How To Be Real While Talking Into A Camera Lens

Here's advice for the fourth piece of video equipment you should buy (after camera, lights and audio equipment):

One of the pitfalls of reading off a teleprompter (especially if you are not a professional actor or trained spokesman) is that it makes you look like you're reading - not talking from the heart.

If someone came to your office to sell you printer toner and started reading his pitch off index cards - what would you think?

But looking into the lens is the good part of a teleprompter. It forces the camera subject to stare directly into the viewer's eyes. 

Here's a tip that I got from Award-winning director Errol Morris. Ok, I saw his movies and read about how he did it.
Check out this Morris directed gem from IBM: 
http://youtu.be/39jtNUGgmd4?hd=1

Morris uses a teleprompter to show a live feed of the himself (he's asking the questions) that is seen by the on-camera talent.  Your CEO - instead of seeing text on a prompter, sees a friendly face - a tv producer, a director of marketing, whoever can engage the CEO in conversation.  You'll need a cheap consumer camera on the interviewer to provide the feed to the teleprompter.

Now the only hitch is that the pre-written script is out the window. However, the untrained on-camera talent is now having an organic conversation with the viewer.

So the final product looks like this example Wheelhouse produced last year (I am a Principal at Wheelhouse) for the Bank Street College of Education Graduate School.