Napa, CA, November 13, 2018 – The DTC Wine Symposium has announced its two final keynotes: Kristi Faulkner, President of Womenkind, and Bill Burnett, a New York Times best-selling author and Executive Director of the Design Program, and a Mechanical Engineering Adjunct Professor, at Stanford University. The national summit takes place on January 23-24, 2019, at the Hilton Concord Hotel in Concord, California. www.dtcwinesymposium.com

Kristi Faulkner: “A Moving Target: Diversity for Profit”
Recognizing that consumers are more diverse and demanding than ever is critical to a successful marketing strategy for wineries and tasting rooms. Faulkner will explore the real and present risk to wineries’ bottom lines if they neglect the dynamics of evolving attitudes and demographics. The economic power of women, and especially millennials, continues to trend upward; consumers of color are demonstrating unprecedented loyalty to brands; and the LGBTQ community is becoming more organized as a purchasing power. Faulkner will touch on how wineries can effectively market to a broader, more diverse audience and use inclusivity to differentiate themselves from competitors.

Bill Burnett: “Radical Collaboration – Designing Your Life and Your Work”
The author of The New York Times Best Seller book Designing Your Life, How to Build a Well-lived Joyful Life will share how attendees can make money and meaning where they work. He will focus on how to think and succeed with the mindset of a “Life Designer,” and specifically address the special challenges of entrepreneurship and encore careers. Burnett is the Executive Director of the Design Program, and a Mechanical Engineering Adjunct Professor, at Stanford. He has 30 years of experience designing products that range from Apple PowerBooks to Star Wars Action figures. Bill is also a wine enthusiast with ties to the Pinot Noir community in Oregon.

These speakers join two additional perennial favorite DTCWS keynote presentations:
• Steve Gross, Vice President, State Relations for Wine Institute, with an update on DTC legislation and what changes portend for 2019; and
• Larry Cormier, General Manager of ShipCompliant by Sovos, with an advance preview of 2018 shipping data.

Additional Workshop Sessions and Sponsor Sessions have been added to the event website. To register, visit www.dtcwinesymposium.com. Early bird discounts end December 14.

About the Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium
The DTC Wine Symposium is presented by and a fundraiser for Free the Grapes! Now in its 12th year, the summit on DTC sales and marketing has raised more than $1.2 million for Free the Grapes’ PR campaign, and the Coalition for Free Trade’s legal work (The CFT “retired” in 2014 after achieving its goals). These two groups have worked closely with industry lobbyists and regional associations to streamline onerous regulations and to increase the number of legal wine shipping states from 17 to 45, which represent 94% of the US population. The DTC Wine Symposium is the primary fundraiser for Free the Grapes!, providing funds for its campaign to engage wine lovers and the media in its support of consumer choice using legal, regulated direct-to-consumer wine shipping.

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Media Contact: Ben Palos, Benson Marketing Group, (707) 254-1167, palos@bensonmarketing.com

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