Building a Simple Teleprompter

Learn how I built this simple and inexpensive teleprompter from plywood, oak, and glass!

When I make YouTube videos, I spend a lot of time memorizing what I’m going to say, recording a lot of takes where I screw up what I’m going to say, and then even more time going through all those recordings to find the good takes.

So, to help cut down on the time it takes to make these videos, I built my very own teleprompter!

A basic teleprompter has three main pieces:

  1. A screen to display the words, which can be something like a tablet or a laptop.
  2. A pane of glass, angled at 45 degrees so it reflects the words to the speaker.
  3. The camera sits behind the glass in a dark box or shroud, so it can record the speaker without seeing any reflections on that side of the glass.

For my teleprompter, I had two additional requirements. First, I wanted it to connect to my existing tripod, so it’s easy to set up and use. Second, I want to be able to store it easily when I’m not using it, so all the pieces need to fold down together.

Watch the video and learn how I built my very own teleprompter!

Tools I Used