What makes trade show attendees stop and talk shop? Stellar exhibit designs, killer locales, and staffers with more charm than Mario Lopez certainly help. But more often than not, attendees break stride because of a promotion – be it a gift or missive they received prior to the show or an attention-grabbing experience happening right then and there in the booth.

That's why EXHIBITOR magazine pays homage to the power of promotional marketing with its annual Sizzle Awards. Now in its 19th year, the competition celebrates successful exhibit promos and provides readers with tested tactics to add to their own exhibit-marketing arsenals.

This year, our jury of six marketing and promotions experts mulled over entries in nine categories while keeping two criteria top of mind: Winning entries needed to rival Annie Leibovitz in terms of creative genius and include enough measurable results to prove the promotions delivered hard-core dividends.

Throughout their analysis, jurors also established a preference for inventiveness. Both bacon-scented T-shirts and an incentivized passport program across three different locations fit the bill – and earned Sizzle Awards for Micron Technology Inc. and Jacobsen, a Textron Company, respectively.

So hats off to this year's winners. Featuring innovative promotion techniques that yielded rock-solid results, the 2016 winners offer the perfect combo of sizzle and substance. E