This should be a key concern when selecting stakeholders to participate in advisory boards, working groups or assemblies. The relatively informal nature of meetings and workshops can foster both deliberation and build a sense of community. They provide an open atmosphere which makes participants generally more willing to discuss issues and maximises dialogues on issues that may not have come to light through more structured mechanisms. For instance, meetings and workshops are flexible in terms of timeframe and scale (from community meetings to international conferences) and can apply to a wide range of issues (e.g. from discussing a municipal sewer project to debating on transboundary basin management agreements).