Free Educational Topics in Indianapolis

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3: Browse for a topic, Click the orange request button, Fill out the contact form.
Now the speaker will contact you in the next few days to coordinate details.

SORT: MOST RECENT | A - Z

  • Is Your Financial Advisor a Crook?

    Greg Wright, Certified Fraud Examiner, Assoc. of Certified Fraud Examineers

    Find out if your advisor has had his licenses suspended, revoked, had multiple consumer complaints or been charged by a regulator. The advisor may have hidden this part of his background from you. Learn how to use free internet sites when conducting a background check on financial advisors.

    Request This Free Speech

  • Cemetery Symbolism

    Jeannie Regan-Dinius, Director of Special Initiatives, DNR-DHPA

    Cemeteries tell us much about who came before us. The size, shape and documentation vary from religious groups, time period, and location. But, all are important outdoor museums. The symbols and markings that individuals put on their stones reveal much about the individual and family. MORE >

    Jeannie R. Regan-Dinius, Director of Special Initiatives for the Department of Natural Resources’’ Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, will discuss the state of cemeteries in Indiana, the presumed meanings of markings, how pop culture affects stones, and what you need to look at when you walk through a cemetery.

    Jeannie Regan-Dinius has a life-long interest in history, family history, and research. She earned her Bachelors in Public History from Ball State University, where she studied also anthropology and American Studies. She has her Masters in Urban Planning and Information Management/Library Science from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis with additional graduate course work in public history.

    Before coming to the State, she was the Executive Director of a 96-acre historic park in Huntington, IN. She came to the state in 2000 to help work on the Underground Railroad research initiative. She was given the additional responsibility of the Cemetery Registry, the Historic Theater Initiative, and public outreach.

    Request This Free Speech

  • How crooks conceal their past and change their identity

    Greg Wright, Certified Fraud Examiner, Assoc. of Certified Fraud Examineers

    Is your adviser a convicted fraudster that adopted a new identity following prison? Did a child molester circumvent your school’s background check? Greg will discuss U. S. states that have “closed” and “open” vital records, demonstrate how easy it is to “take” a dead person’s identity, illustrate how to produce “breeder” documents necessary to get a new U. S. Social Security number, show how some conceal the time they were in prison, and how crooks create a “new-skin” individual. MORE >

    Request This Free Speech

  • The Underground Railroad in Indiana

    Jeannie Regan-Dinius, Director of Special Initiatives, DNR-DHPA

    As enslaved Africans tried to gain their freedom, many decided that their only option was to run north into states that did not allow slavery or into Canada. Many slaves escaped with no assistance, but others were helped by participants of what has become known as the Underground Railroad (UGRR). The UGRR was most active in Indiana between 1830 and 1865. MORE >

    The UGRR was neither underground nor a railroad. The UGRR refers to the network of individuals and communities that helped fugitive slaves. Sometimes the assistance was spontaneous, other times highly organized. Because aiding an escaping slave was illegal, the activity was usually carried out in secret.

    UGRR participants were diverse. Blacks and whites, slaves and freed, men and women from the North and South helped those searching for freedom. Food, clothing, shelter, guidance, and protection from slave hunters were given at a risk to everyone involved.

    Every Indiana community has oral histories about those individuals who participated in the Underground Railroad (UGRR), but the nature of the network sometimes makes it difficult to find evidence to substantiate the stories. A statewide initiative, the Indiana Freedom Trails, is working to confirm and document sites that can be definitively linked to the UGRR. Every day, researchers comb the archives in small historical societies looking for information about Indiana’s involvement in the Underground Railroad.

    Jeannie R. Regan-Dinius, Director of Special Initiatives, will discuss Indiana’s role in the events, talk about documenting stories, and offer suggestions you can use in your county.

    Jeannie, Director of Special Initiatives, has a life-long interest in history, family history, and research. She earned her Bachelors in Public History from Ball State University, where she studied also anthropology and American Studies. She has her Masters in Urban Planning and Information Management/Library Science from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis with additional graduate course work in public history.

    Before coming to the State, she was the Executive Director of a 96-acre historic park in Huntington, IN. She came to the state in 2000 to help work on the Underground Railroad research initiative. She was given the additional responsibility of the Cemetery Registry, the Historic Theater Initiative, and public outreach.

    Request This Free Speech