The 2018 Issuu Generators Summit kicked off with a beautiful breakfast spread and meaningful conversation with creators. As the sun rose over New York City, innovators and learners alike gathered to chat and connect before the event. The event took place at New York’s PUBLIC Hotel: An Ian Schrager Hotel, with a panoramic view of lovely Manhattan.

Soon, it was time for Issuu CEO Joe Hyrkin to take the stage, where he unveiled the brand new Issuu Stories experience. The new Stories experience is set for launch and rollout in early 2019. Issuu Stories turns content from Issuu publications into beautifully designed social media Stories designed in line with brands’ attitude, identity and narrative. Any digital publisher on Issuu can transform their PDF content to engage with a new generation of users that consume content on mobile, where readers are spending more and more of their time.

With four distinctive panels of innovators, change makers and creatives, the Issuu Generators Summit was off to a running start with its first panel.

Related: Check out some of our New Stories on our Instagram Stories, or if you’ve missed it, check our Story Highlights!

Panel 1: The Rise of Stories: The Driving Force Behind Today’s Top Brands

We’re celebrating The Year of Stories. We’ve seen the major platforms like Snapchat and Instagram grow Stories content with great success. Heading into 2019, more brands plan to open their platforms for content creators to produce stories. Issuu brings together a panel of heavy-weight creators to share their vision of using Stories as a critically important format to grow brand discovery and engagement.

In his introduction, Joe spoke on the importance of stories in today’s digital landscape. This flowed right into the first panel, The Rise of Stories: The Driving Force Behind Today’s Top Brands. We heard from creative director and entrepreneur Patrick Janelle, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Quoted Magazine Rolf Leer, Founder of sisterMag Antonia Sutter, and Associate Director of Social Media for The Knot Whitney Little.

“What I love about Stories: there’s so much flexibility. Just being playful and taking a chance… you’ll never know unless you try.” – Patrick Janelle

The panelists talked about the importance of stories in today’s landscapes from their different perspectives in marketing and publishing. One of the main takeaways was the amount of freedom that stories allows brands in their marketing strategy.

“[With] Stories, we’ve been able to send people from a traffic perspective to read, but also able to say “here’s our new issue!” “swipe up to create your registry!” There’s so many places, it’s been that spot to catch all versus a post.” – Whitney Little

This influential group also talked about the engagement that using stories brings to their social feeds. With static posts, the panelists noted, their audiences may be less likely to follow multiple directions to convert their social engagement to traffic for their brands. With stories, however, the ease of swiping up to direct traffic, create polls, use stickers, ask questions and sharing visual previews of their greater content allows viewers easier access to their content and simple prompts for engagement.

“Stories give the opportunity to go away from the polished pictures of the feed so we can give more behind-the-scenes, more real life between stories.” – Antonia Sutter

Related: View the Generators Summit 2018 panel streams on our Facebook Page

Panel 2: How Creative Media Is Evolving

Who are the players that are going to be dominant over the next 20 years, and how is the way they present their information evolving? Content creators, self-starters, and brands have more and more tools to produce their creative vision, so the media landscape keeps changing with an array of applications to launch and grow their media empires. From storytelling strategies, emerging technologies, and techniques to perfect your craft — how can content creators impact new media?

The second panel at the 2018 Issuu Generators Summit discussed what’s next for the creative media industry. Sharing their unique takes from different facets of media, these panelists included moderator Lauren Alexis Fisher of Harper’s BAZAAR, Ghen Maynard of CBS Studios, Carl Van Arsdall of Pixar Animation Studios, and Mindy Abovitz of Tom Tom Magazine.

“You have to be honest with what your audience is and what your platform is.” – Ghen Maynard

These innovators discussed the evolving industry of creative media and how brands can stay relevant in today’s environment. One thing was made clear with these speakers–– the need to adjust your voice between platforms is absolutely necessary. What works for one platform for a brand may not work across each of their networks, and it’s important for brands to adjust and tailor to their audience.

“We sound different on every platform: you have to address the medium. There’s a total different likeness of each platform.” – Mindy Abovitz

Another takeaway from this panel: audiences crave authenticity. Today’s audiences are craving authentic content from their favorite brands and content creators. Audiences stray from disingenuous content; they want to be sold on products, stories and ideas that come from a place of authenticity.

“I think my telling these authentic stories and taking risks I think these are going to help America as a whole come to understand [other people], and maybe I can have conversation” – Carl Van Arsdall

Related: Catch some quotable highlights from the day on our Twitter feed

Panel 3: A World Without The First Amendment – The Importance of Journalism, Free Press, and Speaking Out