbatim.
Related terms
- Narration— 'The world is changed. I feel it in the water.' — Galadriel's off-screen authority: invisible, omniscient, inarguable.
- Voiceover (VO)— Galadriel's narration over the prologue — the voice that speaks from beyond the frame, before the story begins.
- Cold Open— Before the credits roll, before the title card — thirty seconds to earn the audience or lose them forever.
- A-roll— The footage Frodo actually carried to Mordor — everything else is just B-roll.