This time of year has come once more when Heads of Delegation from all participating countries meet in order to be briefed on the various issues regarding the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

The Heads of Delegations (HoD's) have already arrived at Helsinki. They were picked up by special Eurovision Song Contest cars provided by Toyota Auto Finland Oy, and they attended the traditional welcome cocktail party where they exchanged views and news on the participating songs. The finalised entries will be formally submitted to the EBU and YLE today. Over the next two days the HoD's will be attending a series of meetings to be briefed on the preparations for May, and they will be given important technical information to ensure that everyone is fully aware of all aspects of the preparations so that they can, in turn, prepare their teams.

The draw
One of the most awaited moments by participating artists and fans alike is the draw for the running order of the semi final and the final. It will tale place today from 15:15 to 15:45 CET, and it will be broadcast live on YLE TV2.

There will be three draws in total: Semi final running order, Final running order and the order in which countries will give their points. This year, a new feature has been introduced. There will be five wildcards in the draw for the semi final and three wildcards for the final. That practically means that the HoD's of the first five countries to be drawn for the semi, and the three to be drawn first for the final, will get to go up on stage and choose their country's starting position.

A live webcast will be provided at yle.fi (link) for Finnish fans only (due to copyright restrictions) and on eurovision.tv (link) for the rest of the world.