Venue

The Congress Venue is the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Indianapolis. The city of Indianapolis itself is centrally located within Indiana. Indiana is in the heart of the region known as the Midwest – primarily a pastoral agricultural area, but also with major urban centers

The hotel has nearly 500 rooms and has been recently renovated to offer tempting restaurants, distinctive function spaces, and beautifully appointed guestrooms. The hotel is centrally-located next to the State Capitol and conveniently situated to a wide range of places to visit, many of which are within walking distance.

POINTS OF INTEREST

Circle Centre Mall (connected by skywalk)
Convention Center (connected by skywalk)
RCA Dome (connected by skywalk)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
Indiana Repertory Theatre
Indianapolis Zoo & Botanical Gardens
Victory Field
Conseco Fieldhouse
NCAA Hall of Champions
White River State Park
Downtown Canal
Murat Theater
Mass Avenue Arts District
Military Park

The state of Indiana is divided into 3 fairly distinct physical geographical regions.

The northern third is part of the Great Lakes Plain, characterized by fairly level terrain. The far northwestern part of this region is within the Chicago Metropolitan area and the city of Gary (birthplace of Michael Jackson) and its surroundings are commuter suburbs. A number of counties border Lake Michigan, with characteristic sand dunes and ecological niches. Contradicting the outstanding natural beauty of the shore-line, is also heavy industry associated with steel manufacturing and the automotive industry, though this is declining. Much of the rest of this region is agricultural, with a mix of arable and livestock farming.

The central third is part or the Tipton Till Plain. Rural areas in the central portion of the state are typically composed of a patchwork of fields and forested areas. The geography of Central Indiana consists of gently rolling hills and sandstone ravines carved out by the retreating glaciers. Many of these ravines can be found in west-central Indiana, specifically along Sugar Creek in Turkey Run State Park and Shades State Park. Indianapolis is within this region, as are the university cities of Lafayette (Purdue University), Terre Haute (Indiana State University) and Muncie (Ball State University).

The southern third is part of the Southern Hills and Lowlands region. Southern Indiana is a mixture of farmland, forest and very hilly areas, especially near Louisville and in the south central lime hills areas. The Hoosier National Forest is a 200,000-acre (810 km2) nature preserve in south central Indiana. Southern Indiana's topography is more varied than that in the north and generally contains more hills and geographic variation than the northern portion, such as the "Knobs," a series of 1,000 ft (300 m) hills that run parallel to the Ohio River in south-central Indiana. The bottomlands of Indiana, where the Wabash and Ohio converge, hosts numerous plant and animal species normally found in the Lower Mississippi and Gulf Coast region of the United States. The limestone geology of Southern Indiana has created numerous caves and one of the largest limestone quarry regions in the United States. Many of Indiana's official buildings are made with Indiana limestone.

For those wanting to combine the conference with personal recreation time, these websites offer great information about the city of Indianapolis itself (http://visitindy.com/) and the state of Indiana (http://www.in.gov/visitindiana/)