Henric on handling the floor of the contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is equipped with an experienced Senior Floor Manager. With his firm grip of the microphone on the production floor in front of the stage, Henric von Zweigbergk has completed a large number of contests. As the Senior Floor Manager, von Zweigbergk coordinates all the activities on the stage and cares for the schedule. For the first rehearsals, all the entries have 40 minutes on the stage. For the second round of rehearsals, starting on Thursday, they only have 30 minutes, which is a key factor in the planning.

Henric von Zweigbergk is used to large-scale productions. The tall Swede is a frequently seen figure as the coordinator of all kinds of major events in his home country and internationally –  from the Ice Hockey World Championships to large concerts. He also manages Melodifestivalen, the Swedish national selection.

For the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, von Zweigbergk are encountering two challenges of a special kind. The language issue is a task in any year's contest, but when the event moves to a culture far from his own, the Senior Floor Manager has to adapt on a different level.

“They have a completely different way of doing things here”, von Zweigbergk explains. “They do things the Russian way, and we're not really used to that. That's a challenge, but it's fun.”