The Mill House Media blog archive
Allan Scott has chosen to keep these posts online as many still have value – and they also include a record of his 40-year freelance career – a host of experiences that he cherishes and is happy to share with anyone who might learn something from them. He regrets (almost) nothing – and he’s had a ball…
Public speaking nerves? Pack up your troubles…
Public speaking nerves? Believe me, I could write the definitive account... Why? Because my first public speaking 'engagement' was a genuine, one hundred percent baptism of fire. I was eleven years old. I was a very shy altar boy. And in those (bad old) days only men...
Terrified of public speaking? Here’s how to manage your inner lizard…
Are you terrified of public speaking? For a lot of people the very idea of getting up on your hind legs and talking to an audience - any audience - is so frightening that they try to avoid it at all costs.. And believe me, I know how that feels. At the tender age of...
Public speaking – the most useful tip?
Public speaking makes people nervous. Nothing new there. In fact in a famous survey of things that frightened people, public speaking came top of the list. (And death came fourth. Allegedly...) So what can you do about it? As it happens, I'm in charge of the readers'...
Not your conventional romance
On Valentine's Day 1989 the new love of my life and I exchanged suspiciously similar-looking envelopes - and found we had indeed bought the same card. Mine in Birmingham. Hers in Walthamstow. It showed a princess encountering - and being kissed by - a frog. Turning...
Not your conventional romance (2)
On the day of our engagement, picture two people dressed in posh 15th-century clothes wandering the streets of Orford. Night is falling. We have nowhere to sleep. Unless, of course, we fancy putting up a tent in the dark... (And if you don't know how we got there,...
Not your conventional romance (3)
Picture it if you can... It's the week before our wedding. I've been burning the candle at all three ends (metaphysically speaking) to finish my first solo novel - a dark fantasy farrago called The Dragon in the Stone. (Not read the story so far? Start here...) An...
Running to keep up your skills?
If you think everything's changing too fast for your skills to keep up, take a leaf out of my father's book. He was still getting to grips with new technology - and enjoying it - at the age of 98. So as it happens, I don't agree with Douglas Adams' oft-quoted remark...
Helping your client get what they need
'Helping' your client? 'Educating' your client? 'Collaborating with' your client? Are those all polite ways to talk about 'telling the client what they need to do'? Perhaps, in a way, they are. But even when your relationship with a client is at its most frustrating,...
Change – riding the wind towards a futureproof business
In times of change, how do you find a futureproof business? The short answer is 'it's challenging - but not impossible'. Because obviously you can't plan for everything when some things simply aren't predictable. Except, of course, with 20-20 hindsight. My wife tells...
Interviews – and asking the right questions…
Interviews for video aren't exactly like the ones you see on the news. It's true that you're after the same thing as a news reporter - namely the story. But there the resemblance pretty much ends. Because it's your job to make interviewees look good on camera. Even if...
Public speaking for beginners
What scares you? In fact, what scares you the most? How about death? Scary enough? Failure. Does that worry you? Then, of course, there's pain. No one loves pain. But in a well-known survey... ...one fear topped them all. The fear of public speaking. And death? That...
Embracing change
What happens when the whole basis for your business - disappears...? You really have just two options: to close the business, or to take the plunge by embracing change. If you've read my earlier piece - All change? - you'll know what I'm talking about. In it I...