The future is bright for Seattle after hosting the Pacific Northwest's first PCMA Annual Meeting in January 2008. Seattle drew record-breaking attendance of more than 3,500 meeting planners, CEOs, and industry suppliers, many of whom saw the city for the first time. An unprecedented collaboration of Seattle's hospitality and business communities pulled out all the stops to ensure that these attendees experienced the best of the region.

PCMA attendees used seven downtown hotels, filled the Washington State Convention & Trade Center and other meeting venues, bought out 80 to 100 restaurants for private functions, and conducted site inspections and sightseeing tours throughout the city and region.

This is an exciting time for Seattle's hospitality community, with new additional space acquired by the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, a new visitor center just opened by Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau, the recent expansion of the Sheraton Seattle Hotel, and a host of other new hotel projects underway.

The convention center's 800 Pike Street expansion offers approximately 50,000 square feet of additional exhibit and meeting space and is planned to open in 2010. The Washington State Convention & Trade Center's existing downtown Seattle facility currently features total exhibit space of 205,700 square feet and total meeting space of 102,200 square feet.

At the meeting's welcome reception, the center's award-winning catering team, lead by Chef José Luis Chavez, presented a Northwest-themed banquet that demonstrated why this is the only convention center to be recognized by the National Association of Catering Executives for "Best On-Premise Catered Event." Local wines and microbrews were poured while attendees enjoyed talented musicians and stunning visual displays themed to nature, art, water, and urban delights.

The newly located Seattle Visitor Center and Concierge Services, operated by Seattle's CVB was just unveiled. Staffed by concierge professionals and located in the center's upper Pike Street lobby, the visitor center features large plasma-screen displays of Seattle information and real-time Seattle airport flight information and will offer self-service flight check-in kiosks by the end of first quarter of 2008. Visitor Center services include travel information, dining reservations, tour bookings, information on performing arts, cultural and sporting events, and ground transportation assistance.

The Sheraton Seattle Hotel showcased its new second tower (opened in spring of 2007) at the meeting's closing reception. The $130 million expansion project included a 25-story, 415-room hotel tower next to the existing 838-room hotel and an additional 31,000 square feet of meeting space, bringing total meeting space to 75,000 square feet.

Seattle at a Glance
Convention Facilities: The Washington State Convention & Trade Center features 205,700 square feet of exhibit space and 61 breakout rooms.

Rooms Downtown: 9,000
Rooms Within Walking Distance of Convention Center: 8,000
Rooms in Seattle Metro Area: 32,000

Attractions: Pike Place Market, Experience Music Project, Soundbridge Seattle Symphony Music Discovery Center, Space Needle, Seattle Art Museum, Cinerama Theater, Museum of History and Industry, Pacific Science Center, Odyssey, The Maritime Discovery Center, golf, cruises, and more.

For More Information: Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau, One Convention Place, 701 Pike St., Suite 800, Seattle, WA 98101; phone: (206) 461-5800; fax: (206) 461-5855; e-mail: conventions@visitseattle.org; Web site: www.visitseattle.org