RPM OneUp

The Mission

RPM OneUp is designed to energize. This year’s theme, designed by RPM’s Creative Director Carli Krueger, leaned into a video game-inspired world—bright colors, bold visuals, and a sense of momentum that carried through every part of the experience.

This year, our scope evolved alongside the event itself. On top of the stage design and full event production, we stepped in as a central strategic force —assisting with strategic decisions, managing every outside vendor, and producing a brand-new game show to close the event. We took heavy logistics lifting off their plates so the RPM team could stay laser focused on the bigger picture and their strategic goals.

Combined, this year was a mix of creative ambition and operational complexity that required total alignment, precise organization, and bold swings.

If you ask Devinne Love, our Executive Producer, what one of the most critical moments of the production process is, she’ll point to rehearsals. You can plan, storyboard, and prep for months, but getting into the physical room is what changes everything. Lighting was adjusted, transitions were fine-tuned, and any unexpected wrinkles were ironed out once and for all. For example, one talent show performer needed our audio engineer to pull a last minute track from a YouTube clip and edit it to fit her act. He whipped it up at rehearsals, and she was able to practice with her new music.

For speakers, we treated rehearsals not just as a technical check, but as a confidence-building session where speakers could familiarize themselves with the space and team. By the time the first cue was called, the speakers felt both familiar and confident with the stage and the program.

Game On

Scheduled for the last morning after a late-night gala, this year’s game show needed to hold the attention of a tired room while still feeling high-energy and worth showing up for.

We developed a concept the team loved — “Multi-Family Feud.” (Get it? Industry humor!) But very quickly, one thing became clear: the host would make or break it.

We scoured the country for a perfect fit — someone who could think on their feet, hold a room, and roll with the punches. Luckily, Oya Thomas was available, and we asked her to get on a plane. She’s a singer, speaker, and all around perfect MC to keep the energy high and the laughs rolling.

The result was a game that felt like a true experience — less like sitting in a ballroom, more like being part of an in-studio audience for a throwback network game show.

Cue the Fire Dancer

One of the annual highlights of this event is the RPM’s Got Talent show. It’s a months-long process — RPM team members have to audition much earlier for a panel of judges and hone their acts for the event.

This year, at one point, the RPM team asked Devinne if it would be okay to add a fire dancer into the mix.

“Sure!” was Devinne’s response. “No problem!”

Reader: There was, in fact, a problem. The fire marshal said that was not going to fly, neither in the ballroom or on the terrace.

So, Devinne called Jason VanHoose, our Senior Production Manager.

He’s known for this kind of thing. (Last year, he made a late night trip to Home Depot to buy an enormous piece of wood so that the tap dancers’ shoes would be mic’d properly.)

Sure enough, he put on his problem solving hat. He engineered a way to live stream the fire dancer live from outside. Her incredible act was shown on the screens, captivating the audience (while keeping everyone safe.)

“It ended up being the coolest scene,” Devinne said. “But the audience didn’t see any of the hardcore problem solving that went into it, which is the goal. They just saw, ‘Cool, there’s a fire dancer, and she’s live.'”

The Oil that Makes it All Run: Vendors

Is vendor management quite as flashy as fire dancers? To the untrained eye, perhaps not. But event planners know it’s the secret sauce that makes an event as complex as this actually run.

And this year? It was all on us.

Devinne and our planning team completely managed 11 vendors — from the destination management company to the hotel to the decorators and furniture company. She coordinated the entire dock schedule for every single truck that came in.

Handling all these relationships personally made the event feel a bit like a small town — where everyone knew each other and had each other’s back. When she needed a last-minute hotel room for the game show host, she had the front desk on speed dial — and knew everyone by first name.

“This year especially, it really felt like everything just moved ,” said Devinne.

Reflecting on RPM OneUp

For Meeting Tomorrow, this year marked a definitive shift from production provider to central strategic force.

By blending high-level strategy with “make-it-happen” execution, we met RPM’s goal of creating their most visually elevated and engaging event to date.

At the end of the event, Alexis Vance, RPM’s Chief Experience Officer, was kind enough to call out our whole team in a champagne toast, calling us an extension of their team. There may have even been a few tears in the room, from a blend of gratitude and relief of a successful event.

It was a win for imagination, a win for technical grit, and proof that with the right partnership, there’s no ceiling on how high you can level up.