It looked more like a political gathering than a restaurant opening.
It looks less like a religious gathering than a music festival.
With several hundred politicians, diplomats and academics milling around one of the region's capitals, it is more like a big family gathering than an international summit.
Democrats in Los Angeles said they were bracing for a livelier, and seemingly less disciplined, gathering than the Republican convention, in part because of the Clintons.
With their daughter Harper, in pale blue pleats, sitting on David Beckham's lap in the front row, the event seemed more like a family gathering than a celebrity moment.
With Mr. Clinton starting to speak at only shortly before 11, it was clear that the networks were being boxed into devoting a lot more time to the gathering than planned.
The greatest concern is the militarization of space, using space-based weapons and satellites to extend the reach of nations or potential terrorists, and allowing more extensive and widespread intelligence gathering than ever before.
But it is more important to get this right for the long haul against terrorism, building a national consensus on the need for these powers and rebuilding confidence in the oversight of UK digital intelligence gathering, than to rush it ".
That includes the time off, clustered as paid vacation days, she added, along with a holiday party intended to be more of a relaxed gathering than the usual annual "blowout".
It would be far better to invest in the education of children, she told a luncheon gathering, than to use a bunch of fancy financial engineering to bail out Wall Street and other global financial centers.
Not to be too nerdy but more women are liberal in this sense than men and it is probably true that the marginal return to talent and effort is lower in gathering than in huntingIs that really true, or is that his Y chromosome engaging in some excessive self-congratulation?
