How to use Microsoft Word and Teams as a teleprompter for presentations

If you’ve ever wondered how news anchors or public speakers can stay on point and present their topics in a crisp and concise way, within a limited timeframe, chances are they are using a teleprompter.

In today’s work from home tip, Jeremy Chapman from the Microsoft 365 team will show you how you can use Microsoft Word to easily convert any document into something that works perfectly as a teleprompter, then we’ll show you how to use Microsoft Teams as a way to project this teleprompter screen to a remote presenter or a second device like a phone screen.

► QUICK LINKS:
00:00 - Introduction
00:51 - Converting a Word document for teleprompter use
03:00 - Positioning the prompter screen for eye contact to the camera
03:54 - Using a Microsoft Teams meeting on a phone to send the prompter screen
04:52 - Using the Microsoft Teams web app to join a second meeting to view the prompter for in-person or remote co-presenters
05:41 - Closing remarks

► Jeremy's camera and prompter setup:
Sony A7 II camera with F1.8 55mm lens
Elgato Cam Link 4k USB 3.0 HDMI capture device
Padcaster Parrot Teleprompter Kit
Microsoft Surface Dial to scroll prompter text
Feelworld FW568 5.5 inch 1080p HDMI Camera Field Monitor
Shure MV7 microphone
Blue Compass microphone boom arm

► Link References:

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[RobRoy]

how do you get the text to move as you're reading do you have to use your finger and scroll up and down!??

[osu]

You can also use Word's dark mode under the VIEW menu.

[CollabMoore]

Wow, awesome tip! I just got the same Parrot Teleprompter about two weeks ago and decided to upgrade to a Glide Gear TMP100 to use an iPad instead for a bit easier viewing. There's lots of dedicated prompting apps out there to use locally, but using Teams to deliver a script remotely is genius!

[DigitalByDesignOne]

It's brilliant! I was looking for a convenient way to do it and here it is :) What was important to me is to synchronise the content which will be presented between the devices. This solution opens that possibility if during practice sessions you'd like to modify the text to make it flow better.

Thank you!

[dextersohan]

Instructions were clear and concise. Thank you

[MaartenBoonen]

Nice one Jeremy, these are great tips. Please more of this stuff its really useful.

[orvilwalcott]

Great video but how do I get my Microsoft Word to scroll down when i'm reading from it on camera?

[gregmathisjr.]

Nice, but would appreciate tips on how to enable an auto scroll function to avoid awkward scrolling during a presentation or speech.

[baluandhavarapu]

My English teacher: I can find out if you are reading by looking at your eyes

Meanwhile the setup:

[teslakepler]

Does the scrolling have to be done manually in word as you're speaking? Won't that create awkward pauses as you find the right page? Loved this video tip, by the way!

[jzjxigt]

Ditto on the scrolling portion. Came here looking for that and it seems like a big miss in this video. I’d update it to include this portion. Figured you just end up using a mouse but that wasn’t obvious. Lots of Teleprompter software out. There has a scroll timing functionality so I thought that this might present a similar option in word.

[Captain-Joe-Hamburg]

Very nice post. But how do you now mirror the text for the telepromter? Unfortunately, you didn't reveal that

[thandikalkop]

Thank you for the video, Jeremy! What do you think if I mirror-flip the slides with PPT Mirror tool for my iPad and use it in a teleprompter in Zoom, because I always have my concept in front of camera so I can only use bullet points structure to keep my conversational on target, Would it be also a good option to assist me in delivering professional narration?.

[deeparaja]

Will those in teams see im using teleprompter

[LEARjsy]

Great video thanks. Just one question - how do I stop my phone ringing while I present while keeping an internet connection for MS teams to run on the phone?!

[fullspiritualfreedom]

When I transfer the screen from my PC to a Monitor y Use like Telepromter, The problem I found is, the text on the screen do not move down like a teleprompter, and also I can not manage the speed, Can you help me with that?