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How to Choose the Right Teleprompter

How to Choose the Right Teleprompter

Whether you’re reading a news story or delivering a speech at a company event, teleprompters are a great way of having your script in front of you without breaking that connection with the audience. If the audience sees you reading from a piece of paper, you’ll look less like a professional and more like a high school student. This guide will help you learn how to choose the right teleprompter for your specific needs. That way, you can have a means of referencing your script without losing audience engagement.

Match Screen Size To Speaker Distance

Teleprompters come in different sizes to accommodate for the distance between them and the speaker. Suffice to say, the speaker shouldn’t be squinting at the screen while reading from the teleprompter. When choosing a teleprompter for your event, it’s vital to know where the speaker will be in relation to it. That way, you can accommodate for that distance with a larger or smaller screen when necessary.

A good rule of thumb is that if the distance between the speaker and teleprompter will be around four meters, you should choose a teleprompter with a 10-inch screen. If the distance is closer to six meters, go for a larger screen size of about 17 inches.

Make Sure It’s Compatible with Your Current Equipment Setup

The size of your teleprompter needs to align with your current gear as well. Specifically, you want to make sure it works with your camera, tripod, and lens. In regard to the tripod, it needs to support the weight of your teleprompter as well as your camera and its lens. Furthermore, dimensions of the teleprompter, camera, and lens need to match up in a way that ensures the camera/lens can sit comfortably behind the glass, so the speaker can maintain comfortable eye contact with the camera, even when reading from the teleprompter.

Take Your Environment into Account

When using a teleprompter outdoors, particularly when the sun is shining nice and bright, you’re going to need the help of a brighter screen. For sunny conditions, you’ll need a teleprompter with a brightness level beyond 1,000 nits to see what’s on the screen. This can also work with intense indoor lighting conditions, but for the most part, you’re only going to need to worry about this for outdoor teleprompter use.

Now that you know how to choose the right teleprompter, you’re ready to peruse the market. With today’s technology, teleprompters have only become more versatile and convenient. For instance, you can effectively turn an everyday iPad into a teleprompter with ease. Due to advancements such as this, finding the right teleprompter for your needs shouldn’t be too difficult. As long as you have this guide by your side, you can avoid making easy mistakes like buying a teleprompter that’s too heavy or incompatible with your current gear.

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