Expectations around being on the Distilling Craft podcast
First of all, thank you from everyone here at Dalkita for being willing to participate in an upcoming episode of the Distilling Craft podcast. Our goal is to share your story in an interesting and entertaining way all while covering a topic that is rooted in/ related or relevant to the (global) distilling community at large.
Distilling Craft Show Format
Our audience is made up of either current distillers (our largest group) and aspirational distillers with the occasional well-informed hobbyist thrown in for good measure. The demographic skews predominantly male from 35-55 with a smaller cohort of female distillers between 45-65.
The format is a blended setup – meaning it can range from fully narrative to an interview format. We might even be bold enough to try a panel format at some point. We strive to match the topic with the format that will best serve the content.
While we want you to share practical how-to insights and interesting best practices you’ve come to learn, we also want listeners to get to know you better as a person.
Depending on the format we’ve discussed Colleen will interview you one-on-one OR she may tag team with another industry professional – likely from our office – however, we do reserve the right to call in the big guns if we need them (i.e. someone that is really really smart about a given topic). You will know the setup proposed for your segment via the “Your Distilling Craft Interview Details” email. After the recording, we will produce the show with (hopefully) modest editing.
What kind of questions will we ask?
The real nuggets of wisdom you share often come from the spontaneous, follow-up questions we can’t prepare you for. But an overview of what we want to cover with you includes:
- A technical topic: if you are a specialist at something in the spirits world, we should cover it. It won’t be a surprise and we will let you know about it well in advance of scheduling the interview.
- Your earlier childhood: Did your parents’ career have any impact on what path you chose for a career?
- Your education: What did you study, why, and how did it lead to your first job post-university?
- Your career: What type of work did you do before distilling? What challenges did you face? What lessons did you learn? What was the “A-HA!” moment that lead you to the spirits industry?
- Starting Up: How did you make the transition to the distilling industry? (We’ll dive deep into this.) How did you know the timing was right? What fears did you face?
- Your business today: What kind of success are you seeing (revenue/bottles distributed/growth rate)? What setbacks have you faced?
- Your work routine: How do you do what you do? What do you outsource? Your most/least favorite tasks… How do you manage risk?
- Looking back: What are you most proud of? What do you wish you knew at the beginning that you know now? What principles or practices have you come to appreciate that more people should embrace? Who emerged as a mentor to you?
About your answers…
If you need to mull over a question before answering – no problem. We will *try* to leave a little space between the end of your answer and our next thought/question. Typically, I use a silent “1-2-3” just to keep us from talking over each other. Try to keep your answers as concise as possible and if you want to re-phrase something for a take 2, just say the word.
We do have the ability to see each other using SquadCast so if you have a webcam look for/send non-verbal cues that I(or you!) may have something to add or another question. Of course, if we’ve asked for details, go for it! Go in-depth with your insights.
What equipment do you need?
Since we’ll be recording long distance, you’ll need a few things for your best experience and great/useable audio:
- Reliable Internet access at the time of our interview
- Best = using a computer that is plugged into the wall for power and internet
- Access to Google Chrome (if you need to download it, here is a link)
- Earbuds or Headphones (to eliminate feedback/ echo/ reverb).
- Bonus points for a microphone – the one on your earbuds works great, a standalone one, or on a headset… even the super cheap ones provide better audio than your computer’s built in mic.
- We will be recording the audio of this interview to be mixed down and released as a podcast.
- We will be recording the video with this chat with plans to post it on YouTube – check that background and make it insta-worthy.
We’ll be using a browser-based service called SquadCast to record, and it will ask for access to your webcam/microphone and speakers. Please, grant that access!
Lastly, if you can make sure we’re not interrupted in the form of knocks on your office door or smartphone notifications, that would be great. The more comfortable your room, the better. Four industrial walls cause a lot of echo. And please, silence that smartphone!
Promoting your episode and the Distilling Craft podcast
We want to use a great photo of you in the cover art for the episode. So, scroll through facebook/insta/snapchat/myspace OR actual photos (gasp!) and find one that you would like to use and share it with us! Otherwise, we have internet trolls search online for your 6th grade photo. Your choice.
While we have a good amount of listeners/ email list/ and audience for the Distilling Craft podcast at Dalkita. We kindly (and humbly!) ask that you share your episode of the podcast with a link to your specific post, when it goes live. We will even send you an email with the link.
A few shares via social media, a link from one of your pages at the website where you link to other PR you’ve received, and/or a mention in one of your emails to your list — would be a huge help to us and we really appreciate it.
That is it! Simple, right?! If you have any questions about anything, let me know via email. Otherwise, I am so excited to work with you on this episode!
