The Community Reference System, developed by Fred and Merrelyn Emery, is a highly participative way to engage the community in helping to identify and select who attends a gathering on their behalf.  It is a particularly useful approach when it is important to ensure the credibility of the outcomes of a gathering or to diffuse cynicism of the legitimacy of the gathering. 

Another benefit of using this approach is that it helps to build awareness and enthusiasm for the event amongst a broader subset of the community.  It can also help to reinforce participants’ commitment to the process as they recognize they have been nominated by their peers to represent an important perspective and/or constituency.  

It is a particularly helpful process to use for reconciling the tension between convening a credible and knowledgeable group with diverse perspectives while simultaneously managing constraints (space, budget etc.) that limit the total number of participants who can be hosted at a gathering.