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Education Day 2026
Sharpen your skills at Education Day
Preview the sessions happening at MTE 2026 below. More sessions to be added!
Education Day ticket holders will get access to all tracks. Seats are limited and will sell out!
NEW TO THE INDUSTRY?
Check out our MTE 101 Education Schedule on Wednesday, January 28th for only an additional $50. (Ticket add-on)
Tracks Include: Business & Marketing, Detailing, PDR, Profits Pads, Paints & Tools of the Trade.
January 29, 2026
Education Day Sessions
Filter sessions by track:
Business & Marketing
The Shop Owners Guide to Marketing: All You Need is the Basics
10:00am
Steven Lee
Learn the overall basics of what a comprehensive marketing funnel should look like and explore each stage. The aim of this presentation will be to educate attendees on general marketing best practices and explore each stage of a funnel to better understand and ideally implement this into their own business. Discover what a funnel is and what makes consumers move from one stage to the next, dive into the typical missed opportunities most owners are not capturing and how that impacts your business, correlate the customers' journey with marketing funnel stages to develop an understanding of how to leverage various stages. Walk away with actionable tasks to deploy in your business.
Detailing
Dealing with Supply Chain Shortages and Difficulties
10:00am
Karl Stearns
Detailing businesses face constant supply chain challenges, from chemical shortages to long shipping delays. In this session, you’ll discover how to build multiple supplier relationships, stock smartly without tying up too much cash, and find effective product alternatives. We’ll cover inventory management basics and how to set customer expectations when shortages affect services. By managing supplies with systems and foresight, you’re not only protecting your daily operations, but you’re also increasing the resilience and long-term value of your business for when it’s time to exit.
Detailing
From Hobby to Business: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Started
10:00am
Siva Padmanabhan Sivakumar
Detailing is your passion, and you've made it your business. Listen as this detailer describes the challenges in launching a business to growing franchises, moving from a passion to a livelihood and what tests are ahead.
From the Exhibit Floor
Marine Detailing - What You Need to Know
11:00am
Ken Mercer
Identify common surface materials found on boats and their specific care requirements. Understand the basic steps in the marine detailing process, including surface prep, correction, and protection. Recognize the differences between soaps, compounds, polishes, sealants, and coatings—and when to use each. Apply best practices for maintaining marine surfaces and avoiding common detailing mistakes. Evaluate which Starke products align with each step of the detailing process.
Detailing
Building Your Business From Afar- Lessons Learned while Managing A Business From Another State
11:00am
Damon Gray
In this day and age, so many people are required to work remotely, even when you own the business. Find out how this experienced owner built his business remotely. What were the pitfalls? Do you need a manager onsite and how do you build in safeguards? Does not being onsite every day prevent you from growing the business? Or can being hands-off give you the freedom to expand your business and bottom line? Get the answers here and join the conversation as technology helps even a hands-on business to operate.
From the Exhibit Floor
The Future of Paint Corrections
1:00pm
Mike Phillips
Just like electric cars replacing fossil fuel cars, conventional, old-school organic compounds and polishes are being replaced with inorganic technology. The benefit is that inorganic technology makes every step in the car detailing process cleaner and more effective while reducing time, labor, and steps. In this class, Mike Phillips will demonstrate and explain how to leave past technologies behind and be more successful in the future.
Business & Marketing
Scale Smarter: How To Transform Your Business with AI Systems That Work While You Sleep
1:00pm
Matt Hidinger
Most small business owners hit a ceiling because everything depends on them personally showing up. This session reveals how AI and automation break that cycle and create real leverage. You'll see examples of systems that handle marketing, customer communications, and operations automatically—tools already working in actual businesses. Learn what to automate first, how to implement without technical expertise, and leave with a clear 90-day roadmap. No theory. Just practical systems that scale. Watch a campaign running in real time and take your digital toolkit back
Detailing
Maximizing Profits in Your Detail Shop
2:00pm
Justin Labato, Mike Rhines
Learn how to maximize your profits by cutting spending, using proper chemicals and correct applications.
Business & Marketing
From Technician to CEO: Scaling Your Business
2:00pm
Karl Stearns
Most small business owners start out doing everything themselves, but long-term success means thinking and acting like a CEO. In this session, you’ll learn how to identify your most profitable services, set up repeatable systems, delegate work without losing quality, and use online tools like email marketing and social media (FB, IG, TikTok) to attract paying customers. Above all, you’ll see why running your business like it’s for sale ensures it’s organized, profitable, and ready for the day you sell it, pass it on to family, or step away with a pocket full of money for your efforts.
Business & Marketing
Clients for Life: How to Build Repeat Business and Price for Profit with CRM
3:00pm
Jody Sedrick, Rod Puzey
Are you looking for life-long customers? This session will give you tangible tips for using a CRM to support your company's growth and ability to hang onto customers.
