PalmCue: Speech Cue Cards

Pettigrew Lab

About this app

PalmCue turns the speech you wrote into big cue cards on your phone. One line at a time, big enough to catch in a glance, with the next card under your thumb. You look at the room, not at a wall of text.

It's built for the talks people give in person: a wedding toast, a church talk, a eulogy, introducing someone, a team update. Not for filming video.

HOW IT WORKS

• Paste your speech. Every line becomes a card, and nothing gets reworded.
• Move on without looking. Tap anywhere on the card, press a volume button, or use a Bluetooth clicker. Tapped twice by mistake? Tap the left side of the card to go back one.
• A buzz, not a clock. One small buzz in your hand if you fall behind, and one long buzz at time. Put the phone on a stand and it stays silent, and the edge of the card shows how far through you are.
• Lost your place? Swipe down for the whole talk, right where you were. Hold the card to jump to the next line you starred.
• Practice with fewer words each run: every word, then the first few words, then first letters, then only your starred lines. By the day, the card is a nudge.
• One check before you stand up: battery, screen, Do Not Disturb, all on one screen. Once you start, the screen stays on until you're done.
• Want a note to yourself on a card? Type [pause] or [breathe] in square brackets and it shows up small and dim. Put how to say a name in {curly braces} right after it. Both are optional.
• No draft yet? Start from the shape of a wedding toast, church talk, eulogy, introduction or team update. Each card says what goes there, and the words stay yours.
• Works in your language. Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi and more, and right to left where yours reads that way. The buttons are in English.

WHAT IT DOESN'T DO

No account. No subscription. No ads. PalmCue never connects to the internet, so it works in a reception hall with no bars, and your talks never leave your phone.

WHY I BUILT IT

I speak in public a lot, mostly at church, and I've never liked how I come across reading off a page. PalmCue is what I wanted up there: one line at a time, with the next one already under my thumb.

Joel Pettigrew, Pettigrew Lab

What’s new

The first version. Paste a talk and get cue cards, move on without looking, feel the time instead of checking it, and practice with fewer words each run.