Teleprompter for video calls

Why reading on a call looks like reading

On a video call the camera is above the screen and the people are in the middle of it. Read notes in another window and your eyes drop and slide sideways, and everyone can see you reading. The fix is to put the words where the lens is. The closer they sit to the camera, the less your eyes move, and the more it looks like you are talking to the person on the other end.

The setups, from best eyeline to worst

Setup	Where the words are	How it looks on the call
Mac Call mode	A short strip right under the built-in camera	Close to eye contact; your eyes barely leave the lens
A glass prompter in front of a webcam	Over the lens itself	Eye contact, at the cost of a rig on your desk
An iPad or iPhone right under a webcam	A few centimeters below the lens	Close, if the device sits tight to the camera
A floating window near the top of the screen	Wherever you park it	Good if it sits just under the camera, worse the lower it goes
Notes on a second monitor	Off to the side	Obvious reading

Work out how far your eyes move for your own distance and screen.

Call mode on the Mac, step by step

Open your script in Cutvey Teleprompter on the Mac and start the prompter.
Press Shift-Command-K, or choose Call mode in the Window menu. The prompter shrinks to a strip under the built-in camera and floats above every other window, including the call.
Join the call in whatever app runs it. Call mode is a window of its own, so it sits there whichever app you use.
Start the scroll with Space, a clicker, or the Watch through your iPhone. Voice follow can trim the speed to your read, if the call app is not already holding the microphone.
Press Shift-Command-K again when you are done, and the window goes back where it was.

Call mode looks for the built-in display, the one with the camera, so it is made for a MacBook. With an external webcam on another screen, use a floating window parked right under that camera instead.

When you share your screen, you do not want the audience reading your script. In Call mode, Hide from screen sharing is on by default, and you can turn it on for an ordinary prompter window too, under Mirror & display, Window.

The app is careful about this, and so are we. Its own words are: "Check with a test call before you rely on it: an app that captures the screen in an older way may still show this window." Mac apps capture the screen in different ways, and not every one respects the request to leave a window out. Before an important call, share your screen with a colleague and ask whether they can see the prompter. Do it again after your call app updates.

When the microphone is busy

Voice follow uses the microphone, and so does your call. If the call app holds the microphone in a way that stops another app from opening it, voice follow says "The microphone could not be opened. Check that nothing else is using it, then turn this on again." Run the scroll at a set speed instead: press play, and drive it with the arrow keys, a clicker or the Watch. For a call, a steady speed a touch slower than your natural pace usually reads best.

Writing for a call

A call is closer to a conversation than a speech, so the script should be too.

Write it the way you talk. Short sentences. Contractions. The words you would actually say.
Leave room to answer. Put a cue at each point where someone may jump in, so Next cue takes you to the next part when the conversation comes back.
Use bullets for the back half. Read the opening and the close word for word, and keep the middle as prompts you talk around.
Time it. The script timer tells you how long it runs at a call's pace. Most people talk a little slower on a call than in a recorded piece.

Full script or bullets?

What you are doing	Write it as	Why
A recorded message or a statement	The full script	Every word matters and nobody interrupts
A pitch or a presentation	The opening and close in full, the middle in bullets	You can answer questions without losing your place
A meeting you run	Bullets and the numbers	It is a conversation; a full script sounds like one
An interview you give	Bullets only	Read answers sound read

Either way, keep the lines short. Call mode's strip is short, so a long sentence spends most of its time out of view.

On an iPad or iPhone instead

Without a Mac, put an iPad or iPhone running Cutvey Teleprompter right under the webcam or the laptop's camera, as tight to it as you can, and run it as a second screen. Mirror nothing, keep the text large, narrow the margins so each line is short, and set the reading line near the top of the screen, closest to the camera. Under Reading line & screen you can move the reading line from 20 to 80 percent of the way down.

A checklist before the call

Run the whole script once with Call mode on, at the speed you will use.
Share your screen with a colleague and confirm the prompter does not show.
Check the strip is under the right camera.
Decide what starts and stops the scroll: a key, a clicker, or the Watch.
Turn on the countdown if you want a beat before the first word (Scrolling, Countdown, from 0 to 30 seconds).
Keep a glass of water off camera.

Questions people ask

How do I read a script on a Zoom or Teams call without looking away?

Put the words right under the camera. On a Mac, Cutvey Teleprompter's Call mode (Shift-Command-K) shrinks the prompter to a strip under the built-in camera and floats it above the call, whichever app runs it.

Does Call mode work with an external webcam?

Call mode places its strip under the built-in camera of the Mac's own display. With an external webcam, use an ordinary prompter window with Float over other apps on, parked right under that camera.

Can people on the call see my teleprompter when I share my screen?

With Hide from screen sharing on, the window is left out of screen sharing and recordings made on the Mac. The app says to test with a call first, because an app that captures the screen in an older way may still show it.