When you shoot a video with a teleprompter, you usually have three options: Find someone to sit and scroll the words manually; set an app to auto-scroll and hope you can keep up; or handle a remote, which costs money and distracts you during your delivery.
We were excited to discover Teleprompt.me, the voice-controlled teleprompter that really works. We covered it briefly earlier, but now we’ve tested it on camera to show you how seamless it really is. No one is controlling the teleprompter in this video!
[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/01/make-public-speaking-easier-with-this-free-voice-controlled-teleprompter/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/vkomhaio8fja0rw3al9h.jpg” title=”Improve Your Public Speaking With This Free Voice-Controlled Teleprompter” excerpt=”If you’re not used to public speaking, a teleprompter can be a useful tool to have in your arsenal. A teleprompter can help you keep your speech on track, and make everything run a bit more smoothly.
There’s just one issue: Most free and web-based teleprompters use an auto scroll, meaning that if you pause for any reason why you’re reading, your teleprompter is going to leave you behind.”]
As you’ll see, Teleprompt.me is hard to trick, even with last names and other non-dictionary words. It kept up as I talked really fast, and it didn’t break when I skipped or added a few words in my script. Frankly, it’s surprising to find an app that does its job so well.
The prompter includes some standard features like mirroring, so you can connect it to a professional teleprompter camera peripheral. Or you can use it to record on your webcam, or prop up your laptop right next to a regular camera.
Downsides
There are only two meaningful flaws:
One, Teleprompt.me only works on Chrome on desktop. So you can’t use it with those nifty smartphone teleprompter mirrors. You’ll have to buy an app like the $30 voice-activated PromptSmart Pro (iOS/Android).
Two, you can’t give any voice commands like “restart” or “go back”. So if you want to do some re-takes, you’ll have to go hit the arrow keys. But you’d have to do that with other software too.
Beyond that, there are only tiny flaws: The microphone might also mess with any sounds you have playing on your computer while you record. So lay those in separately. It only displays plain text, so no italics or different font sizes.
Because the site requires access to your computer’s microphone, it’ll listen to you until you close the tab or change your permissions. The site also saves the script you’ve pasted in, until you clean your cache. Don’t use it to read aloud state secrets.
If you come across a script that Teleprompt.me can’t handle, there are plenty of free apps that use buttons or a set speed, including CuePrompter and Autocue. But honestly, Teleprompt.me is so good that we plan to use it for all our scripted videos in the Lifehacker studio.
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