Testimonial - Collect and embed testimonials in minutes

Erin Wansbrough

CEO, SODA

"Alicia absolutely nailed the guest speaker talk at our RISE UP event celebrating female entrepreneurship! She was entertaining, inspiring, engaging and her down-to-earth manner made her easy to relate to and connect with. Our audience members were totally enraptured and we’ve never received so much positive feedback about a guest speaker before."

Cass Brownlow Davies

Corporate Partnerships Manager at ThinkTank Media

Alicia has delivered keynotes for our summits, on the virtual stage and in person. In either setting, Alicia exceeds expectations. She is a dream to work with, the feedback from delegates is outstanding, and you can't wait to put her takeaways into practice. What's not to love!

Alison Buck

Conference Project Manager at Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand

Alicia is direct and to the point, which gives a fabulous insight and amazing clarity with her contribution to our conference. I'm really looking forward to our next collaboration!

Keri Little

LinkedIn Local

A special thank you to Alicia McKay for opening the evening with such a powerful keynote. Today we have received nothing but positive feedback, but one comment in particular has stayed with me: “Your ability to make people laugh at something while really questioning it at the same time was incredible.”

Nic Quilty

Chief Executive at WasteMINZ

Alicia is up-front and tells it like it is. She is also very good at engaging with the audience. Alicia doesn't read off notes. She gave us learnings and tools we could take away and use. It was inspirational, funny, and vulnerable. I would recommend Alicia for events where you want to challenge your delegates' thinking, inspire them, and make them think differently.

David Mackay

Deputy Secretary - Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts

A huge thank you for your outstanding presentation to my team this afternoon. I’ve had so much great feedback on your session, and some of your phrases have already entered our lexicon. I am very grateful to you for having brought your wisdom, experience, and obvious enthusiasm for the local government sector to our meeting today. Thanks again

Sue Kohn-Taylor

A big thank you to Alicia McKay for opening the evening with such a brilliant talk. Insightful, funny, and thought-provoking all at the same time.

Daniel Naranjilla

Your words create worlds. And it was such a joy to finally hear those words in-person. Had the pleasure to meet one of the loveliest authors in New Zealand yesterday. Thank you Alicia McKay for that real and thought-provoking session. That's one item off my NZ must do list. ✅️

Tracy Tufnell

Health Educator

What a treat to hear from Alicia McKay. Funny, insightful, and incredibly inspiring. The kind of speaker who leaves you both reflecting and laughing at the same time. I walked away with a few new ideas buzzing around in my mind.

M

Mohit M

Project Lead at NZTE

I attended a LinkedInLocal Auckland event this week and had the chance to hear Alicia McKay speak. One idea from her talk stuck with me: “Intellectual sovereignty.” The concern she raised was powerful: If we outsource too much thinking to AI, we risk our minds being colonised by thoughts and ideas that were never truly our own.

Janine Chamley

Senior Brand Manager

It takes a lot to get me to hike from one end of Auckland to the other, and Alicia McKay was it. After being a regular visitor reader of her newsletter, it was a metaphorical slap in the face (of the good kind) to hear her speak. Unfiltered, unwaveringly open and unlike any I’ve heard before. There’s a certain kind of admiration hearing someone who has seriously done her homework, read allllll the background and taken the time to form an opinion. And still be open enough to Hmmmmmm. She reinforced the need to keep intellectual sovereignty (her concept not mine). This means maintaining the inherent right and capacity of individuals, communities, or nations to independently create, govern, control, and utilize their own knowledge, data, and innovation. It’s a big concept that is worth considering more in an age where the temptation is to take humans out of the loop.

Verity Craft

General Manager

Just like the brilliant Alicia McKay, I'm doubling down on thinking. I appreciated hearing Alicia talk about our use of AI in a way that was frankly, very refreshing. I'm a bit over hearing people tell us that if we don't use AI in almost everything, we're going to be left behind. Because while I do use AI for certain things, I'm also incredibly worried about the impact it's having on our brains and on the planet. I loved that she highlighted that writing is thinking (something we've said for years about why writing a book is such a powerful personal development journey!) But my favourite part was probably this (excuse me if I got a couple of words down wrong Alicia!): "The way we describe the world shapes the world we have. Writing is not just a tool of description; it's a tool of creation." She challenged us to consider when we get words from AI, who has created the systems that are feeding those words back to us? Who are we letting infiltrate and influence our minds? And what interests do those people have? I left the event thinking even more than I usually do about our words – both those created by us and those given to us by AI. What kind of world are we shaping with those worlds? And what kind of world do we want to shape?

Poppy Chen

Commercial Relationship Manager

It has been five days since I attended my very first LinkedInLocal Auckland event , and the inspiration is still lingering. A huge highlight was the powerful speech by Alicia McKay. One takeaway that deeply resonated with me was her reminder about our intellectual sovereignty. In this era of AI-driven content and social media algorithms, it’s a timely wake-up call to be more intentional about how we receive and process information.

Rosie Addison

Client Engagement and Workshop Specialist

While I love a good powerpoint (and secretly, kind of love a bad one too), Alicia McKay opted to have no presentation when she spoke at our recent LinkedInLocal Auckland event. Instead, she freestyled her way through her current thinking on A.I. It was non-hypey. Alicia was very much: ‘this is where we are right now, this is what I think, we can go off in quite a few different directions here, it could be good, it could be bad’ - almost with a ‘shrug’. I personally think we all form our opinions too quickly, without considering other perspectives out there. So I appreciated Alicia’s self-awareness. Too many people are talking with 100% confidence with limited knowledge on technology (and/or human behaviour). Alicia’s approach actually enables an environment that fosters further thinking. And further thinking enables better conversations. Which enables better thinking… I’m sure we can all agree, we need a bit more of that, right...?

