The scale of a deliberative engagement process needs to be appropriate to the purpose, context and objectives. Getting the right number and types of people across the right number and types of events means that:
- efforts are made to involve people of different ages, genders, social class, ethnic groups, geographical location, as appropriate. Diversity may be as important as strict demographic representation.
- efforts are made to include people from marginalised or seldom-heard groups. These can include people living in poverty or disadvantaged neighbourhoods, people with disabilities, older people, people in remote rural areas, commuters, and also those who lack the local or other affiliations that link others to their communities. It may be useful to make links through community and other activists who work with excluded groups. Separate initiatives can be useful (and may be necessary) for some groups, although it is important not to increase exclusion by separating these groups from the overall process.
- if appropriate, participants can be offered incentives or other support (for example, travel expenses, income remuneration, childcare), to ensure that they are not excluded from taking part on financial grounds.
- efforts are made to include the right number of people. For example, if the event includes polling exercises, the number of people involved may need to be high enough to ensure a sufficiently diverse range of views. Similarly, large numbers of people can be valuable when it is important to demonstrate the importance of an issue or the high status of the engagement exercise.