Professionalism has also been injected into both the NPC and local people's congresses. The NPC is largely an inefficient platform because of its big size, which hovers around 3,000. It convenes for only a short period annually; its annual conference usually spans about 1O to 14 days. Moreover, the structure of its meeting, which is made up of full-day plenary sessions, is not suited for lengthy deliberations. To overcome these shortcomings, NPC reforms since the early 1990s have focused on expanding the Standing Committee and establishing various special committees.