ONLINE EVENTS
The Covid pandemic has meant that all events 2020-2021 were taken online & so I have for this past year, created & hosted several online events, from networking, to the creation of a brand new hybrid event combining training and networking for students and academics which have had a global reach. I was recently tasked to design and host Nottingham Trent Universities first ever online networking event for International business students which has become a quarterly series, as well as facilitating the their first online networking event as part of Global Responsibility Week 2021, for professors from across the globe.
Pictured: ‘Networking for success’ online hybrid event for Nottingham Business School
GUEST LECTURING
Over the years I have worked with Universities to provide guest lectures to business students and academics, covering various areas of business including networking, storytelling, branding and idea generation. My lectures are known to be interactive and fun.
Pictured: Guest lecture at Ingenuity Centre, University of Nottingham as part of the Entrepreneur in Residence round table mastermind session scheme.
Fiona’s knowledge around networking and building business connections is excellent and clearly comes from years of experience bringing likeminded professionals together.
As a University of Nottingham Entrepreneur In Residence, Fiona has recently delivered several engaging workshops for business owners in the Nottingham area. On both occasions, Fiona was so impressive that she received raved reviews from participants and multiple requests for her to come again. Fiona truly practices what she preaches and that genuine nature is evident within her company RSViP. I am already looking forward to Fiona’s next workshop. She’s just Fantastic! “
Dr Terri Holloway, University of Nottingham
“As an NBS Alumni Fellow, professional facilitator and trainer in strategic networking of all types, and owner of RSViP Networking Agency, Fiona Duncan-Steer is a pleasure to work with. We, at NBS are thrilled to be able to invite Fiona to work with our postgraduate students throughout the year, to enhance their networking skills. We see this as a critical professional skill, and Fiona leads insightful and practical sessions that provide our students with the confidence to present and conduct themselves in a variety of social environments. Fiona is extremely professional and willing to develop materials for specific audiences and their needs.”
Dr Claudia M. Bordogna BA(Hons) MA PgCHE PhD FHEA ACMI, Senior Lecturer in Postgraduate Personalisation, Nottingham Trent University
WORKSHOPS
My workshops are extremely popular with business students and academics covering various areas of business, including networking, storytelling and creativity in business, with a focus on people, experience and innovation. I have always seen impressive attendance at my sessions and have often had to run the same workshop back to back on the same day in order to fit everyone in!
Regular sessions are held at Nottingham Trent University as part of their Personal Development weeks and the University of Nottingham as part of their ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’ scheme, to which I am a proud member.
CONSULTANCY
Previous work includes 121 and group consultation with academics surrounding the topics of business networking and event management. One project I was involved with was the consult and co-ordination of Nottingham Trent Universities very first networking event, speaking and facilitating the introductions of 250 International freshers. Other examples are consultancy to academics, facilitation and guest speaking at student & alumni welcome events, as well as working with academics to guest lecture around various business topics including networking and innovation.
“Hello Fiona, I was one of your students from the guest lecture held at Nottingham Trent University last year. Just wanted to reach out to you to let you know I have implemented your methods of networking for my upcoming start up and it helped me immensely by securing a round of funding, so i’d like to thank you and hope that you keep doing the fabulous job that you are, cheers :-)”
— Vishal Somani, International business student, Nottingham Trent University (posted on Instagram from Bangalore)
“Since Fiona has joined the Nottingham Business School (NBS) Alumni Fellowship Programme almost 5 years ago she has contributed to delivering networking training sessions, guest lecturing, employability workshops and mentoring. The RSViP networking places Fiona offers to our students are so important because it gives them the chance to develop communications skills and the confidence to speak to professionals. Many of our students have benefitted because they have secured placements or even shadowing opportunities to understand the sector they wish to work in. Fiona is an inspirational Alumni Fellow willing to give her time back to the university on a volunteered basis to make a difference and NBS is very grateful to Fiona for all her efforts.”
-Govind Singh, Alumni Relations Coordinator, Nottingham Trent University
PROJECT FACILITATION
I am often asked to take part in student projects as the role of facilitator, managing groups of up to twenty students at a time for the length of a full day. These have been both solely and alongside academics, using various coaching tools and techniques as well as ice breaker activities., with the focus being idea generation, research and presentation.
Pictured: The Thinkubator Project, 2019, NTU
EVENT FACILITATION
I work closely with The Nottingham Business School to provide support to business students at my own events ran through my business network- RSViP. We offer five places per month for students to attend our events in order to make new connections and practice their networking skills, providing them with work-sheets and guides; preparing them for the world of work.
We have seen really positive results from this as many students have secured placements, jobs and funding through our introductions.