From the Exhibit Floor
The Science Behind Ceramic Coatings
3:00pm
Nathan Schutter, Lee Kennedy
Along with experts, observe the science that goes into developing and perfecting ceramic coatings and detailing products. Watch hands-on demonstrations describing the scientific difference between high-level ceramic coatings and detailing products.
Pads, Paint, and Profits
3 P's- Pads, Paint, Profits
10:00am
Levi Gates
Break down what true efficiency in detailing really means, not rushing, but mastering repeatable excellence. Drawing on over three decades in the industry, Levi will share how to identify time traps, streamline workflows, and structure your detailing process for maximum profitability without sacrificing quality. Attendees will learn how to design an efficient shop or mobile workflow, align products, tools, and techniques for seamless results, implement training systems and SOPs that save time, and track performance metrics to increase revenue and reduce burnout.
Business & Marketing
Five Proven Profit Plays to Shift Your Sales into Overdrive, Supercharge Your Cash Flow, and Boost Your Bottom Line
10:00am
Davy Tyburski
If you're serious about growing your auto services business, this session is a must-attend. Join Davy Tyburski, America’s Chief Profit Officer® and trusted advisor to high-performing detailers, entrepreneurs, and billion-dollar brands, as he reveals 5 Proven Profit Plays you can implement immediately to drive more sales, boost your cash flow, and multiply your bottom line—without adding more hours to your day. This powerful session is based on two of Davy’s top-selling books: Big Money Detailer Marketing and The Profit Book. Each strategy has been battle-tested in real-world businesses and is designed for easy, immediate implementation—whether you’re just getting started or scaling to seven figures. No fluff. No theory. Just real, measurable results.
Tools of the Trade
Why Your Detailing or PDR Business Needs PPF Now!
10:00am
Eric Joseph
The integration of applied films to your detailing or PDR business.
Business & Marketing
What the Million Dollar Detail Shop Got Wrong
11:00am
Dustin Jackson
We all love a good success story—but let’s be real: the stuff that actually teaches us something? That’s usually the part no one talks about. Dustin Jackson—founder of multiple successful businesses and a million-dollar detail shop—gets honest about what went wrong on the road to building it all. From hiring the wrong people to underpricing services, dropping the ball on marketing, and learning leadership the hard way… Dustin’s pulling back the curtain and walking you through the tough (and expensive) lessons that shaped his journey. This isn’t your typical “how I made it” talk. It’s the stuff he wishes someone had told him when he was just starting out—and it’s packed with real-life takeaways you can actually use.
Business & Marketing
Get the Most Out of Your LLC
11:00am
Michael Wedda
Take a look at the exciting side of corporations and LLC. Discover advanced, secret strategies for getting the most out of your business entity. Find out how to legally shift up to $250K in personal expenses to your business, navigate business credit to grow your business and learn advanced asset protection strategies used by the ultra-wealthy.
PDR
Artificial Intelligence for PDR and Collision Estimating
1:00pm
James Spears
Watch as a Global Expert uses live demonstrations to employ AI and Computer Vision to quickly access and estimate PDR and Collision Damage. This session will help you understand AI estimating, grow market share, and answer all your questions about this technology. Expect to walk away ready to deploy AI in your business.
Business & Marketing
Go Big or Go Home: How We Set the Bar and Then Raised It
1:00pm
Dustin Jackson, Mike Karlen
This isn’t your typical motivational talk. In this real, unfiltered conversation, Dustin Jackson and Mike Karlen of IGL Coatings USA share what it actually looks like to chase big goals and keep going when things get hard. From late nights and wild ideas to the moments that made them question everything, they’re pulling back the curtain on the wins, the struggles, and everything in between. If you’ve ever felt stuck, fired up, or somewhere in the middle, this session is for you. Expect honest stories, hard-earned lessons, and the kind of motivation that doesn’t come from a Pinterest quote.
From the Exhibit Floor
Hands-On, Not Hand-Outs: Mastering Automotive Paint Chip Repair
2:00pm
Bill McLean, Len Housee
Hands-on session. Discover the value of adding paint chip repair to your services: necessary prior to PPF or ceramic coating; a must for the final step of detailing a car; a given for dealership service providers; and anyone who wants to create a business of just providing paint chip repair to dealerships on a wholesale basis.
Pads, Paint, and Profits
Making Marine Detailing Profitable
2:00pm
Andy B. Cool, Wes Jones
Don't be afraid to add Marine to your Detailing Business. Find out how by going against the grain , you can cut find valuable shortcuts and still achieve the results you are looking for. Learn how important it is to have the processes down on paper not just in your head, for training and sales purposes.
