Teleprompter Training to Sound Natural
Dec 23, 2025Teleprompter training is misunderstood. Teleprompters are often blamed for stiff delivery, flat energy, and robotic performances. In reality, most of those problems come from poor setup and zero performance coaching. When teleprompter training is done properly, it becomes one of the fastest ways to create clear, confident, high-impact video content.
Teleprompters Are a Recording Environment
A teleprompter is not just a screen with words on it. It is a recording environment designed to support eye contact, clarity, and consistency. When presenters understand this, teleprompter training becomes about performance control rather than reading text. This shift alone removes most of the stiffness people experience on camera.
Why Most Teleprompter Setups Fail
Most videographers default to auto-scroll teleprompters with fixed speeds. Presenters are forced to chase the text instead of speaking at the speed of thought. Without coaching, this leads to shallow breathing, rushed delivery, or slow, flattened speech. This is not a confidence issue. It is a setup issue.
How Proper Teleprompter Training Works
Effective teleprompter training puts the presenter in control. The presenter regulates pace, breathing, emphasis, and delivery while the text follows them. Scripts are formatted as ideas, not paragraphs. When this happens, the teleprompter disappears and the presenter sounds natural, structured, and confident.
Teleprompters don’t make people robotic. Poor setups and poor coaching do.
Teleprompter training is not about reading words. It is about scanning ideas, maintaining eye contact, and delivering structured messages with freedom. Used correctly, teleprompters speed you up and sharpen your message. Used badly, they get in your way. Structure first. Freedom second.
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Video Transcription:
[00:00:00] Chris Schwager: This episode is about teleprompters... setup that allows you to look directly into the camera while speaking. It is literally a piece of glass with text reflected back at you, sitting right in front of that lens without breaking the eye contact.
[00:00:20] Chris Schwager: And that's it. And yet teleprompters get blamed for so many things. They get blamed for making people sound robotic. They get blamed for making people sound stiff. They get blamed for making people look like they are reading. And in this episode I want to unpack why that happens, why they work, why they help, when they don't, and why the problem is almost never the tool.
[00:00:40] Chris Schwager: Hi, I'm Chris Schwager, video coach and founder of the Complete Video Success System, and I've spent decades helping professionals create high impact videos that build trust, generate leads, and drive business success. And if you've ever felt unsure or under prepared or just plain awkward with video, this is for you.
[00:00:56] Chris Schwager: So let's talk teleprompters. The first thing to understand is this. Teleprompters are not just a piece of gear. They are a recording environment. A teleprompter setup changes the way a person experiences the camera. It changes what they do with their eyes, what they do with their hands, how they pace, and how they feel.
[00:01:14] Chris Schwager: When people say, "I hate teleprompters," what they often mean is, "I hate what happens to me when I use them." They hate the pressure of trying to keep up with the scroll. They hate the feeling of being locked into the text. They hate that they suddenly lose their natural rhythm.
[00:01:31] Chris Schwager: But that's not a teleprompter issue. That's a presentation issue. Most people have never been coached on how to present with structure. So when you put words in front of them, it exposes the problem.
[00:01:47] Chris Schwager: The biggest mistake I see with teleprompters is auto scroll. Someone sets a speed, presses play, and expects the presenter to keep up. That is backwards. The presenter should be in control. The presenter should control the pace, and the text should support them. If the presenter is chasing the text, they will sound unnatural, guaranteed.
[00:02:09] Chris Schwager: The second issue is script formatting. Most people write teleprompter scripts like essays. Big paragraphs. Long sentences. No breaks. That is not how we speak. Teleprompter scripts should be written like speech. Short. Chunked. Breathable. Easy to scan.
[00:02:30] Chris Schwager: Here's the truth. If you write a script that is hard to read, and then you try to read it at a fixed speed, you will sound robotic. You will sound like you are reading. And you will blame the teleprompter.
[00:02:46] Chris Schwager: A good teleprompter setup is one where the presenter can look into the camera and speak naturally, while the words simply remind them what comes next. That is how you use a teleprompter properly. You do not read words. You scan ideas.
[00:03:06] Chris Schwager: When you scan ideas, you keep your energy. You keep your eye contact. You keep your personality. The teleprompter becomes invisible. And that is when it works.
[00:03:22] Chris Schwager: Teleprompters also solve a real problem. They remove rambling. They remove filler. They help you stay tight. They help you stay clear. They help you stay structured. If you are recording videos for clients, webinars, proposals, or thought leadership, clarity is the currency.
[00:03:43] Chris Schwager: But you cannot buy clarity with a teleprompter alone. You need teleprompter training. You need coaching. You need someone to show you how to deliver without sounding like you are reading.
[00:04:00] Chris Schwager: And this is where most setups fail. A videographer will bring in a teleprompter, set it up, set a scroll speed, and then focus on the camera. They are doing their job. But the presenter is left to figure out the performance. That is the missing piece.
[00:04:22] Chris Schwager: The goal is not to get through the script. The goal is to communicate. That means you need space to pause, space to emphasise, space to breathe. If the teleprompter does not allow that, it will make you worse, not better.
[00:04:45] Chris Schwager: So if you are using a teleprompter and you hate it, do not throw it out. Fix the environment. Fix the scroll. Fix the script. And get coached on delivery.
[00:05:05] Chris Schwager: A teleprompter is one of the most powerful tools for creating professional video. It lets you keep eye contact with your audience. It lets you deliver tight messages. It lets you record faster. It removes hesitation. It removes second guessing.
[00:05:26] Chris Schwager: But only if the presenter is in control. Only if the script is written for speech. Only if the environment supports performance.
[00:05:44] Chris Schwager: The real reason teleprompters get blamed is because they reveal what is already there. If someone has poor structure, it shows. If someone has poor pacing, it shows. If someone has never learned how to communicate on camera, it shows.
[00:06:06] Chris Schwager: And when people feel exposed, they blame the tool. But the tool is not the problem. The problem is the setup and the coaching.
[00:06:22] Chris Schwager: So if you want to sound natural with a teleprompter, stop thinking of it as a device. Think of it as an environment. Build the right environment. Get the right training. And the teleprompter will do exactly what it was designed to do.
[00:06:40] Chris Schwager: It will help you look your audience in the eye and deliver your message with clarity.