“Fiona has supported Nottingham Business School in various ways, both personally and professionally over the last three to four years. Her personal involvement has been through the Alumni Fellowship’ scheme, in providing mentoring support and experiential opportunities for students. Significantly this has included support for our Thinkubator Challenge event; firstly as a client organisation in 2016, and secondly as a facilitator in 2017. For the former, Fiona submitted a business challenge for teams of students to tackle over the course of the afternoon. This required her to brief two groups of around 15 students at the start of the challenge and give feedback on their performance and recommendations at the end of the afternoon. For the latter, Fiona led the facilitation of a Challenge group, again of around 15 students, over the course of a three hour session. The facilitation role required Fiona to act as a mentor and coach the students through the challenge, helping them to work as a team, supporting them in dividing up the work, and encouraging them to put forward ideas and organise these into a final presentation to the client. In doing this she was extremely student-centred, encouraging all members of the team to take part, challenging the students to think creatively, and supporting them in putting forward recommendations. She led the group confidently and with a sense of purpose, allowing the team to perform at its best.
In all my dealings with Fiona I find her to be extremely professional in her approach; assertive without being pushy, supportive/helpful without over-promising, and both competent and inspiring confidence at all times. She is inclusive with excellent interpersonal skills, and in my experience has particular strengths in enabling others to form networks and contribute to discussions. "
— Dr Alex Hiller, Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University
MENTORING
A large part of my involvement with universities over the years has included student mentoring on both 121 and group levels.
Working alongside business students, many being International, I offer support and advice through coaching and mentorship, as well as facilitating projects as part of fixed modules, which result in a student presentation.
I have also regularly been asked to be on panels alongside academics and other external representatives as part of student presentations, providing feedback.
VOLUNTARY WORK
Being an alumni of Nottingham Trent University, I have been a proud member of their Alumni Fellowship Scheme for over 6 years, as part of the Nottingham Business School, as well as a member of the Entrepreneur in Residence scheme at University of Nottingham, Ingenuity Lab, getting involved in various projects, student mentoring, guest lectures, meetings and events, as well as providing written content for their online blogs.
“I was lucky enough to have Ms Fiona Duncan as my industrial mentor, in my academic journey at Nottingham Trent University. I was immediately impressed with her eye for detail and focus on business and networking sector. During all the sessions with her, she motivated me in every aspect to find direction for my future career. Through this journey, she taught me how to fight back to all my negative beliefs, failure and improve through criticism. No one enjoys criticism, and this can be said as once I got an opportunity to be called for an interview from a high end brand, and got a disappointed feedback. Then my mentor Ms Fiona made me understood that these failure or any situations do come in life and therefore one must learn from them for future. She has always been a supportive and has understood me, what I went through. Any kind of learning is difficult to achieve without guidance. I wholeheartedly recommend Ms Fiona as a mentor particularly. She has helped me to become a better person who is now more confident and believes in herself.” Hope to be in touch with you:)
Thank you so much Garima (Your Mentee❤️) “
— Garima Sharma, International Business student, Nottingham Trent University
MORE SUPER DUPER FEEDBACK
"Fiona’s plethora of knowledge and experience in business development, pitching and networking and understanding of what is required to run a successful business, led to the Ingenuity Lab approaching her to support our Ingenuity Lab members. Part of our competition, Ingenuity, Fiona has mentored winning teams over the past two years and is a much-appreciated supporter of the Lab." -Genelva Meikle, University of Nottingham, Ingenuity Boot Camp - 2016 & 2017
"We did it!!! I missed our train to stay for announcements and we are in! Thank you so much for such an amazing day. You were just invaluable and I appreciate your coaching, encouragement and belief! Whoo hoo!!!!"
-Bethany Koby, CEO, Tech Will Save Us- For Pitch At Palace Project 2017 & Finalists @ St James’ Palace
"Thank you to you! We really appreciated you facilitating the session at the last minute and doing a brilliant job. Pleased you enjoyed it." -Caroline Berrill, Nottingham Trent University
“I met Fiona as a student at the University of Nottingham Ingenuity training where I was trying to develop my startup business concept. Speaking to Fiona there in her role as a mentor was invaluable as she brought such a wealth of experience. Everyone in our group loved the enthusiasm and passion she brought to coaching us, and her practical advice on a range of areas especially evaluating our online service, developing a marketing strategy and networking training enabled us to make a real leap ahead with our business. After the training she kept in touch and helped put us in touch with other local businesses who we could pitch our service too. ”
-Lawrie Cate, Compute Science Graduate, University of Nottingham
MEMBER MInstLM
I have my level 5 certificate in coaching and mentoring with the Institute of Leadership & Management, obtained in 2019
Honorary Bachelors degree in Theatre Design, 2003
BTEC National Diploma in 3D Design, 2000
A-Level in Art & Design, 2000
Certificate in CAD, 2000
Fiona Duncan-Steer MInstLM (BA hons)
