1.   As he spoke to a recent gathering of company workers, he displayed a chart showing that sales of appliances had slowed substantially.

2.   At a recent church gathering, Nuse got up and sung a solo.

3.   At a recent gathering of philanthropists in St. Paul, Minn., many said they were frustrated by the pace of change within the nonprofit sector.

4.   At a recent national gathering of editorial writers, we watched two practitioners who exulted in the chaos and tumult they are able to stir up among non-discerning listeners.

5.   At a recent gathering of investment-world friends at the estate, Lynch invited the previous owners to the dinner table.

6.   At a recent gathering of Slovakia Plus, a group of Slovak intellectuals who support the prime minister, Meciar put forward his vision of the country.

7.   At one recent gathering, an engineer with a plan for simplifying the way computers search for information got a standing ovation.

8.   At a recent gathering of U.S.-based Japanese journalists, several were surprised to hear how excluded many Koreans feel in Japan.

9.   A recent gathering of the American Theatre Critics Association in the City of Brotherly Love proved that it is no longer a theatrical stepchild of Manhattan.

10.   But at a recent gathering of hackers here, several presenters made it seem relatively simple for anyone with an above-average understanding of computers.