Thank you for your time by Luc Spencer-Gardner from Australia

I have been to 4 Eurovision Song Contests over the past 5 years.  The last two of these, Vienna and Stockholm, have been as a member of OGAE Rest of World.  My absolute favourite event to this date has to be this year, Stockholm 2016.  While it may sound cliché, this year Sweden really put on a show.  The purpose built “Euroclub/Euro Fan Café” provided a haven for us die-hard Eurovision fans, and by having both in the one venue, this made it easier to coordinate friends and fellow fan club members to meet with throughout the week.  But this was only one aspect.  Putting all the fans, delegations, press accredited persons, and the artists themselves in the one place made for the most integrated event.  Meeting people from fan clubs and media services throughout the whole of Europe was delightful, making many new friends and contacts.  Having the artists on site also allowed for impromptu stage performances, and random chance meetings.  Our very first night in Stockholm, we ran into the extremely engaging and charming Serhat, representing San Marino, and he was the loveliest man.  At 5am on Thursday morning, as the Wednesday night was coming to an end, we ran into two of the band members from Cyprus.  We spent a casual hour chatting and quite literally howling (at the sun however, not the moon).  We also met the band from Georgia, who I am a huge favourite of.  I literally ran into (my sincerest apologies again) Iveta from Armenia walking through the Euroclub.  We met and found many more of the artists throughout the entire week, at various events, and it was an absolutely unreal experience to be so close to them, and engaging in conversation.  The integration of the fans, delegations and press personnel this year was superb.

A quick note, we also availed ourselves to the fellow fan members in ROW and other fan clubs, and planned several meetings to ensure that the whole of our club and those from other clubs were able to integrate also.

I could not fault a thing this year.  The show, the hosts, the technology, the integration, and the fans.  Thank you for making 2016 Eurovision the best event yet!