A presentation is not a piece to camera, and treating it like one is why scripted talks sound dead. The useful approach is to script the parts that must be exact, the opening, the numbers, the close, and work from notes everywhere else.
FreeTeleprompter.io can be used as an autocue for a presentation, talk or webinar. You paste your script or your notes, set the scroll speed to your speaking pace, and read from a laptop, tablet or phone placed where your eyes naturally rest. It is free, needs no account, and works alongside any slide software because it runs in a separate browser window rather than inside your presentation.
Script the opening word for word
The first thirty seconds carry the most nerves and the most weight. Getting them exactly right buys you the confidence to be loose for the rest.
Reduce the middle to notes
Phrases, not sentences. A full script in the middle of a talk makes you read rather than speak, and an audience can hear the difference instantly.
Script the close as well
The ending is what people remember and it is the part most often improvised badly. Write the last three sentences and know them.
Set the scroll to your real pace
Most people speak at roughly 120 to 150 words a minute when presenting. Set it, run through once, and adjust rather than guessing.
Place the screen where your eyes already go
For a room, a laptop on the lectern at a shallow angle. For a webinar, immediately below the webcam. For a stage, a tablet at the front edge is less conspicuous than a phone in your hand.
Frequently asked questions
Both. Script the opening and the close word for word, and reduce the middle to phrases. A wholly scripted talk sounds read, and a wholly improvised one runs over and loses the ending.
Roughly 2,400 to 3,000 words at a normal presenting pace of 120 to 150 words a minute. Time your own delivery out loud rather than relying on the average, because nerves usually push people faster on the day.
Yes. It is a separate browser window on your own screen, so it does not interact with your slide software at all. If you are presenting on one screen, use the presenter view for slide notes and the autocue on a second device such as a tablet or phone.
In a room, far less than you fear, because a lectern makes glancing down completely normal. On a webinar it is more visible, so keep the text narrow and directly beneath the camera.
Yes, and it is one of the best uses for it. A webinar audience cannot see the room, your hands are free, and there is nothing stopping you having a full script immediately below your webcam.
Next
Open the autocue
Free, no sign-up
Free autocue online
What an autocue is and how to use one
Autocue for Zoom and video calls
Where to put the window
Elevator pitch templates
Thirty, sixty and 120 second versions
Free script templates
Speeches, intros and pitches
Retirement speech
For the leaver and the colleague