2025 MTE - Class Schedule for Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

2025 MTE - Class Schedule for Mike Phillips

I'm teaching two fun and interesting topics at Mobile Tech Expo in 2025.

How to teach a car detailing class
If you’ve been thinking about branching out from your normal business and offer car detailing classes to the public, be sure to sign-up for and take this class by Mike Phillips. Mike has been teaching car detailing classes that he can document back to the year 1987. Since then, he’s taught hundreds, even thousands of car and boat detailing classes. In this class he’ll share the format and techniques that have made his classes popular world-wide as well as the most hands-on classes on planet Earth.



How to teach a boat detailing class
Mike can document his formal boat detailing classes back to the year 2013. Teaching a boat detailing class requires just the right boat, all the right tools and products and most of all, experience detailing boats and experience teaching detailing classes. In this class he’ll share the format and techniques that have made his classes popular world-wide as well as the most hands-on classes on planet Earth.


Bio
Mike Phillips has been teaching classes on car detailing since 1987. He began his career as a mobile detailer, then progressed to mobile distribution of detailing products. Throughout his career, he has worked with industry powerhouse companies such as Meguiar’s, AutoGeek, 3D Products International, and now Dr. Beasley’s.

He has served as host for two TV shows on car detailing:

1: Competition Ready on the Velocity Channel
2: Autogeek’s What’s in the Garage


He is the author of five car detailing books and one boat detailing book.
1: How to Polish Paint to Perfection - Published 1998
2: The Art of Detailing
3: Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine
4: The RUPES BigFoot Paint Polishing System
5: Flex XC 3401 VRG Dual Action Orbital Polisher
6: How To Detail Boats with Marine 31


He’s been the guest detailing expert for multiple TV shows including,

• My Classic Car with Dennis Gage
• Chasing Classic Cars with Wayne Carini
• Two Guys Garage with Bryan Fuller and Kevin Byrid plus Willie B.
• Truck U with Bruno Massel and Matt Steele
• Motorhead Garage with Dave Bowman and Sam Memmolo

He has written more than 1,000 articles on the topics of auto and marine detailing. He was the Detailing Trainer for Meguiars.com from 1987-2009, as well as the Director of Training for Autogeek.com from 2009-2021. After that, he served as Global Director of Training for 3D International.

Mike has been intensely involved in the IDA from the start. He has served on the board and various committees and is also an active Recognized Independent Trainer (RIT). Mike has educated the detailing industry itself and brought the detailing profession to wider renown amongst the general population.

Mike can document his formal boat detailing classes back to the year 2013. Teaching a boat detailing class requires just the right boat, all the right tools and products and most of all, experience detailing boats and experience teaching detailing classes. In this class he’ll share the format and techniques that have made his classes popular world-side as well as the most hands-on classes on planet Earth.

Mike's teaching style is to be energetic and animated while constantly interacting with the audience. Mike's classes historically have a reputation of being high-energy. While Mike abhors PowerPoint presentations, due to the location and classroom setting, he will be using a picture-intensive PowerPoint.


Social Media Links
My own forum
My Sub-forum on The DetailingWorld.co.uk forum
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Dr. Beasley's Newsletter - Get notified for all new articles, videos and classes
Dr. Beasley's YouTube Channel - New videos every week.




Mobile Tech Expo - Education Day Schedule

As of today, Monday, September 9th, the class schedule including times and room numbers has not been posted to the Mobile Tech Expo website. As soon as I know, I'll update this thread.



Mike Phillips, CD-SV, WC, RIT
Chief Education Officer, Dr. Beasley’s
Cell: 760-515-0444

​

 

[Mike Phillips]

More info...

Mobile Tech Expo is the undefeated, hands-down, best trade show in the United States of America for car detailing industry. Thursday is what's called, Education Day, and you have the opportunity to take incredible classes by incredible people always willing to give back to the detailing industry. Besides all the classes on Thursday, the main event is the Expo, and this takes place on Friday and Saturday.

Dates January 30 – February 1, 2025
Location Gaylord Palms Resort Orlando, FL


On Friday and Saturday, come by the Dr. Beasley's Booth and say hi to the staff at Dr. Beasly's and check out what's new for 2025!

2025 Mobile Tech Expo in Orlando, Florida

 

[Setec Astronomy]

How did your "train the trainer" classes go, Mike?

And how was the show this year?

 

[Mike Phillips]

How did your "train the trainer" classes go, Mike?

And how was the show this year?

The two classes I taught on how to teach classes, or as you say, the Train the Trainer Class, were good. I would say around 40 people in both classes. These two topics,

1. How to teach a hands-on car detailing class for profit
2. How to teach a hands-on boat detailing class for profit

Are never going to be as popular as the normal topics shared at this trade show, but my thoughts are, the people that attended were the people that counted. And there were numerous people in both classes that do have sincere desires to add teaching to their business model. So, all good.

I don't think I'll teach these topics next year, but maybe. The MTE Trade Show is moving back to the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel and Resort and I'm happy about the move. With the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel and Resort, I can bring a normal, full-size car right INTO the classroom and then instead of using a PowerPoint presentation to teach topics, I can use an actual car.

I was the first person to ever do this about 3 years ago while the trade show was still at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel and Resort. Below is the link to the class topics for that show, in which I brought in a brand-new Subaru SUV. While I was doing the action steps, Yancy was capturing with a video and broadcasting LIVE in the classroom. Another FIRST for this trade show.

The scary part was class number 4 was how to do Sub-Surface Glass Polishing. But with a BRAND-NEW Subaru SUV, there were ZERO defects in the glass to remove, so I machine sanded the brand-new windshield with 360 grit Mirka Abralon and then proceeded to show the class how to remove the sanding marks - and I was 100% successful. Kind of scared at the same time as all 8 of my classes were at capacity and standing room only.


