A SPECIAL REPORT: CONVENTIONS

EASY COME, EASY GO?: More than 1 million conventioneers descend on Anaheim every year, putting it among the top five spots nationally. . . . One recent plum was adding a meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and its 23,000 attendees. But not all shows stay put. The American Booksellers Assn. decided Anaheim is not “urban” enough. Next stop, Los Angeles. And Interbike, a meeting of 35,000 pedal-pushers, skipped Anaheim this year for Las Vegas because of scheduling troubles. But they’re returning because Orange County offers “fewer distractions,” says a spokeswoman.

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MEETING MACHINES: By Anaheim standards, playing host to a mere 2,000 conventioneers is small potatoes. But meeting in early December at Disneyland Hotel are members of Meeting Planners International, a group that decides where their associations or firms will convene. You can bet they will be entertained in grand style. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for Orange County because it will bring, in many cases for the first time, meeting planners to see what our area has to offer,” says Dennis P. Hollow of the local chapter.

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GET AROUND: Frustrated that Orange County did not have a guidebook, Huntington Beach’s top meeting official created one. Now 6,000 a week are sent to visitors and conventioneers. It includes tips on everything from the best beaches to the top golf courses. “Everyone who sees it agrees it gets you around,” says Diane Baker, president of the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau. The guidebook was privately financed by selling ads to 16 of the county’s 31 cities.

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DINING MECCA: Until recently, the Anaheim Convention Center was promoted by the numbers--size, features, total guest rooms. But that’s changing under Charles W. Ahlers, who took charge this year of the Anaheim Area Visitor & Convention Bureau. . . . “We’re kind of featuring the amenities,” he says of a $260,000 ad campaign designed by LeFebvre Advertising in Anaheim, which stresses the area’s dining, shopping and other benefits.