Select default AND multiselect

Question

What's the best UI for both selecting a default item in a list and selecting multiple as secondary?

As an example:

I would like to combine this so it doesn't take as much space.

Both dropdown lists are identical.

Answer 1

There are dropdowns that make use of multiselection in different ways.

However, and although it doesn't fit your short space requirement, I suggest you consider to use a dropdown for the default element and checkboxes for the secondary elements.