The national final consisted of ten competing acts participating in a televised production where public televoting selected the winner.

[7][8] Auditions were held on 26 November 2015 and 1 December 2015 at the BTRC "600 Metrov" studio where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries to proceed to the televised national final.

[9] The competing entries were presented to the public in the lead up to the national final through televised postcard presentations that aired to promote the show, a weekly review programme that covered the competing artists' preparations and appearances by the ten finalists in the BTRC morning programme Dobrai Ranitsy, Belarus.

[4] The televised final took place on 22 January 2016 at the "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and 2014 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Teo.

[13] On 3 April, he performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the Izvestia Hall in Moscow, Russia and hosted by Dmitry Guberniev.

[14] On 9 April, Ivan performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hera Björk.

[17] On 25 January 2016, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in.

Ivan was joined by five off-stage backing vocalists: Anna Linnéa Isbäck, Herman Gardarfve, Jimmy Claeson, Melanie My Rosas and Ksenia Pavroz.

[28] Voting during the three shows was conducted under a new system that involved each country now awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting.

Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.

This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.