Business & Marketing
Make More Money in Your Business
3:00pm
Renny Doyle
Create your business road map with the seven key factors in growing any business - marketing, financial management, operations and efficiency, leadership and team building, customer experience, mindset, technology and innovation. Come away with actionable tasks to take back to your business.
Pads, Paint, and Profits
The History of Paints from a Body Shop Background
3:00pm
Bob Wrasman, Mike Freese
How to work on a single stage vehicle, vintage and car collection with the correct paint and technique.
PDR
Unlocking Repairability: Repair More, Replace Less
10:00am
Danny Hacker
“Unlocking repairability” isn’t just a buzzword—it’s about changing the way we approach repairs. This session goes beyond traditional GPR and push techniques to show how combining tools and methods can make previously ‘unrepairable’ panels fixable again. Gain the knowledge and confidence to repair more panels instead of replacing them. By understanding today’s tools, tabs, and repair systems and how to use them together, techs will learn how to unlock cleaner metal movement and achieve flatter finishes on damage that would have been replaced in the past. Look at how pulling, tensioning, pushing, striking, and lighting—used together—create clean metal flow and better results. It’s not about doing one thing well, it’s about using the right mix of tools and techniques to get the job done right. Whether you’re working on small dents or large collision damage, this session will give you new ways to repair more and replace less.
From the Exhibit Floor
Unlocking the Power of Mobile Tech RX: Hidden Features and Game-Changing Tools
10:00am
Alex Soto
Think you know Mobile Tech RX? Think again. This session dives into overlooked features and hidden gems that can streamline your workflow, boost professionalism, and improve customer experience. Perfect for both power users and everyday techs looking to get more from the app they use every day.
Detailing
Dry Ice Cleaning
11:00am
Lars Pickhardt, Brian Guy
Discover the fundamentals of dry ice cleaning and why it’s a game-changer in automotive detailing. Learn how the process works, where it makes the most impact, and how it can save time and boost your revenue. The session will include how dry ice cleaning works, key benefits in automotive applications, time savings and revenue potential, and initial investment and ROI. This session is ideal for detailers and workshop owners looking to expand their services and increase efficiency.
PDR
From Chaos to Clarity: How AI is Transforming the PDR Business
11:00am
Chris Pearce
Learn from a 28-year veteran of the PDR industry how AI and automation can take your dent repair business from chaos to clarity. Identify practical ways to capture more leads and reduce wasted admin time. Discover AI-Driven tools to improve customer communication and follow-up and recognize opportunities to increase profitability through smarter business systems.
Tools of the Trade
Paint Chip and Scratch Repair Profit Center
11:00am
Tony Panda, Adam Kerbs
Chip repair as a profit center.
Detailing
“El Detailing del Lujo: Cómo Enfrentar la Demanda del Cliente High-End”
1:00pm
Angel Moreno Julio Morales
In this exclusive presentation, Ángel Moreno will share his experience working with private collections, supercars, and high-value boats. Through real examples and practical protocols, you will learn how to transform your service into a luxury experience that meets the expectations of the most demanding customers in the market.
Tools of the Trade
Microfiber 101
1:00pm
Anthony Fisher, Josh Petro
Get the basics of Microfiber. A hands-on demonstration to assist you in choosing the right products for your business.
Tools of the Trade
Mobile Calibrations That Make You Money: What PDR and Glass Pros Need to Know
2:00pm
Josh Cascanet
Understand how you can add ADAS calibrations to your offering without needing a full shop. Learn when calibrations are required, what to do if a calibration fails and how to make this service a profit center. Great bridge for anyone already touching vehicles post-accident.
Business & Marketing
How to Attract High-End Clients and Fill Your Shop with High-End Cars
2:00pm
Ross E Miller
High-end clients are everywhere but they are not answering your paid ads. If you want to move your shop to the next level, you will see the many benefits of servicing high-end clientele. We will go over the basics of what you need to do to set your shop up for success in this area. Following this process will result in higher margins, further out bookings, higher end cars and less time spent selling. You will also spend a fraction of the amount on marketing.
Tools of the Trade
Lateral GPR Repairs or More?
3:00pm
Jonathan Vandenfontyne
Every year there are new developments in the approach to big dent and collision repair. And it’s not just hail repair. Find out how to tackle your repairs in a better, greener way. This session will highlight how to improve your technique, how to tackle off-season big dents and perform collision repairs.
Detailing
The Detailing Growth Formula: Systems, Pricing and Marketing That Scale
3:00pm
Joseph Stein
Grow your detailing or cleaning business using modern tools, strategic pricing, and automation — while avoiding burnout while building real wealth. This session will talk about common mistakes in pricing, labor and operations while exploring real life examples about efficiencies in automation and customer management.
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