Reading your speech from Notes vs Lectern
If your speech is already in Notes, you can read it straight from your iPhone. For many speeches, that works well.
Here is when Notes is enough, where it can get in the way, and what Lectern does differently. Tap each phone to try it.
If your speech is short, Notes will do.
Your speech is short, such as a toast of a few lines.
You glance down for the next point rather than read every word.
You're happy to scroll with your thumb as you go.
You'd rather not add another app. Notes is free and already on your phone.
If that sounds like your speech, use Notes. Turn on Do Not Disturb before you stand up.
Where Notes can get in the way
Notes is made for writing. A few of its habits work against reading aloud.
A tap opens the keyboard.
A tap on the text puts the cursor there and opens the keyboard, as it does while you write.
The screen locks.
If you don't touch the screen for a while, it dims and then locks, following your Auto-Lock setting.
Your thumb moves the words.
You scroll by hand. After you look up, you find your line again by eye.
Notifications land on top.
Messages and other notifications appear over your speech unless Do Not Disturb or a Focus is on.
With a short toast these rarely matter. Over a speech of several minutes, they come up more often.
What Lectern does on the day
Your speech sits on one calm screen in large, warm type, and the screen stays awake.
Tap
Start or pause. The words scroll at the pace you set.
Tap the top
Step back a line.
Drag
Find your place. The words stay still when you let go.
A small clock shows how long you have been speaking.
If you leave by mistake, Lectern picks up where you stopped for the next 15 minutes.
Lectern makes no sounds or pop-ups while you read. Turn on Do Not Disturb for everything else.
The words move only when you tap, and Lectern keeps your place while you pause.
Before the day
Bring it over
If your speech is already in Notes, copy it and paste it into a new speech in Lectern. Your words stay as you wrote them.
Mark the pauses
Lectern can suggest where to pause, breathe, slow down, stress a word or look up. You add or dismiss each one, and write your own reminders too.
Time a run
Practice with a timer, then see how long the whole speech runs at the pace you set.
Side by side
| What you need | Notes | Lectern |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free, already on your iPhone | Free to prepare any speech, and to practice and deliver its first 2 minutes. Buy once to practice and deliver every speech in full. |
| Moving through your speech | Scroll with your thumb | Tap to start or pause scrolling at your pace. Drag to find your place. |
| A stray tap | Opens the keyboard | Starts or pauses the words |
| The screen | Locks after your Auto-Lock time without a touch | Stays awake while you read |
| Notifications | Appear unless Do Not Disturb or a Focus is on | Lectern adds none. Turn on Do Not Disturb for other apps. |
| Pause and breath marks | Type them in yourself | Suggested for you to add or dismiss, plus your own reminders |
| Timing a practice | Use the Clock app | A timer in Practice and an estimate for the whole speech |
| Offline | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac and the web through iCloud | iPhone |
Your speeches stay on your phone. Lectern needs no account and has no ads or tracking.
Try it with your own speech.
Preparing any speech is free, and so are practicing and delivering its first 2 minutes.