Any time is a good time for meeting in Seattle.

When is the best time to book a meeting in Seattle? It depends on whether you want to see blossoming azaleas and rhododendrons, sail boards scudding over sun-shimmering lakes, salmon struggling upstream to their fall spawning grounds, or the cotton-candy hues of snowcapped mountains.

"The beauty of our climate is its lack of extremes," says Steve Morris, president, Seattle-King County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We rarely get snow or subfreezing temperatures. We don't experience those miserable dog-days of summer when temperatures climb as high as the humidity. Surprisingly, even the rain is civilized here. Any time is a good time for a meeting in Seattle."

Walk to 6,000 rooms

During your meeting, attendees need never go "sleepless in Seattle." They will have their choice of 6,000 hotel rooms within easy walking distance of the convention center downtown and more than 25,000 hotel rooms in the greater metropolitan area. Accommodations range from five-star hotels to bed-and-breakfast aboard a tugboat.

Although the region's famed crusty sourdough has appeal, members will not live on bread alone. "Seattle is an irresistible feast of the freshest salmon, clams, oysters, crab, and regional ingredients cooked up in restaurants that showcase cuisines from around the globe," says Morris.

The city's downtown is a thriving regional center of shopping, dining, and other diversions. As Money magazine concluded: "Seattle's downtown, unlike many, doesn't close at 5 p.m." Downtown Seattle is the home of such national names as Nordstrom, Eddie Bauer, Starbucks, Niketown, Planet Hollywood, and Wolfgang Puck.

Culture increasingly calls downtown home with the new Seattle Art Museum, a relocated equity theater, the renovated Paramount Theater, and a $109-million concert hall under construction for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Seattle is one of only six U.S. cities to have a major symphony, major opera, and major ballet company. It has more equity theaters than any city except New York and Chicago and more theater performances annually than any city except New York.

Top-ranked convention facilities

When you hold your association's meeting in Seattle, you'll have access to top-ranked facilities.

The Washington State Convention & Trade Center, with its 221,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, is an architectural showpiece within easy walking distance of downtown hotels and shopping. Set atop a freeway, the center by 2001 is scheduled to add 108,000 square feet of new exhibit space, a new entrance offering direct access to a new 12,000-square-foot registration area, more breakout rooms, and a 9,000-square-foot special events area.

Seattle Center, just north of downtown, has its own allure for meetings and conventions. The site of the 1962 World's Fair, the center boasts the new 18,000-person KeyArena, spotlighted in the 1996 NBA World Championships. Home to the Space Needle and other attractions spread out over 74 acres of parkland, the facility also features 27 meeting rooms and a 40,000-square-foot exhibit hall. The center hosts more than 5,000 cultural events and performances each year.

The Kingdome, at the south end of downtown, hosts large special events from trade shows to Rolling Stones concerts and Billy Graham crusades. It offers your association meeting 153,000 square feet of floor space, 65,000 seats, and 90,000 square feet of fiat-floor pavilion.

The newest meeting venue is the Bell Harbor International Conference Center, which sits astride a pier in the midst of the city's bustling waterfront, providing postcard views and saltwater breezes, as well as 12 meeting rooms, 47,000 square feet of meeting space, and the latest in high-tech, interactive communications.

Two other meeting facilities are the Meydenbauer Center, which has a 36,000-square-foot exhibit hall and nine meeting rooms, and the Seattle International Trade Center, which has 100,000 square feet of permanently walled booths and 10 meeting rooms.

Out-of-the-ordinary meeting spots

"Seattle also enjoys a multitude of out-of-the-ordinary facilities, ideal locations for association functions and meetings," explains Steve Morris. "Our unique theme attractions and facilities often eliminate the need for you to create an entire event." He cites a number of examples:

* Kiana Lodge, a wood lodge in a natural lush setting, features alder-smoked salmon.

* Pacific Science Center/Omnimax Theater comes with dinosaurs, hands-on science exhibits, and a planetarium.

* Seattle Aquarium/Omnidome Theater, on the waterfront, offers tours and programs.

* The Space Needle, a 1962 World's Fair attraction, still fascinates visitors with its 360-degree view.

* Woodland Park Zoo, one of the top 10 zoos in the U.S., specializes in natural habitats.

* Burke Museum focuses on the natural and cultural heritage of the Pacific region.

* Museum of Flight, legacy of the Boeing Company, chronicles the history and future of aviation.

* Seattle Art Museum, with locations downtown and in Volunteer Park, displays 20,000 art objects.

* Argosy Tours and Spirit of Puget Sound offer charters and boat tours of Elliott Bay, Puget Sound, Lake Washington, the Government Locks, and more.

Seattle trivia

You may think you're up to speed on Seattle, but did you know that:

* Seattle, ranked 44th in a listing of U.S. cities by rainfall amounts, has less rain each year than Atlanta, Houston, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.?

* In the past few years, Seattle has been ranked number one among places to live (Money magazine), to visit (Places Rated Almanac), and do business (Fortune)?

* In 1992, Seattle's METRO Transit system was voted the top transit system in the U.S. by the American Public Transit Association?

* Seattle is reputed to be the best U.S. city in which to have a heart attack because the chances of survival are so much greater - more than half of the adults in Seattle and King county have had CPR training?

* King County has 15 wineries and 15 micro-breweries?