Within the first 90 seconds you’ll be amazed at Mike’s guitar wizardry.
Another 30 seconds and you’ll realize you’re in for one of the funniest and
most unique shows you have ever seen. This is the same show that has received standing ovations at all 6 of Mike’s Carnegie Hall appearances.

From Bach to rock Mike’s “Classically Trained... comically derailed”
show is an odyssey of masterful guitar, outrageous comedy, and musical
combinations God never intended. “If Victor Borge played guitar (and drank too much coffee) he’d sound like Mike,” says promoter, Mark Johnson.

30 seconds: Your group knows that the seemingly impossible is possible.
3 minutes: Your group is laughing hysterically.
30 minutes: Your group is energized with a profound sense of purpose and possibility.
By the end: They won’t want it to end.

This is Mike’s entertainment based keynote presentation about purpose and possibility. “Take a Step Beyond” is unlike any presentation you’ve ever experienced! Known as “The World’s Funniest Guitar Virtuoso,” Mike Rayburn is both a world-class guitarist and a stand-up comedian. He is also an authority on personal development and human potential. Mike will show you how the simple tools you learn from his presentation took him from playing for seven people in a bar in Virginia to standing ovations at Carnegie Hall. Oh, and you’ll laugh so hard it hurts! With just his words and guitar Mike will prove that anything from a business to one’s life can be transformed by applying these powerful principles.

Mike Rayburn is passionate about educators! He loves presenting his “What If...?” keynote for in-service programs, meetings and conferences for educators! Why? First of all, Mike is from a family of teachers. Six members of his immediate family including his father, brother and sister are teachers. Mike’s mother worked in other capacities for the school system for 25 years. With this background, few speakers understand the challenges - and the awesome potential - teachers have more than Mike Rayburn. Also, Mike is now a teacher himself! He is Artist in Residence at High Point University, teaching 3-4 days each semester as a practitioner sharing first hand experience. Finally, Mike has already done more than two dozen programs for educators in all capacities with rave reviews every time. Mike realizes that educators can have a profound impact on students and thus, positively effect the long-term the future that much more!
Your education professionals will...

* Begin or enhance the year with energy, excitement and a thirst to make a difference in the lives of students. Mike will set the tone for success by doing something no other speaker can do... proving his points right there on stage before your eyes.
* Gain both the passion and the tools to get the most from the conference, the year ahead, and each student.
* Become “possibility thinkers” finding opportunities even in the face of shrinking budgets, larger classes and new regulations.
* Begin or energize their life-long quest for excellence, and by example inspire the same in students.
* Apply their new mindset to implementing all they learn from the meeting or conference.
* Oh yeah, and they’ll laugh until it hurts!
Your Educators Will Learn...
* Three simple tools they can use immediately and forever to access their gold mine of unrealized potential.
* The most powerful motivational force on this planet. (Hint... it is not power, money, or fame).
* The most basic human brain function and how to harness it for positive change.
* That “managing change” is not only stupid, it's dangerous; the only way to manage change is to create change, to define the curve rather than follow it.
* How to stop majoring in minor things and overcome time poverty.
* How to set and achieve bold goals which take them as far and as high as their imagination will allow.
* The power of one’s sense of purpose (which is especially strong with most educators) and how to draw on it to effect exponential change.
* A simple, powerful 10-minute exercise which will show how to become a virtuoso, to master the things that matter.