“Teleprompter” can describe two quite different ways to see your words. A camera-mounted glass rig reflects text in front of the lens, so you read while looking through the glass toward the camera. An on-screen setup places the prompt on the display you are already using, or on a nearby phone or tablet. Both can help you stay prepared. Neither automatically makes a delivery feel natural.
The better question is not which setup looks more professional. It is which one leaves you able to see the people, material, and controls that matter in the presentation you are about to give. A polished recorded introduction and a live customer call have different jobs for the same screen.
Start with the hardest moment, not the opening line. Imagine the question, screen share, or pause that is most likely to interrupt your plan. Choose the setup that gives you the clearest way back from that moment.
What teleprompter glass is good at
A glass teleprompter puts a partly reflective pane in front of a camera. A phone, tablet, or monitor displays reversed text below or beside the pane; the reflection makes that text readable to the presenter while the camera sees through it. Because the words sit close to the lens, it can reduce the visible eye movement that comes from reading a separate screen.
That is especially useful when you are delivering a prepared piece directly to camera: a recorded announcement, a course lesson, a webinar opening, or a short presentation where the camera is the main audience. It also gives a director or producer a stable physical arrangement to light and frame.
Glass adds its own preparation. The camera, glass, display, and stand all need to be positioned and secured. You need room in front of the camera, a display bright enough for the text to reflect clearly, and a way to keep the rig from blocking the view you need. It is worth running the whole setup before the real recording—not just checking that the words appear.
What an on-screen prompt is good at
An on-screen prompt is usually the faster choice. Put AdLibly in a resizable iPad window, or place an iPhone or iPad immediately below or beside a computer webcam. There is less equipment to carry, fewer physical adjustments, and more freedom to move the prompt when the call layout changes.
That flexibility matters in a live meeting. You may need to see faces, chat, shared slides, a demo, or your own notes. An on-screen prompt can be narrowed to a short phrase, moved closer to the camera, or kept on a separate device so the meeting view stays visible. Use the webcam positioning guide to check the eye-line trade-off before you decide the prompt needs bigger text.
The limitation is clear too: text placed far from the camera creates a longer glance. A prompt at the bottom of a laptop screen can look like you are reading down. Keep each glance short, then return to the lens or the person you are speaking with. The font-size guide can help you make that nearby prompt readable without turning every line into a large eye movement.
Choose by the presentation in front of you
| If you need to… | Start with… | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Record a direct-to-camera message with settled wording | Teleprompter glass | Test the framing, reflection, and text size before recording the full piece. |
| Join a meeting where people, chat, or shared material may move | An on-screen prompt | Keep the active line near the camera without hiding the part of the call you need. |
| Travel, present at a client site, or set up in minutes | An on-screen prompt on a phone or tablet | Bring a stand and rehearse the angle; portability does not remove the eye-line check. |
| Give a webinar with a fixed opening and live questions later | Both, in different phases | Use glass for the prepared opening if available, then switch to a visible meeting layout for discussion. |
| Present with a script that may pause, skip, or change order | Whichever setup has a clear recovery path | Use short section landmarks and make sure you can pause or jump by paragraph. |
One-minute setup choice
Run this before buying or packing anything
- Name the audience. Are you mainly speaking to a camera, to people in a live call, or to both in sequence?
- List the view you cannot lose. It might be the camera lens, the participant gallery, a demo, slides, or notes with exact figures.
- Plan one interruption. Pause for five seconds, answer an imagined question, then find the next complete idea in the prompt.
- Choose the smaller setup that passes. If a nearby screen handles that interruption comfortably, use it. Add glass when its tighter lens alignment solves a real presentation need.
This is a decision aid, not a scorecard. A single presentation can need different arrangements for its prepared and conversational parts.
Set up glass without losing the script
When you use a beamsplitter rig, the display needs reversed text so its reflection reads normally. In AdLibly, open Display in presentation mode and turn on Mirror Text. Check the first two paragraphs through the glass, not only from the side of the rig. The reading line should feel obvious, and the font should be readable at the distance you will actually stand or sit.
Keep the controls practical. Before you begin, find the pause and paragraph-jump controls, then mark the main transitions in the script. Even a carefully built glass rig cannot prevent an interruption; it only changes where the words appear. For a calm way to rejoin after a detour, use the lost-place recovery approach.
Set up an on-screen prompt for a real conversation
For a computer call, put the prompt device as close to the webcam as the setup allows. For an iPad call, give the meeting and prompt enough width to do their separate jobs before anyone joins. AdLibly can present in a resizable iPad window; if the meeting already needs the iPad microphone, a nearby iPhone can act as a Companion listener while the iPad remains the reading display.
Do not fill the screen with a full transcript just because there is no glass. Keep the start, exact names or numbers, transitions, and close easy to find. Write the flexible explanation as short cues. This makes a live prompt useful even if you choose manual controls or need to look away from it for a moment. The live script-writing guide has a worked way to turn dense prose into those landmarks.
Use the setup that fades into the background
Glass is not a graduation from on-screen prompting, and an on-screen prompt is not a compromise when it is the right tool for the room. Glass earns its complexity when camera alignment is the central problem. A nearby screen earns its simplicity when the central problem is staying engaged with a changing conversation.
Rehearse one ordinary transition and one disruption with the exact arrangement you will use. If you can listen, find your next point, and return to the audience without handling the setup, you have chosen well.
Read from display glasses
You can also read on Meta Ray-Ban Display. Your iPhone follows your speech while the glasses keep your words in view. Present through Cloud. Direct mode is coming soon. Requires Meta Developer Mode.
Keep the words where you can use them
AdLibly gives iPhone and iPad presenters a clear reading line, mirror text for glass, paragraph controls, and optional local voice-follow.
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