I haven't had to use a teleprompter much. I've been on stage or video maybe 3 or 4 times where I've used one. Each of the times, I realized I was annoying the heck out of the person turning the script because I consistently was saying things not in the teleprompter script - sometimes changing phrasing and adding a few words; or even worse changing around the order of sentences. I did this every single time too - so on multiple takes or different rehearsals for a talk - I did something different each time. Also - I'm awful at rehearsals, but that's a different story. :-) In general, I know I do this for most of the talks I give (most are without teleprompters!) - I know the points I want to hit, but generally make them in different ways; very often I've made up talking points right on the spot. It generally works out well. At worst, it comes off a little raw. Most recently for subject for a talk at Pubcon for subject matter I knew well, I decided to keep the
