Why You Need a Teleprompter

Kendall Jenner Misreads Teleprompter at The 2014 Billboard Music Awards – Lesson Learned!

It is not the teleprompter’s fault! I can say this with some authority, after all, I am an operator of those wonderfully useful units. It is part of my job.

Apparently, Kendall Jenner screwed up at least one of her lines at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards. The 18 year-old younger sister of the infamous Kim Kardashian mistakenly introduced the band “5 Seconds of Summer” as “One Direction” and giggled with embarrassment.  Her confusing the two groups was due to her making a mistake in reading her lines on the teleprompter rather than due to being an airhead.

 

Kendall Jenner at the Billboard Music Awards.

Kendall Jenner at the Billboard Music Awards.

 

Jimmy Kimmel later made fun of this faux pas on his show.  He did a bit that introduced a phony new e-book device called “The Kendall.” Kimmel called this device a worse reader than the real Kendall, claiming that it had “the illiteracy of a young child.”

 

Sources claim that Kendall skipped rehearsals for the show which is a quite an unprofessional thing to do. This might explain the reason for her being unfamiliar with the teleprompter and the reason for the error.  By now, she should be aware of what being a professional means.

 

Kendall and sister, Kylie, will host the MuchMusic Video Awards Show together on June 15th. Hopefully, this time she will not skip her rehearsals and will be a good influence on sis.

 

Kendall is not the only TV/Film personality to make a mistake while reading a teleprompter. Other notable people have either misread or stumbled over words while reading a teleprompter.  They range from civil rights and social justice advocate Al Sharpton who surprisingly mispronounced names and couldn’t even say Latvia correctly.

 

The Reverend Al Sharpton

The Reverend Al Sharpton

 

Most recently, everyone remembers John Travolta butchering Tony winner Idina Menzel’s name.  The name he uttered was totally incomprehensible.  Had he read the script before the event, he would have remembered one of Broadway’s biggest stars and would not have frozen. Even Presidents have flubbed lines by not knowing how to read teleprompters. These sort of blunders happen often and to many. They will happen less often, if the speaker is prepared and familiar with the subject.

 

Autocue Teleprompter at TeleprompterRental.com

Autocue Teleprompter

 

I have learned from teleprompter jobs of the importance of rehearsal before a shoot.  Many people struggle with teleprompter readings if they have not prepared beforehand.  While it is true that a teleprompter feeds a speaker his/her lines, rehearsal is still very important.

 

One should try his/her best to memorize lines, and to get a feel for the rhythm at which they will read them beforehand.  This way there is less of a chance of these factors impacting their performance. The teleprompter in this sense can be used as a safety net in case a line is forgotten.

 

It is also important to note that worrying about the speed at which the teleprompter is feeding them to you is useless.   The operator should adjust the teleprompter speed to your reading speed, not the other way around. In the end, a good natural performance is the goal.

It can be achieved by working closely with the teleprompter operator and rehearsing.

Why You Need a Teleprompter

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