About Me

Meet Miriam

Your Journey to a Fulfilling Life

Find out more about Miriam McKenzie,
the teacher behind Say It Clearly.

About Me

My Mission is to Empower Your Life

Transform your life and achieve your goals with professional and personalized support.

Miriam McKenzie (Erikson)

Award winning, published author who has featured numerous times in the media, Miriam McKenzie (Erikson). Say It Clearly Ltd offers customised speech training to business professionals, educators, parents.

Miriam has post graduate qualifications and over twenty five years’ experience teaching and training in speech and effective communication to a diverse range of clients including sales people, corporate CEOs, bankers, business owners, teachers and children.

Publications

2019, McKenzie, M. Say It Clearly (revised edition), Essential Resources, NZ.
2012, Erikson, M Say It Clearly, Essential Resources, NZ.

Awards

2018, Southland Export Trust grant winner for exporting speech programmes to China.

Media

Stuff Articles

Conferences and Events

Conductive Education fundraiser 2013 – Presented and modelled for ‘Fragile’ clothing range for women and girls.
Z Regional Councils HR conference 2014 – Facilitated and presented Public Speaking – and it’s all public Speaking.
NZ Law Society Southland Otago conference 2015 – Presented Effective Communication – what’s tone got to do with it?
Southland Chamber of Commerce breakfast seminar 2016 – Opened and Closed for Christopher Luxon, CEO Air NZ.
Southland Chamber of Commerce Women Inspiring Women conference 2020. How to flip the coin from fear to courage.

What Say It Clearly Offers

Customised solutions for those who want to communicate seamlessly with anyone, anywhere.

English For Speakers Of Other Languages

Master clear English with Say It Clearly’s simple, professional training—an investment that is truly priceless.

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Business And Corporate

Achieve persuasive speech and boost sales with Say It Clearly’s targeted training for an efficient, productive workplace.

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Education Sector And Children

Build your child’s literacy and self-esteem through Say It Clearly’s foundational training for clear speech.

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Articles: Miriam’s Insights &
Communication Tips

Master the art of public speaking with our latest guides. From overcoming stage fright to perfecting your pitch, discover professional strategies to elevate your voice.

Read Miriam’s Articles

Corporate & Business

Tone of voice – the difference between sounding like a strangled cat or a purring dulcet tone.
Continue Reading

“I found Miriam’s training to be very thorough and a good mix of exercises and theory.

The training package is comprehensive and includes written material which is good resource to refer to. Miriam has a very personable approach to presentation skills and clearly sets out areas where ‘work is required’ in a positive way.

I personally found the training was very helpful to my presentations and I continue to use the lessons learnt from her training.

I would strongly recommend her training to other organisations.”

Rob Phillips, Previous CEO, Environment Southland

“Tenei te mihi kia koa a Miriam McKenzie, I have the utmost respect for you .

Your mentorship and guidance helped me achieve my goals with my final Degree year of studies.

Your business acumen and sheer passion in your work and the determination to share your knowledge to help others is inspiring. I learned so much from you and I feel this will be a lifetime of connection of a valued relationship.”

Jodi, SIT marketing officer and student liaison

“Thank you so much for the skills you have sent me away to work on.

For the first time in weeks I feel that I can go forth and cope.”

Janice

“I found ‘Say It Clearly’ through advertising on the Southland Chamber of Commerce. I contacted Miriam by e-mail, and she booked an appointment to meet. I was taking another English course, but the course was not helping improve myself. The first benefit that I identified in the “Say It Clearly” was that the training is focused on my gaps, customised to me.

Miriam helped me to develop a Cover Letter and a CV based on Kiwi employer profile. And it makes all difference.

Besides that, Miriam is more than a teacher. She is a coach; she helps me to improve my English, my posture and how to approach the subjects during the interview. As well as look for job opportunities aligned with my background and knowledge.

After the training, I feel self-confident to attend interviews and was successful in winning a role in my career.”

Maico, Shipping Officer, Alliance Group

“I think the booklet will be a very valuable tool as it has everything we talked about and more. Great to look back on and refresh. Excellent everyday strategies to take home and implement”

Kirsty, Te Anau, NZ

“Very easy to understand the steps to building resilience and minimise anxiety”

Tina, Te Anau, NZ

“My class have really enjoyed your speech programme. They like the continuity of the weekly focus. They have told me that they like trying out the ‘silly sentences’ and ask to link the sound to a blend of the week. If we miss it for a timetable change, they ask to do it later.

I have a couple of kids who have quite severe speech issures and have used the programme at home and it has made a big difference in their improvement over the year. A lot of the class used the programme at school too and it was great how it reached the wider community.”

Polly, Invercargill, NZ

“The Say It Clearly programme is an effective tool for both teachers and students.

The video clips are short bursts of knowledge that are specific to a speech sound which means that the programme can be catered to individual needs.

They give students direct assistance in helping with the correct production of speech sounds in isolation, within words and then sentences and along with the handouts help raise teacher’s knowledge in learning how to assist children to speak clearly”

Pam, a Resource Teacher of Literacy in NZ

“I feel stronger now after starting this course and I have learnt strategies to manage my anxiety and how to feel good about myself as a person and that I am worth something. I have also learnt that I don’t need to follow other people and copy them. I need to do things by myself instead of trying to please each other”.

Emma, Year 12

“I know myself better than I used to. I have strategies to use to control my anxiety and other emotions. I also learn to use my assertive behaviour and tell my opinion in a positive matter to influence. I win, you win factor. I think boys would benefit from this i.e especially *BHS because they put girls in situations where I think that if they took this course the ‘situations’ could be much better”.

Katie, Year 13 Student

“As I was doing this course all I could think was, I wish certain people could hear these things and learn these and if they did there would be less conflict in their lives. I know myself better (personality). I know how to control situations with people so that I get the best outcome. I think this would benefit boys, help them learn ways to communicate, and it would benefit them in the future eg relationships and success with working with others as males lack these skills. Boys put girls under a lot of stress as they don’t fully understand how to communicate in ways that help both people”.

Julia, Year 13 Student

“I started the English course and I find it clear, precise and on the spot just like what I am looking for.
I feel like my pronunciation automatically goes back to the old one as it hasn’t solidly imprinted in my brain. By hearing and practising the exercises while being busy helps save time and helps with memorising for me as a busy mum. Kids can also learn and practice alongside me while they are playing quietly. I tried recording your exercises on my phone but it doesn’t sound good.”

Masterclass – Excellence in English

Jessy, Year 13 Student