Class Schedule for 2022 MTE - Mobile Tech Expo in Orlando, Florida


Class Schedule

Here's my list of classes for the 2022 Mobile Tech Exp "Education Day" on Thursday, January 27th


1: Boat Detailing – Gelcoat Correction and Ceramic Coatings
How to machine wetsand gelcoat to remove deep oxidation. How to do gelcoat correction and polishing. How to correctly install a marine grade ceramic coating. How to educate the owner on proper maintenance for the coating.


2: Topical Glass Polishing & Ceramic Glass Coatings
How to hand or machine polish automotive glass, inside and outside. On the outside, how to remove water spots, traffic film and drizzle stains and then seal the glass with a hydrophobic ceramic coating. For the inside, how to mechanically polish interior glass to remove built-up films like smoker’s film and vinyl fog.


3: How to safely remove Orange Peel via hand sanding
This class covers the art of hand sanding using hard blocks, soft blocks and even paint sticks. You’ll also learn how to remove sanding marks by hand in tight areas as well as how to use a rotary polisher for removing sanding marks over the large panels. Plus, how to install a ceramic coating.


4: Sub-surface Glass Polishing including machine wetsanding
How to remove scratches, swirls, wiper marks and tiny pits in glass using Cerium Oxide with orbital and rotary polishers. How to machine sand glass for severe below surface defects like deep scratches and wiper marks. Plus, how to seal the glass with a hydrophobic ceramic coating.


5: How to install an Acrylic Tire Coating
Learn how to properly machine scrub tires to get them surgically clean and then how to prep the rubber before applying a high-gloss, dry-to-the-touch, long lasting acrylic tire coating. This class will also go over how to know which tires and customers to offer coatings for and which tires and customers use conventional tire dressings. How to correctly clean and install a tire dressing is also covered as well as the different types of tire dressings including both water-based and solvent-based options.


6: How to safely machine sand to remove surface texture and other paint defects
The art and science of machine sanding will be covered in this class including both dry sanding and wet sanding. How to use both orbital and rotary polishers to remove sanding marks will also be covered. Plus, how to install a ceramic coating.


7: How to correctly perform and sell one step paint correction
Not everyone wants, needs or is willing to pay for a ceramic coating. As a professional detailer, you need to master how to interview your potential customer, match the correct detailing package to them and their car as well as the secret to under-promising and over delivering. This class also covers the differences between gear-driven orbital polishers and free spinning random orbital polishers. Plus, why and how to use a topper for extended protection and maximum water beading for customer pleasing results.


8: How to become the recognized ceramic coating expert in your hometown.
There’s more competition in the professional car detailing industry than ever before in the history of car wax. And there’s more coating options to choose from by you as an installer and by your customers interested in this paint protection option. Mike Phillips created this technique for getting new customers and growing your customer base and has been sharing it exclusively at Mobile Tech Expo for over 8 years. Historically it is one of the most popular classes and topics he teaches, and he guarantees you will both learn a lot as well as have a lot of fun in the class. Don’t be the person that gets there late and has to stand in the back of the room.



Full size car in classroom

The classroom I'll be teaching classes in has the ability to hold a normal, full size car. All topics except the boat class will be taught live on the demo car and broadcast on to a big screen so no matter where you sit, you can see all the action taking place.




That MTE event was also the last year I taught 8 classes in a single day. I may do this again now that we're back at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel and Resort. I simply don't like teaching academic classes and much prefer to do real training on actual cars and/or boats. I might bring a boat to one of these events in the future. LOL

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Holy cow, you sanded a brand new windshield in front of a live (and internet) audience?!?! That takes some cojones!

I don't want to derail your thread, but I have always been tempted to try the 3M polishing (sandpaper) discs that one of the online glass repair stores sell, as an alternative to cerium oxide polishes. Some months ago I got on their online chat to ask some questions, and at some point they asked me what I was working on and I told them "automotive windshield" and they immediately told me you can't polish windshields, they have to be replaced.

Of course this is just the "company line" for liability purposes (I guess). Maybe some day I will go that route, but in the meantime I bought the NSP GL on Black Friday, haven't had the occasion to try it yet.

 

[Mike Phillips]

Holy cow, you sanded a brand new windshield in front of a live (and internet) audience?!?! That takes some cojones!

The only reason I was a tick nervous is because after-the-fact, you always have a few people that will scrutinize the results playing a game called Gotcha!, and by this I mean, they will be looking intensely to try to find a single sanding scratch I didn't remove.

Happy to say, I removed 100% of all the sanding marks.

I don't want to derail your thread, but I have always been tempted to try the 3M polishing (sandpaper) discs that one of the online glass repair stores sell, as an alternative to cerium oxide polishes. Some months ago I got on their online chat to ask some questions, and at some point they asked me what I was working on and I told them "automotive windshield" and they immediately told me you can't polish windshields, they have to be replaced.

Of course this is just the "company line" for liability purposes (I guess). Maybe someday I will go that route, but in the meantime, I bought the NSP GL on Black Friday, haven't had the occasion to try it yet.

There were zero problems sanding and buffing the new glass in the new car in this instance. I have seen issues with other NEW glass on new cars. For this reason, I now limit any glass polishing work to Pre-1980 cars. This is mostly for muscle cars and classics. Just like everything else in our world, with advancements in technology, they keep changing the glass. Now we have smart glass. I don't know about anyone else, but I simply don't need the headache of having to replace some other dude's glass in case anything goes south. So old cars, but no new cars for me.


Mike