the 2008 contest was the first to implement two semi-finals, with all countries, apart from the "big four" countries – germany, spain, france and the united kingdom – and the host country, taking part in the semi-finals. the ebu split up countries with a friendly voting history into the two different semi-finals, to reduce the effect of diaspora and block voting seen in the contest since the implementation of televoting in 1998. on 28 january 2008, the ebu held a draw which determined that norway would compete in the first semi-final, held on 20 may 2008.