For the first time, instead of a physical scoreboard on the auditorium as it had been done since 1957, a computer generated scoreboard was used.
The vast modern stage was the largest used in any Eurovision Song Contest up to that time. As the RDS arena was small, elaborate camera shots were used make the arena look bigger
For the first time in the history of the contest, a country was disqualified for breaching the rules. The Cypriot entry was previously recorded and released 4 years earlier, which is forbidden.
The Interval act 'Don't Go', performed by the Hot House Flowers, was filmed in 11 countries and cost 250,000 pounds to make. It was sponsored by the European Commission as part of its promotion of the European Year of Film and Television.
There was a change in the voting procedure starting this year. Up until 1987, juries were composed of 11 members per country, each gave from 1 to 5 points to each and every song except their own and the ten songs with the most votes received 12, 10 and from 8 to 1 points.
In 1988 rules regarding the juries were changed. Now, each jury would be made up of 16 members. 8 of them had to be men and the other 8 women. 4 of them would have to be between 18 to 24 years old, four between 25 to 34, four between 35 to 44 and four 45 and older, and only one of the jury members could be connected with a record company. Each jury member would give from 1 to 10 votes to each and every song except their own, with no abstentions allowed.
Then the votes would be counted and the song with the highest number of votes would receive 12 points, the second one would receive 10 points, the third would receive 8 points, 7 points would be given to the next and so on up until 1 point given to the song with the tenth highest number of votes. In case of ties in any position on the top-10, the jury would vote again rising hands to break the tie and if in the second voting there was still any tie, the vote of the youngest member of the jury would be final. This system would be used unchanged up until 1997 when televoting was first introduced experimentally.
In 1988 rules regarding the juries were changed. Now, each jury would be made up of 16 members. 8 of them had to be men and the other 8 women. 4 of them would have to be between 18 to 24 years old, four between 25 to 34, four between 35 to 44 and four 45 and older, and only one of the jury members could be connected with a record company. Each jury member would give from 1 to 10 votes to each and every song except their own, with no abstentions allowed.
Then the votes would be counted and the song with the highest number of votes would receive 12 points, the second one would receive 10 points, the third would receive 8 points, 7 points would be given to the next and so on up until 1 point given to the song with the tenth highest number of votes. In case of ties in any position on the top-10, the jury would vote again rising hands to break the tie and if in the second voting there was still any tie, the vote of the youngest member of the jury would be final. This system would be used unchanged up until 1997 when televoting was first introduced experimentally.