Comments
Youssef El Alfy  > Producer
'The Islamic summit in Dakar was one of these operations we had to organize by phone. I had never been to or worked in Senegal, so I did not know what to expect. On the phone, the organization committee assured me that everything would be fine. I was told that we would be setting up at the Meridien Hotel Compround in Dakar. The hotel was going to serve as both the summit location and the Media Center.

'To tell you the truth, I was worried about that live shot. We pride ourselves on getting it right. A few years ago, an American network correspondent told me that he prefers working with Eurovision because we always have the nicest live shots. We always give attention to this - the live shot need to be meaningful to the story. I did not know if I could find that at the Meridien Hotel. 

'By the next morning, I was united with the crew, who came in from another African country; the equipment, which we shipped in; and, our workspace, which we built in a large air-conditioned broadcast tent.

'We were set up, tested and ready to go. As this was an Islamic summit, not the usual EU or NATO meeting, we did not really know what expect. Soon, however, bookings started to come in. First we got bookings from a couple of Asian broadcasters that seldom work in this part of the world. Then,  we got bookings Eurovision members from Arab countries who always work with us when we have an operation. And we got feeds from European countries and with African countries that I have never worked with before.

 'And the live shot worked extremely well. it was an interesting rainbow of countries that stretched the working hours to around the clock.'