The problem with notes on Zoom
On a Zoom call, your camera is at the top of the screen and your notes are usually somewhere else: a document on the side, a second monitor, a sheet of paper on the desk. Every glance at them looks like you turned away, and a second monitor only makes the glance longer. In a one-on-one call that comes across as distracted. In a webinar it can come across as unprepared, even when you know the material well.
Lenslines moves your notes to where your eyes need to be. The script appears in a black notch at the top center of your screen, directly below the webcam. You read, and to the people in the meeting it looks like you're looking at them.
Hidden when you share your screen in Zoom
Screen sharing is where most prompter windows let you down. Share your whole desktop and the prompter goes out with it. Lenslines uses Windows' built-in screen-capture exclusion, so the notch doesn't appear in your Zoom screen share or in Zoom recordings, while you still see it on your monitor.
It makes no difference whether you share one window or your entire screen. If you ever want the prompter to show up, for example while showing a colleague how you set it up, turn off Hide the prompter from screen capture in settings. The details, including the limits, are on the invisible teleprompter page.
Setting it up for a Zoom meeting
- Open your script in the Lenslines library, or copy your notes and choose Prompt from clipboard from the tray icon.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+P to open the prompter. It appears on the screen your webcam is on.
- Join or start your Zoom meeting as usual.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+Space to start scrolling, or turn on voice scrolling with Ctrl+Alt+V.
- When you finish, press Ctrl+Alt+P again and the notch slides away.
You can open the prompter before or after you join. It runs separately from Zoom, so it works the same with the Zoom desktop app or Zoom in a browser.
Zoom-specific tips
- Match the notch to Zoom's camera. Lenslines places the notch based on your webcam: a built-in camera puts it on the laptop screen, an external webcam on the main display. If the camera Zoom uses sits on another monitor, drag the notch over to it.
- Keep the notch narrow. Resize it from its edges so each line is only a few words wide. Shorter lines mean less side-to-side eye movement on camera.
- Use hover to pause for questions. When someone jumps in, point at the prompter and it waits. Move away and it carries on.
- Mark sections with cues. Webinars rarely go in a straight line. Start each section with a # line, then jump with Ctrl+Alt+PgUp and Ctrl+Alt+PgDn, or pick a section from the cue list in the notch.
- Pin the scripts you reuse. If you open every weekly webinar or team call the same way, pin that script in the library and keep its versions together in a project, so it is ready in seconds.
- Do a test run. Before an important webinar, start a meeting on your own, share your screen and record a minute. Play it back to confirm what your audience will see.
Voice scrolling on Zoom calls
With voice scrolling on, the text moves while you speak and stops when you stop. It reacts to whether you're talking, not to individual words, so you can ad-lib, answer a question, and pick up again without fighting the prompter. A glowing voice beam in the notch shows it's hearing you.
On calls, the main thing to watch is other people's voices. If they come out of your speakers and into your microphone, they can push the text forward. Wear headphones, or lower the microphone sensitivity using the live level meter so only your voice crosses the trigger level. Pause after silence sets how long you can stop talking before the text waits, which helps when you take a breath between points. Audio is analyzed in memory on your PC and never recorded or uploaded.
Who uses a teleprompter on Zoom
Teachers and tutors running live lessons. Sales and customer success teams giving demos. Recruiters introducing a role to a group of candidates. Presenters hosting webinars and all-hands meetings. Anyone who wants their opening, key numbers or closing lines exactly right, without staring at a second screen.
If you present on Zoom often, our guide on how to use a teleprompter on Zoom walks through it step by step, and how to read a script without sounding robotic helps with delivery.