Three days, 280 leaders, one shared direction
From October 19 to 21, more than 280 Excel Fitness leaders gathered at the Omni Las Colinas in Irving, Texas for Fuel the Future, the brand's annual Leadership Summit. General Managers, regional leaders, back office teams and the executive team came together under one roof to learn, celebrate and set the course for the year ahead.
DINEvent partnered with Excel Fitness to plan and produce the summit from the first venue search to the final send off. Our goal was simple: make every moment feel effortless for attendees, so their full attention could stay on each other and on the work that matters.
Getting everyone to Irving
A great summit starts long before the welcome reception. We coordinated air travel for attendees flying in from 15 cities across the country, securing group fares wherever 10 or more travelers shared an itinerary and booking everyone else individually. Larger groups were met by buses when they landed in Dallas, and a charter coach carried the Austin team up and back.
Every traveler received instructions written for their own city, published on the Excel intranet and sent through Cvent, so no one had to hunt for the details that applied to them. Parking at the Omni was handled with a simple room key system that billed directly to Excel, one less thing for anyone to think about on arrival.
The on site experience
The summit opened Monday evening with a welcome reception on the Omni's Event Lawn, an easy, open air start that let old colleagues reconnect and new leaders find their people. From there, general sessions filled the Las Colinas Ballroom, while meals were served in the Mandalay Ballroom just steps away.
Attendees moved through the week with Cvent AttendeeHub in their pocket and Align, the summit's AI host, guiding them through the program. In the Mandalay Foyer, registration, swag and a Badge Design table gave every arrival a personal touch.
A highlight of the week was ExcelXchange, a department expo in the Mandalay Ballroom where teams from across the company hosted their own tables, alongside Families to Freedom charity tables and sponsor presence led by Platinum Sponsor Matrix. It turned the hallway conversations every conference hopes for into the main event.
Awards night at Rayleigh Underground
Tuesday night belonged to the people who earned it. We took the group off site to Rayleigh Underground for an awards dinner styled around a Roaring 20s, Gatsby meets Vegas theme, with the evening opening as a Kickoff Under the Lights. The room was built to feel like a celebration from the moment guests walked in, and it gave Excel Fitness a fitting stage to honor its top performers in front of the peers who know best what that recognition means.
Behind the scenes
The summit's success was built on four months of steady, collaborative planning. Beginning in late June, DINEvent facilitated a weekly steering committee with Excel Fitness leads across programming, content and speakers, communications, sponsorships, registration, technology and on site pods. Each week brought a focused agenda, clear decisions and a shared task list, so momentum never stalled.
That structure carried into every detail: a six property venue comparison that led us to the Omni Las Colinas, a branded sponsorship prospectus that helped bring partners on board, and a rooming plan for General Managers that paired colleagues thoughtfully. When a plan is this well organized behind the curtain, the people in the room only see the result.
Built on hospitality
When the summit wrapped Wednesday morning, Excel Fitness leaders headed home with new ideas, stronger connections and a clear picture of where the brand is going next. For our team, that is the measure of a successful event: not how complicated the logistics were, but how simple they felt to everyone who attended.
Thank you to the Excel Fitness team and steering committee for trusting DINEvent with a summit this meaningful.
Planning a leadership conference, sales kickoff or company summit of your own? We would love to hear about it. Reach out to DINEvent and let's build something your team will remember.
