Teleprompter Tips: Techniques for YouTube Creators

I recently batch recorded 6 videos all in one day using a teleprompter, and I want to share some of the tips and some of the weird little things I ran into. If you’re a YouTube video creator or online business owner looking to up your game, I’m here to help you look good, sound good, and feel good on camera. So I’m sharing some of my teleprompter tips that will help you deliver engaging content seamlessly.

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Choosing the Right Teleprompter: Elgato’s Upside-Down Twist

Elgato sent me their teleprompter when they first released it, so I want to share some helpful tips from things I’ve learned about it so far. It is a monitor, just like when you’re plugging your computer into a monitor. And it’s upside down because it’s facing the glass so you can see it. One of the first thing I noticed with this Elgato prompter, is that it’s if your desktop wallpaper is colorful, it will cast a colorful hue onto you. So my desktop wallpaper was a purple/pink color, and when I plug this in it will use the wallpaper that I have on there. So the best thing I’ve found to do is to set my desktop background to black. I’ve tried white, and it just make everything look like I was using a filter.

Teleprompter Apps: More Than Just Words on a Screen

I hear a lot of questions about teleprompter apps. They might say, “Why bother with an actual teleprompter when you can use an app on your computer or phone?” And the whole point of the teleprompter is so you can look at your camera while you’re seeing the words. So an app on your computer or phone isn’t really a teleprompter. It’s just a script. And I think the reason why I was never really interested in using a teleprompter or trying a teleprompter, was because I didn’t want to read the words as they scroll. I just didn’t think that would work for me, and it doesn’t.

So I’m not using any teleprompter app at all. Although, the Elgato prompter comes with an app, but I don’t use it. Instead, my teleprompter just becomes a second desktop where I can drag my browser window to that desktop. I use Notion for my script, and am able to adjust my browser window so that all my words fit into it as a whole page, rather than having them scrolling. Then I can go at my own pace and don’t have to read them word-for-word.

How You Can Use Teleprompter Without Sounding Robotic

Have you ever seen someone read from a teleprompter and thought, “That looks and sounds so robotic?” It’s not about reciting every word verbatim; it’s about grabbing lines and creating real, understandable sentences. This approach resonates for us YouTube creators especially, because we don’t want to sound like a newscaster. Teleprompters are tools, not scripts.

Balancing Scripted Precision and Dynamic Delivery

So, I recently scripted all six videos word for word and batch recorded them, which was really productive for me. But during editing, I realized I sounded like my energy was low. And it was really boring. No facial expression, no personality. Lesson learned: next time I should give myself bullet points or something instead of scripting word-for-word, so that I don’t give myself the opportunity to become boring. Six videos in a day is great, but if they’re dull and robotic, it defeats the purpose.

Practice Makes Progress

At the end of the day, using a teleprompter takes practice. Talking to a camera takes practice. This is not a normal, natural thing to be doing. There’s no one right way to do it. And if you’re anything like me, sometimes it just depends on my mood whether I use a teleprompter or not. But I’m all for creating a “set it and forget it” YouTube setup so that actually hitting record is really easy for you to do. And if adding a teleprompter to your setup is going to make you more productive and make your videos better, then you should do it.

But the main tip I want you to take away from this is to be patient with yourself. Because using a teleprompter is possibly one of the most tweakable things that you will have to do as a creator if you choose to use one. You have to tweak the angle of your camera, how far away it is from you because you need to be able to see the words, and your camera needs to be able to see you. And everything you want to be in frame needs to be in frame. Then once you have it set up, it takes some practice to actually use.

Conclusion

So if you want to see how the Elgato teleprompter is set up, I have a video showing how I set it up and all of the different components, how it works, and how it slides onto the camera so easily. And if you’re reading this because you want to look good, sound good, and feel good on camera, I put together the Crush It On Camera guide that starts with this “set it and forget it” setup to create your own YouTubicle, as I like to call it. So be sure to download the guide for more helpful tips!