Once again HTMi hosted the International Gala Event, organized by its Higher Diploma Management students, which took place on Friday, the 21st November 2014. The event involved numerous performances and showcased the exceptionally high standards of the HTMi students, that we are sure will remain in the memory of our guests for a very long time. The whole evening was organized around the elegant “1001 Nights” theme.
The students accomplished this with a gourmet five-course menu where guests were treated to a fusion of food from the Arabian culture. As part of the theme, the students successfully created outstanding designs and décor around the concept of “1001 Nights”. Amazingly, the performances were carried in a manner and costumes to match the theme: from the “Ali Baba Cave” at the welcome apero, where the password to the cave was slipped to random guests who were treated to gold chocolate coins within the cave, to the Opening Dramatic Performance, depicting the wedding ceremony of Aladdin and Jasmine, where Jasmine would be captured by a band of bandits and thus, setting the scene for the entire evening’s entertainment.
Guests were treated to a spectacular array of international performances as well as an intriguing story line as Aladdin travelled around the world searching for his wife, but witnessing the various performances along his journey and picking up clues as to where he might find Jasmine. Performances ranged from a scintillating belly dance, depicting Turkey, a soulful and powerful solo singing performance of a Vietnamese song, representing Vietnam, a spectacular live band performance of the 70’s classic, “September”, performed by HTMi’s very own band, the “Ali and the Baba’s”, to even a beautifully choreographed dance performance of a French classic song, representing the country of France. To sum up the entire evening, the closing performance by the Higher Diploma students was the cherry on the cake as Aladdin fought off the bandits and rescued his wife from the perils of evil, summing up a spectacular evening.
HTMi is yet again proud to support the “Save the Children” foundation through the event, as it has been doing so for many years now. This year, the event was specifically focused on supporting the charity initiatives aiding the Ebola crisis on the African continent.
HTMi was honoured to host the Ambassadors of the Sultanate of Oman, Taiwan, and Slovenia as well as members of the Diplomatic Corps from Vietnam, South Africa, Romania, Republic of Slovakia, India, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Italy and Japan from their respective embassies represented here in Switzerland.
The Centre for Events Management Training would also like to thank the numerous sponsors who kindly donated many items that were used in the Tombola on the International Gala Event.
I would like to thank all the ladies and gentlemen of HTMi from all classes for their hard work, dedication, commitment, support and tireless effort in making this International Gala Event such an enjoyable, successful and memorable evening. A final thank you goes to Chef Andreas Kurfürst and his team of culinary chefs and the students of the baking & pastry course for their outstanding performance in creating the food menu and the crème a la crème, a dessert buffet of Arabian Art that left the guests breathless.
To quote some of the feedback given by our guests: “Best international gala event ever”, “What a great event. Wonderful attention to detail. The guests were immediately transported in to the world you had created”, “We’ll done. Great team work”, “We have been attending for many years and this was the best entertainment ever”.
Anthony Lack, Events & Training Manager, HTMi Centre for Events Management, November 2014