CES Unveiled is much like a zoo. The exhibitors, some of the technology industry’s heavyweights as well as its relative newcomers, are the animals caged by their booth displays (in this metaphor, at least). The press, on the other hand, are the patrons of the zoo browsing the beautiful and exotic new products and trends.

Billed as the “official media event of the International CES,” Unveiled was held on Level 3 of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada in a massive conference hall. Over 100 companies were there to meet the press.

During CES Unveiled, it is up to these companies to lure members of the news media and press over to their booth in order to garner as much attention and exposure for their product as possible. As hundreds of photographers, reporters and writers descended upon Mandalay Bay’s Level 3, that did not look to be a problem.

The exhibitors this year were an interesting and eclectic mix of large and established companies like Chevrolet, Microsoft, and Technicolor as well as small and relatively new companies like Visijax, ROLLKERS SAS, and ISKN Inc. Although each company came with their own agenda, and their own unique product, the exhibitors were certainly unified in their attempt to make the evening a grand display of technological shock and awe.

And by most accounts, they succeeded on that front. Most interestingly, perhaps, is that most of the awe-factor came from the smaller and newer companies. For example, the booth for ROLLKERS SAS, makers of engine-propelled and battery-operated roller skates that can be attached to the user’s shoes, was surrounded by large groups of press for the length of the event.

Paul Chavand of ROLLKERS told National Monitor that he was hoping to have the roller skates on the market in the United States in about a year. Chavand’s competition Sunday night were companies like Microsoft and Chevrolet, whose presence came in the form a large red pickup truck taking up what seemed like an entire side of the conference hall.

Yet, companies like France’s ISKN Inc., makers of the iSketchnote, seemed to be acquiring much more of a buzz at the show than many of the older and more established exhibitors. The iSketchnote is a device that projects whatever the user is drawing on the included pad onto an iPad or PC screen in real time, as the user draws. The user can then replay the drawing, at the same rate and in the same motion they drew it, and then share that drawing using a number of social media platforms. “We are trying to give the consumer a more affordable option in order to make drawing fun and easy for the amateur as well as the skilled artist,” Lydie Roure of ISKN told National Monitor, despite their product’s few notable competitors.

Although there is such a diverse mix of companies, there were a few trends worth mentioning at Unveiled for the 2015 International CES. First of all, there was a heavy focus on the often mentioned Internet of Things trend in technology. Many of the products are built to create a smarter home for the consumer, with products like Dacor’s smartphone app-controlled ovens and stoves. In this same category of products, there is the CES award-wining company Vigilant Switzerland which makes smart toothbrushes that create a game out oral hygiene by sending data to and from a smartphone app that rewards kids with points for a good brushing motion or for brushing long enough.

Vigilant Switzerland also has its foot in another 2015 CES trend: wearables. “We put as much technology as we could into a watch,” Richard Binier of Vigilant told National Monitor. Vigilant’s watches are able to monitor the user’s heart rate and even their sleep patterns by working much like the aforementioned toothbrushes, sending data back and forth to a smartphone.

Lastly, there was a focus on health. One product by Blue Spark Technologies, called the Temp Traq, is literally a wearable thermometer for babies that allows parents to monitor their baby’s temperature at all times. Returning to Vigilant once more, Richard Binier told National Monitor about the VigiPen. “The VigiPen,” Binier said, “is the world’s first smart insulin pen; bluetooth controlled, it sends all of the injection information directly to the patient’s log book or to their doctor.”

Unfortunately for consumers, many of these products are still under patent review or are still a year or more from retail sale. While it is certainly true taht some of the products are available for sale to the public at this very moment, CES Unveiled is not really about what is already out. CES Unveiled is about what’s to come.

The 2015 International CES continues from Jan. 4th to Jan. 9th. On Monday, Jan. 5th, many of the largest companies like LG and Sony are set to hold press conferences that are going to follow the CES Unveiled model, except on a much larger scale. The future, it seems, is an exciting place to be.