(pictured in 1980) was instrumental in the creation of the contest as president of the EBU's Programme Committee.|alt=Black-and-white photograph of Marcel Bezençon in 1980 A planning sub-group, headed by Eduard Hass of SRG SSR, was formed following the sign-off on the organisation of the event to build out the
rules of the competition. Taking inspiration from the Sanremo Music Festival and the Venice International Song Festival as a basis in planning the new contest, the group made several amendments and additions to these rules to suit its international nature. Ideas suggested but ultimately rejected during this planning phase included featuring each song a second time with a piano accompaniment instead of orchestral backing, as well as technical initiatives such as a separate producer from each participating broadcaster involved in the contest's organisation. Prize money for the winners was also ruled out at this stage. The inaugural Eurovision Song Contest was produced by the Italian-language radio broadcaster (RSI), in cooperation with the television service of SRG SSR, which brought a
television production truck from
Zurich to Lugano.
Franco Marazzi served as director of the event on behalf of RSI, with
Rolf Liebermann overseeing the production and the jury deliberations on behalf of the EBU as its executive supervisor and jury president. Each participating broadcaster submitted into the contest a maximum of two songs not exceeding three to three-and-a-half minutes in duration, which must have been solely original compositions. They had sole discretion on how to select their entries for the contest but were strongly encouraged by the EBU to hold their own national contests to determine their representatives. Each song was accompanied by a 24-piece orchestra, with members of the Radiosa Orchestra supplemented by strings of the Italian Swiss Radio Symphony Orchestra, presided over by the contest's musical director,
Fernando Paggi; the contest's musical director was also available to
conduct the performances of the participating entries if a separate conductor was not otherwise appointed by that country. Broadcasters were required to submit to the EBU by 10 May 1956
scores for their participating songs for use by the orchestra, audio recordings of each song, and copies of the songs lyrics in the original language, as well as translations into French or English to aid the jury members and commentators. Rehearsals in the contest venue with the competing artists and the orchestra began on 21 May 1956. Following the performance of all songs, the winner was determined by an assembled jury composed of two individuals from each country, with each individual member rating secretly each song between one and ten, including those representing their own country, with higher scores given to more appreciated songs. The jury followed the contest in the
bridge room in the same venue in Lugano through a small television screen, replicating the conditions as close as possible to how viewers at home would watch the contest. The winning song was thus that which gained the highest score from the votes cast by all jury members. In the event of a tie between two or more entries all songs with the highest score would have been declared winners. In news reports at the time, according to one Dutch juror, the jury members were removed from the jury room once they had cast their votes and were therefore unable to follow the tabulation of the final results. The jury members from Luxembourg were unable to attend the contest in Lugano, and subsequently the EBU allowed two Swiss nationals to vote in their place. == Contest overview ==