What do you get when you combine a killer exhibit design, a host of knowledgeable staffers, and a primo booth location? Whatever your answer, it isn't nearly as much as you could have obtained if you'd thrown an effective exhibit promotion into the mix. While design, staffing, and location are critical ingredients in a successful exhibit-marketing campaign, promotions add the extra oomph that prompts attendees to line up for a big helping of your products and services.

So to honor the powerful role promotions play in exhibit effectiveness – and to provide readers with proven ideas to steal for their own programs – EXHIBITOR magazine hosts the annual Sizzle Awards competition and devotes the October issue to the winners.

Judges reviewed entries in nine categories to identify programs that met two important criteria: 1) They had to provide more light-bulb moments than a night out in Times Square, and 2) they needed to generate significant measurable results.

Winning projects included everything from a low-tech exhibit experience with a personalized message in a bottle for every attendee to a live presentation featuring an ever-evolving wall of iPads. Perhaps more importantly, however, the winning exhibit promotions also garnered impressive measurable results, including a 50-percent increase in prescheduled in-booth meetings, 43 percent more press mentions than anticipated, and a return on investment of eight times the cost of the program.

So please join us in congratulating this year's winners, and read on to learn their secrets of success. After all, the best way to light your own creative fires is to spark them with a few proven examples. Here are five to get you started.E