Should I script LinkedIn videos or speak off the cuff?

8 words

a sentence went with the most engagement in a 2024 study of 3,931 TED Talks and how viewers responded on YouTube

What makes a script sound read?

Often the delivery rather than the words. In a 2024 University of Edinburgh study, 16 listeners heard pairs of short clips of one speaker saying the same words, once in conversation and once read aloud. Among the giveaways they named were reading habits, such as pausing at commas or changing intonation at question marks.

So a script works best when you have said it enough times to stop reading the punctuation. Rehearse it out loud, mark where you would naturally breathe rather than where the commas fall, and keep the sentences short. Written the way you talk and rehearsed, a script sounds like you too.

When does a script make sense?

• When precision matters, such as a product announcement, a figure you have to get right or a topic where a loose word could cause trouble.
• When you think best in writing and the words come out clumsy when you speak.
• When the video has to fit a tight length.

For these, write the script the way you talk and read it aloud a few times before recording. In a 2024 study of 3,931 TED Talks and how viewers responded to them on YouTube, talks with sentences of about eight words drew the most engagement.

A teleprompter keeps your eyes near the lens, which matters more than it sounds. In a 2024 study in Scientific Reports, viewers rated speakers who looked down at their screen less favourably than those who looked at the camera, and in a 2025 study a gaze slightly below the lens read as eye contact more often than one straight into it.

When does off the cuff make sense?

When you know the subject well and the point is your view on it. Stories, opinions and lessons from your own work come easily when you talk them through, because you are remembering rather than reciting. The risk is rambling, so give yourself a simple structure before you press record.

One that works is point, example, takeaway. Say what you think, tell the story or detail that shows it, and end on what the viewer should do or see differently. Answering a question someone actually asked you works well too, because it gives the clip a natural start and end.

What's the middle path?

Bullet points. Note a few words for each point you want to make, learn the opening and closing lines, and talk through the rest. Being interviewed, by a colleague or from a list of questions, gets you to the same place, because answering a question comes out conversational on its own.