How to use a teleprompter naturally
A teleprompter is a wonderful crutch and a terrible tell. Used well, you look relaxed; used badly, your eyes flick back and forth and everyone knows you are reading. The difference is a few habits, not talent.
Pace and eye-line
Two things give it away. First, speed: beginners set the scroll too fast and chase it, voice flattening to a monotone. Set it slow enough that the line you are speaking sits still where you look, and nudge it live — on this prompter the arrows adjust speed mid-take. Second, eye-line: the closer the text is to the lens, the more you appear to meet the viewer. Put the prompter right below (or, with beam-splitter glass, in front of) the lens, and keep the reading width narrow so your eyes barely move.
Sound unscripted
Write lightly and rehearse the opening. Read your draft aloud first and cut anything you would never say; mark natural pauses. Then own the first sentence — a confident open settles your nerves, after which the prompter just keeps you on track. Glance away now and then, gesture, breathe. The aim is not to hide that you prepared; it is to sound like someone who knows their material — which, with the words drifting gently where you look, you do.