Preparing 2012

The past three days crew, delegations, press and fans got themselves in that particular Eurovision Song Contest routine again. Rehearsals, press conferences, rehearsals, press conferences... And the occasional meeting, of course!

My routine starts with a breakfast meeting with the my colleague Jon Ola Sand, the Executive Supervisor of the contest. Then he moves to the arena, to follow the production rehearsals, while I go to the Press Centre to meet with the Eurovision.tv team at 9:30. It's a lovely walk going there, with the rising sun in my back, the birds singing and that particular smell of dawn around the athletics course. At 10:00 - hopefully enjoying a fantastic latte from the coffee bar - we have a meeting with the Press Centre crew to go through the particularities of the day. High attendance expected there, big delegation coming up then, and so on.

In the arena, the first delegations are already in to dress up for their rehearsal as I enter the Press Centre at 9:30, to have a backstage soundcheck and to get their in-ears and microphones fixed. After their stage rehearsal, which can be followed in the arena by press and features a productive talk with the famous Ola 'Legend' Melzig, they go to the viewing room, where the assistant director goes through the entire performance with the delegation to look for improvements, hear feedback and address concerns they might have. Then, while the next contestant is already rehearsing on stage, the delegation is driven to the Press Centre for their conference - it's about 10 minutes walking from the artist entrance, and driving saves a lot of time! - which usually ends with one-on-one interviews in one of the four interview rooms we have.

The cool thing about that routine is that it's like an orchestra. Everyone plays their part, and even though everyone of course works hard, it almost looks as if it goes by itself. Despite the occasional delays, it's lovely to hear people saying "ohh, it's so well-organized this year!" It's even better to see the surprised look in their eyes when you tell them it takes about 50 weeks a year to get the job done! In fact, weeks ago we started preparing for the 2012 (!) contest, without even knowing where we might be going. Manuals updated (check!), preliminary dates for the contest set (check!), kick-off briefings scheduled (check!).

For us, it's Eurovision Song Contest every day of the year! But I have to admit - these days are special!