Book a presentation for your group

Mayna Erika Myers, CFI, offers free educational presentations for chambers of commerce, nonprofit networks, Rotary clubs, and business groups. Every talk is practical, built for small teams, and every attendee leaves with tools they can use the next day — including a handout matched to the topic.

Talks run about 20–30 minutes plus Q&A. Book a single talk, or a quarterly series — a different topic each time, all year.

For Any Group

The $125,000 Mistake

The true-shape story of how one allegation nearly cost a small business owner $125,000 — and the chain of ordinary mistakes behind it: no policies, no documentation, one informal conversation. For owners, managers, and board members in any field who want to see exactly where the chain forms — and how to break it before it costs them. Includes The Chain-Breaker Checklist handout. Free presentation, 20–30 minutes plus Q&A.

For Nonprofits

Safeguarding the Mission — Fraud Prevention in Volunteer Organizations

Nonprofits run on trust, and trust is exactly what internal fraud exploits. This talk covers why volunteer organizations are uniquely vulnerable, the costly mistake of the informal 'quick chat' when something looks wrong, and three controls any organization can put in place right away to protect donor funds and donor confidence.

Fact-Finding Without Fear — Handling Internal Complaints Compliantly

When a complaint lands, how it's handled decides whether an organization steadies itself or ends up liable. This talk covers the 'off-the-record' trap, how to gather facts neutrally and document them in a way that holds up, and when a complaint is serious enough to bring in a neutral outside interviewer.

Documentation That Protects You

When a complaint lands, your notes become your evidence. This talk covers what investigators and courts actually look for, the five fields every incident note needs, and the same-day habits that keep a small organization's documentation protecting it — instead of the other side.

HR Blind Spots That Cost Small Organizations the Most

Small teams run on heart and informality, until a missing policy or a gut-feel decision becomes a claim. This talk walks through the blind spots that cost small organizations the most — no handbook, hiring and firing by gut, volunteer-versus-employee confusion, no complaint channel, hard conversations avoided — and the order to fix them on a $0 budget.

For Startups

The Startup Squeeze —

 Identifying the Trusted Employee Threat

In a startup, everyone wears five hats and trust does the work of controls — until it can't. The biggest financial threat to an early-stage company usually isn't a competitor; it's the trusted employee with unrestricted access and nobody watching. This talk covers why rapid growth breaks informal controls, the behavioral red flags founders miss, and three protections to install now: separate the person who approves payments from the person who reconciles the statements, watch the flags, and pause-document-secure before any hard conversation.

Culture vs. Control — Scaling Your Asset Protection

Growth changes the math: risk scales right alongside headcount, and the five-person playbook breaks completely by fifty. This talk names the 'we're like family' trap — universal access, no structure, serious issues handled with a casual chat — and shows how to add guardrails that don't kill the culture: operational controls that deter theft by design, segregation of duties, documented baseline norms, restricted permissions, and onboarding that sets expectations on day one.

Your First Hires Can Make or Break You

The first five hires set the culture, the risk, and eventually the claims file. Working interviews, lawful questions, references that actually get called, written offer letters, classification (employee vs. contractor vs. volunteer), and a day-one paper trail.

Policies Before Problems

The cheapest handbook is the one written before the first incident, not after the first claim. The five policies a startup needs on day one, paper discipline, the 30/60/90 rhythm, and handbook-lite: five pages that hold up.

For Small Businesses

The High Cost of the 'Quick Chat' — Why Informal Interviews Sabotage Investigations

When something goes wrong, the instinct is to pull the employee aside and confront them on the spot. That back-room conversation is where investigations die, and lawsuits are born — wrongful termination claims, coerced statements, even false imprisonment risk. This talk gives frontline managers a simple protocol instead: pause, document what was actually observed, secure the evidence, and know when the situation calls for a professional interviewer.

Beyond the Camera — Modern Asset Protection for Local Business

Cameras record losses; they don't prevent them. Most shrink never appears on video at all — it hides in paperwork errors, POS voids, fake returns, and short-shipped vendor deliveries. This talk covers where 2–3% of margin actually goes, why reviewing footage after the fact is a trap, and three controls an owner can tighten today: vendor check-in audits, restricted POS overrides, and daily reconciliation.

The Leak in Your Business

Your register balances and the shelf count doesn't. This talk covers the three faces of internal theft — sweethearting, refund and void abuse, inventory walk-out — plus the till-tap test, the 30-day pattern check, and the one rule owners break that ruins cases: confronting before the evidence is preserved.

Investigations Done Right

When something happens, what the owner does in the first 24 hours decides whether the case — and the business — is protected. Timeline discipline, evidence order, one voice, and what to write down versus what never to put in writing.

For Municipalities & Law Enforcement

Preserving Public Trust — Fact-Finding for Municipal Risk Management

A municipality's bottom line isn't revenue — it's taxpayer trust. When internal grievances are mishandled, the cost is public litigation, lost confidence, and friction inside every department. This talk covers the trap of letting a department investigate itself and the municipal risk protocol: centralize complaints, never let a supervisor investigate their own staff, and document the facts before any discipline decision.

Beyond the Written Statement — Why the File Isn’t Finished Until Someone Is Interviewed

A written statement is the weakest record in the file — edited, coached, and impossible to question. This session shows municipal and law-enforcement leaders what a proper interview adds — an open narrative, real follow-up, and documentation that holds up to a grievance, a council, or a court — and how to know when a statement is enough and when it isn’t.

The Interview Is the Evidence

Cases don't fall apart in the courtroom — they fall apart in the interview room. This talk covers how leading questions, memory contamination, and thin documentation undo strong cases; the non-accusatory method that preserves facts instead of manufacturing them; and why one impeached interview can follow an investigator into every case after.

Public Funds, Public Trust

The classic small-city loss isn't a stranger — it's the trusted longtime employee and an office too small to separate duties. This talk covers compensating controls for offices of five or fewer, why longevity is not oversight, and the preserve-first steps to take when the numbers stop adding up.

When Your Own Is Accused

An internal investigation done wrong poisons two things at once: the case, and the department's credibility with its own people and its public. This talk covers the neutrality problem inside small departments, the risk of quiet in-house handling, and what a defensible internal-affairs file actually contains.

The City Can't Afford the Quick Chat

In a small city, a mishandled employee investigation doesn't stay in a file — it becomes a public record, a headline, and a cost the taxpayers cover. This talk covers written complaint intake, neutral fact-finding when everyone knows everyone, and documentation written to be defended in daylight.

Bulletproof Statements — Advanced Fact-Finding & Cognitive Interviewing

Nothing is more frustrating than solving the case and losing the statement. This talk covers why confrontational interrogation produces suppressed confessions and false admissions in today's legal climate, and the non-accusatory alternative: de-escalation, cognitive recall, and locking the timeline so statements stay voluntary, reliable, and admissible. Written for law enforcement professionals.