• High costs for set up and recruitment of participants and staging the event.
• The conference would run for a 2-4 day period and therefore resources will be costly.
• The process of panelist selection can be difficult. Stakeholders analysis must be undertaken to predetermine who are the relevant groups.This will ensure that representation from the relevant groups is achieved,
• Need to draw citizens for panels that are representative and from a wide range of backgrounds rather than members of the community who are usually present in participatory processes
• Strict adherence to the rules of implementation is required for the conference to be successful.
• The formalized nature of the tool can restrict impartiality.
• Rapid production of reports and findings is required.
• Choice of an effective facilitator is critical to the success of the conference.