Do Not Use A Video Teleprompter

Do not use a video teleprompter. Sheryl Plouffe here, video strategist, and here are 3 reasons why you do not want to use a video teleprompter for your business and marketing videos. If you're a solopreneur, entrepreneur, or small business owner, listen up. So John sent me a really nice message, actually, and he wrote, when you do your live videos, do you use a script, or, and are you using a teleprompter 'How do you manage to speak for 20 minutes off the top of your head? I'd love to hear from you.' So thanks so much, John, for sending that in. Speaking for 20 minutes and being able to ad-lib is a skill set. I just so happen to have had a lot of experience doing that because I'm a speaker, but also I was a broadcaster for my entire professional career practically. So I have a lot of experience. I'm able to think on my feet and it's just a skill set like any other. And I think the really solution to getting better at doing that is to just do it and start in small increments. Start with being able to speak for a minute and then speak for 2 minutes, and then you have to progress. So, it is a skill set that develops over time. In answer to your question about the teleprompter, there are 3 reasons why I do not suggest that business owners use teleprompters for their content marketing strategy specifically for video. Obviously, that's what teleprompters are used for. So these are the 3 reasons why I think it's not beneficial. One is that most business owners, entrepreneurs, you know, are good at what they do from the business perspective of whatever it is, product or service it is that you offer. That's your zone of genius, right? You can get good at marketing and other things, but Reading from a teleprompter is a very specialized skill. That's why there are people in broadcasting who have that specialized skill and are hired to do that. You know, typically with a news anchor who's reading a lot of script, possibly a half-hour newscast or maybe even an hour-long newscast with a multiple of different, you know, stories to talk about in the rundown of that particular show. It's a lot of content. They can't remember all of that content to read. So a teleprompter in a news studio environment makes a lot of sense. Those people, those broadcasters, are very skilled at it because they have done it for a very long time. They've been trained at it and they do it day in and day out. And it is a specialized skill that takes time to develop. Typically, the news anchor is also situated further away from the camera, typically on a desk you know, on a desk, maybe with a co-anchor or maybe even multiple people. And so the distance helps so that you don't actually see someone's eyes moving on the screen. When we create content videos, let's say, to position you as an expert, which is really what I specialize in, typically you're more in this type of frame where you're closer up to the camera. So if you have a teleprompter, it's very easy now for us to see your eyes moving across the screen as you read the words across the screen. We see your eyes moving. And so it's not really authentic, and that inauthenticity can really hurt you. So we want to promote being natural and being you and adding your personality. And those are the things that can be negated by using a teleprompter. So it's a very specialized skill set, and there's a time and a place. I'm not totally against teleprompters. I think that they're required in certain situations when people are making doing long speeches, that kind of a thing, that makes sense. But for 1-minute, 2-minute, maybe 3-minute social media videos, I think it's a bit overboard, frankly. So, inauthenticity is not something that you're striving for. We're looking to be you, just an elevated version of yourself online. And that's the thing that's really going to lead into point number 2, which is connection. When you read from a teleprompter, it creates a wall. It's a barrier between you and the audience. And so, what you're then having more trouble doing is connecting with people. And so, that wall, that barrier— most people when they're reading from a teleprompter have a tendency to have hands down in the lap, not talking with their hands, not being expressive. Hands in the lap, very stoic. Very corporate. And I am reading the words that are on the screen. I am going to tell you now, you know, it's robotic. And so, that is not allowing for there to be that connection. I think also, it's better to be able to go with the flow, especially in a live situation where there may be engagement. You want to talk to people. You want to have that engagement piece. I think that connection is really key to your videos being an asset in your business, it's really going to help you to generate more leads and build your audience and build your following. By using a teleprompter, it's a wall and a barrier that isn't necessary and that we don't want to have there. The third thing is that if you're going to read from a teleprompter, guess what you need? Guess. You need a script. So if you are going to sit down and write a script, it takes time. It takes time to sit and edit. I don't know about you, but I'm a better talker than writer. A lot of people sit down at a blank computer screen and they sit there and they're staring at it for a while going, I don't know what to write. I don't know where to start. I don't know how to write a script. Right? So that time is, you know, you know how time is in your business, right? You can never get it back. So reading from a teleprompter means you have to write a script. And writing a script isn't always easy for a lot of people to sit down and write a script. It takes time, whether it's your time or the time of someone on your team. Scripting is more challenging. Now, I am not against making notes. In fact, I recommend that. You know, I have my notebook here, my 3 points that I want to make for you today, and I've just written them down. It's actually a little bit of chicken scratch here, but I can read my own writing, so it's okay. You need to make some notes, but But word-for-word scripting is not what I recommend. It takes time to do that. And if you're going to be creating videos on the regular, which you should be, let's say weekly at minimum, that's a lot of script writing that you now have to do in addition to the production of the videos. So now it starts to become a little bit more cumbersome, and I don't think it's worth the time invested to write a script for social media videos. For these types of content marketing videos. Is there a time and a place for a script? Absolutely. Because there's a time and a place for a teleprompter. What I'm suggesting to you is that don't use a video teleprompter for your short, you know, 1, 2, 3-minute recorded videos as part of your content strategy. I also certainly don't recommend a teleprompter in a live situation because that's the whole premise of live. Is that it's live and interactive. Reading from a teleprompter would really negate that, that energy that's happening, that energy exchange on a live broadcast. So I hope that's helpful for you to paint a picture of why you might want to consider not using a video teleprompter for your videos. I hope that you enjoyed this. Please connect with me at CherylPlouffe.com, and you can also Swipe my content calendar. Speaking of content, if you go to contentcalendar.cherylplouffe.com, you'll be able to download my content calendar, make it your own, get a little video from me explaining what it is and how to use it. And it can really be beneficial to help keep you organized and on track with the videos you create to promote and build your brand and business. Thank you so much for watching. And of course, be sure to like this video, leave a comment, subscribe to the channel, and hit the notification bell for videos. I do new ones every single Thursday. Thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you next time.