Rachel Brophy

Transformational Systems Thinker | Strategist | Change Agent | Building Social Impact

I was incredibly fortunate to hear Alicia McKay at the LGMA Conference. This is the 2nd time I've heard Alicia speak - her down to earth, pragmatic insights are always a great reminder of why Local Government matters!!

ICMA - International City/County Management Association

What does it take to lead communities with purpose, strategy, and staying power? At #ICMA2025, three powerful voices will help answer that question. Lindsey Cormack unpacks how civic readiness starts with everyday leadership. Doug Griffiths, MBA challenges us to confront what really holds communities back. And Alicia McKay delivers sharp, actionable insights on how to lead with vision and impact. These aren’t just sessions, they’re sparks for transformation. Discover more and register today! lnkd.in/geAC4Xjt

Jordan Wright GAICD

Engagement Specialist | Councillor City of Wanneroo | Director | Local Government | Governance Professional

My morning ride was educational thanks to Alicia McKay. I met Alicia at a local government conference some two years ago however, have continued to engage in Alicia's content. Our Simon Sinek of Australia and NZ 💡

Julian Geddes

Director Operations at Mid-Western Regional Council.

Great course, excellent facilitator.

Rebecca David

Head of Transformation, Fonterra

Alicia has a real talent for simplifying strategy in a way that is both thought provoking and incredibly impactful. We walked away from our short session with a collective understanding of the gaps and opportunities we have, which has given us a renewed energy and focus to really nail our strategy. As a speaker Alicia was engaging and relatable – her wealth of experience is obvious, but at the same time she makes it seem so achievable which I think is a pretty powerful combination

Holly Morchat

General Manager, ACENZ

Alicia brings strategic insight to her MC duties. She weaved a great narrative between speakers and bridged the sessions in a way that landed well with our audience of business leaders and owners. With 1000 things in my head at any given time organising a conference, her straight-shooting communication style is appreciated. The feedback from our attendees has been great!

Jacob Toner

Director of Risk & Intelligence at Te Whatu Ora

Alicia is a dynamic and engaging presenter who despite having to run the session virtually was able to keep participants engaged throughout. Alicia is able to balance imparting wisdom with some genuine humour. I would love to work with Alicia again.

Colin D. Ellis

AU | UK | US : Keynote Speaker, Culture Change Specialist, Founder of the Culture Makers Community and Podcaster

I've never heard a speaker that cuts through the complexity of strategy quite like Alicia. Her speeches are powerful and strike at the very heart of what's required to create meaningful direction that can give rise to the cultures required to get things done. She is honest, forthright and uses case studies to land her points. Highly recommended!

Diana Pawluk

Manager Events at Local Government Professionals Inc

I really enjoyed Alicia's ability to read the room and adapt quickly. Thanks to Alicia's contribution our awards ceremony was conducted efficiently. She was not afraid to deviate from the script when warranted which is a great thing! I highly recommend Alicia for emcee and facilitation roles.

Dan Ferguson

Executive Officer at Parks and Leisure Australia Vic/Tas Region

I enjoyed Alicia's down to earth, no-nonsense approach. It was a great contrast to our government attendees! Thanks to Alicia's contribution, our event was set up with a fantastic undertone that continued on across the following two days. Alicia, and her content, was often referred to in presentations by other speakers and events afterwards. She's a great communicator who sets the tone of the event, and responds to the vibe of the audience really well. I would recommend Alicia for events where you want to have a little bit of fun and 'cut through the crap'.

Steph Phillips

Professional Development Project Officer at Local Government Professionals Inc

"Alicia was funny, engaging, got the audience (and myself thinking) and was not boring for a moment! Having Alicia as the MC with her engaging and personable style was great. Alicia injects fun (while taking the job seriously), and I would thoroughly recommend her for events where you need some "lightness" in the program. Alicia was also a pleasure to work with both online and in person."

Michelle Cox

Acting Director Events & Business Development at Local Government Professionals Inc

I loved that Alicia knew the local government sector so well. Alicia's style was relatable and in tune with the audience. Her communication was clear and she was a delight to work with and her ability to discuss concepts and theory, within a story and giving the audience the tools to embed new practices into their daily schedules, or operationalise the theory was amazing. I would recommend Alicia for masterclasses and conferences. Alicia has this ability to speak to anyone in the audience, and empower them in their role. Whether they are CEOs or coordinators.

Fiona Parrant

CEO Birthright Hawke's Bay Child and Family

I was there, took my leadership team of 16 - was a brilliant event and you were great!

Bridget Cooksley

Manager Recruitment, Ministry of Social Development

I was at this event Alicia & you were amazing! As were the other speakers 👏

Barb Grant

🤝 Change Management Mentor 🤝 | Author of the Amazon #1 bestseller ‘Change Management that Sticks’ 💡 | I mentor change agents so they can deliver high change adoption and meaningful results 🎯

I thought you were the stand out speaker amongst many great speakers.👍🏻

Danielle Quigg

Marketing, Events & Membership Coordinator at Waikato Chamber of Commerce

Alicia was a fantastic speaker at our recent Inspire event. Our attendees have provided us feedback that they learned of the importance of delving into uncomfortable situations, in order to grow. Alicia reinforced that it’s okay to not be perfect. Waikato Chamber of Commerce.

Sarah Azam

Senior Manager Communications and Engagement at Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency

Alicia calls things out. She's upfront. She's really focused and keeps everyone on track. Great bubbly personality. Great sessions. I've felt inspired and motivated after each one. So worth the time and energy!