A mesmerising evening, a night of illusions

The Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID) hosted the Annual Directors’ Dinner at the Balmoral, in the Kingsbury with around 250 guests attending. 

This year SLID presented a unique corporate event, where guests were entertained by illusions of seemingly impossible feats by Sri Lanka’s greatest talent Yasas and Hannibal the Magic Warrior of Knight of Illusions, with special guest performances from internationally renowned and award-winning magician Danny Cole and Stacey Cole who were specially flown in for the evening. 

Danny, a professional illusionist, said: “I do all visual magic. My clothes change colour instantly. I float in the air without a chair. I make things disappear and appear right before people’s eyes. It’s visceral. It’s immediate and you can see it.” 

He also holds the privilege of being one of the few magicians who has successfully fooled Penn & Teller, the world famous magician duo in their show ‘Fool us’.

The event started out with a drinks reception in the terrace overlooking the lush green gardens of the hotel, where participants were able to relax, unwind and mingle with friends and colleagues.

After the reception guests proceeded to the ballroom for dinner, a fine dining six-course meal which was created especially for the event in collaboration with Kingsbury Director of Culinary Services Kithsiri De Silva. 

The curtain raiser by Yasas of Knight of Illusions was followed by an address by SLID Chairman Preethi Jayawardena, who welcomed the guests to the annual event and briefly spoke about SLID’s activities. 

The Jazz Project provided excellent music to accompany the dinner service, giving guests more opportunity to continue with their fellowship, whilst performances by international and local artistes took place in between dinner service with the participation of the audience. 

This year’s SLID dinner was memorable in its own right as an evening of magic and illusions, but those involved will have also contributed to building better boards: Gold sponsor Commercial Bank, Silver sponsors Capital Trust Holdings and Blue Ocean Group, Bronze sponsors Hameedias and Tokyo Cement, special sponsor J F Packaging, Exclusive Print Media Partner Daily FT and Daily Mirror and Hi TV as the TV/Digital Media Partner. 

SLID is supported by Certis Lanka, Allianz Insurance and BoardPac as the annual corporate partners. The other partners whose expertise made the occasion a success were Wine.lk by Favourite International, Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd, the event coordinator Spotlight Solutions Ltd. and the team at Kingsbury.  

This year’s event too was compeered by Ramesh Schaffter, who added his own brand of humour keeping the guests entertained whilst contributing to the success of the event.

The magical atmosphere of the night with unforgettable performances by the night’s entertainment made the SLID Annual Directors’ Dinner a memorable event for all the participants who spent a delightful evening whilst supporting SLID’s initiative to contribute to the professional advancement of directors and to foster leadership characteristics which are beneficial to companies, their stakeholders, the community and the country. 

Pix by Ruwan Walpola