The Admirals' Banquet was an annual gathering of Starfleet admirals and other officers, where various subjects were discussed. It was considered by some in Starfleet to be a tedious event. Jean-Luc Picard once described it as "fifty admirals shaking hands, making dull conversation, uninteresting food [and] boring speeches," when he was invited to attend the 2370 gathering. He had avoided going to these events for the six years prior, but had resigned himself to the fact that he would attend this latest Banquet, noting that "he ran out of excuses". He did, however, manage to escape for a seventh time, much to the dismay of Admiral Nakamura, due to a flaw in the USS Enterprise-D's new warp drive. (TNG: "Phantasms" )