TEST
California Wines Export Program
AI Toolkit
Which AI tools to use and how to use them well. Real prompts, real examples, and honest guidance on where the technology is today.
You won’t always get exactly what you want on the first try and that’s normal. Think of AI as a collaborator, not a vending machine. Give it direction, react to what it gives you, and refine from there.
Tools referenced in this guide
Idea Generation & Getting Answers
Claude / ChatGPT / Gemini
This is the one that changes how you work. Beyond specific tasks, AI is an always-available thinking partner for brainstorming, decision-making, recommendations, research, and questions you’d otherwise spend an hour Googling. If something is on your mind, just ask. You don’t need a structured prompt. You don’t need to know the answer first. That’s the point.
Things you can just… ask
Which AI tool would be best for this, and how would you approach it?
Tips for best results
- You don’t need a perfect prompt – a rough question gets you further than no question at all.
- If the first answer isn’t quite right, say so. “That’s close but make it shorter / more formal / more specific to wine export.”
- Use AI to pressure-test your own thinking: “Here’s my plan – what am I missing?”
Department & Monthly Reports
ChatGPT / Gemini
For internal reporting and professional summaries, ChatGPT and Gemini both produce clean, structured output that feels polished without being overwritten. Paste in your rough notes – even messy ones – and ask it to organize and tighten. This works just as well for monthly update blurbs as it does for reports.
One thing to watch: AI occasionally uses a double dash as punctuation. Replace any you see with a single dash or rewrite the sentence.
Keep it high level – no unnecessary detail. Make bullet points concise.
Professional tone, active voice.
Before & After
• Onboarded a new Capstone educator based in the Cayman Islands, expanding program presence in the Caribbean.
• Progressing the final iteration of the California 3D topographic map design, with large-scale production planned for international reps.
• Working with a video editor to refine masterclass recordings and pilot program interviews as additional learning assets.
Also works for monthly report blurbs
The same approach applies to monthly update blurbs – the kind you might write for a board report, newsletter, or internal recap. Paste in your rough notes and ask AI to tighten them into a few polished sentences.
Tips for best results
- Paste your raw notes directly – typos and all. AI handles it well.
- Use “keep it high level” and “make bullet points concise” as reliable direction phrases.
- Always scan for double dashes and replace with a single dash or rephrase.
- If output is still too long, follow up: “Now cut each bullet by 30%.”
- For monthly blurbs: “Rewrite this as 2-3 polished sentences suitable for a newsletter communication.”
Survey Creation & Data Analysis
ChatGPT + Google Forms AI + Gemini in Sheets
Ask AI to write your survey questions, then copy and paste the completed survey into Google Forms’ built-in AI which creates the survey automatically for you. When responses come in, ask AI to summarize what people said. The whole thing – from blank page to ready-to-send survey – takes about 5 minutes.
Step 1 – Ask ChatGPT to write your survey
I want to understand how attendees felt about the event and how ready they feel
to grow their export business. Include questions about:
– Overall satisfaction
– Quality of speakers and content
– Networking opportunities
– How prepared they feel to export or expand export sales
– What they’d want to see next year
Use a mix of multiple choice, 1-5 rating scales, and one open-ended question.
Keep questions short and easy to answer.
Step 2 – Open Google Forms and let AI build it for you
Go to forms.google.com and click the + button to create a new form.
Look for the sparkle / magic wand icon ✦ at the top right – this is the AI button. Click it.
A box will appear. Paste in everything ChatGPT gave you and click Generate.
Google Forms automatically creates all the questions, sets the right answer types, and lays out the form.
Review each question, tweak any wording that doesn’t sound right, then hit Send.
Step 3 – Analyze the results with AI
When responses come in, Google Forms automatically sends them to a connected Google Sheet (click “View in Sheets” inside your form). Open that sheet, click the Gemini button, and ask it to summarize what people said. No formulas, no pivot tables – just ask in plain language.
Can you summarize the key findings? What did people rate highest and lowest,
what came up most in the open-ended answers, and what should we focus on
for next year based on this feedback?
Copywriting & Content Creation
Claude / ChatGPT / Gemini
Writing copy for newsletters, LinkedIn, and email can be a grind. AI is excellent at generating multiple options for you to choose from and refine. The more context you provide, the better the output will be.
Our target audience is [describe the audience, e.g., wine importers and sommeliers].
The goal of the post is to [describe the goal, e.g., encourage them to sign up for our upcoming webinar].
Please provide 3 different options:
1. One that is professional and informative.
2. One that is more engaging and story-driven.
3. One that is short and punchy.
Include a clear call to action in each.
Document Redesign
Claude
If you have a document that feels a bit dated or cluttered, Claude is excellent at suggesting layout improvements and more modern ways to present information. While it can’t “redesign” a PDF directly, it can rewrite the content into a better structure that you can then move into a new design.
How would you restructure this to be more modern and easier to read?
Break it into clear sections with bold headings and use bullet points where appropriate.
Presentation Design
Claude / Canva Magic Design
AI can help you outline your slides, write the script, and even suggest visual layouts. Canva’s Magic Design feature can even generate a full presentation deck from a simple prompt.
Please provide an outline for each slide, including a title and 3-4 bullet points.
Also, suggest a visual theme and provide a short script for the presenter for each slide.
HTML Webpage Design
Claude (Artifacts)
Claude’s “Artifacts” feature allows it to write and render HTML code in real-time. This is perfect for creating simple landing pages, interactive tools, or even prototypes for new website features.
Include a hero section with a placeholder for a large image, a section about the event,
a list of participating wineries, and a simple registration form at the bottom.
Use a clean, modern design with a navy and gold color scheme.
Image Cleanup & Refinement
ChatGPT / Adobe Firefly / iloveimg
Need to remove a distracting object from a photo? Or perhaps you want to expand the background of an image to fit a specific layout? AI tools like ChatGPT and Adobe Firefly make this incredibly easy.
Video & Audio Transcription
Turboscribe
If you have a video recording of a masterclass or an audio interview, Turboscribe is the fastest and most accurate tool for turning it into text. It even identifies different speakers automatically.
Upload any audio or video file and get a high-quality transcript in minutes. Supports over 90 languages.
Live Meeting Notes
Otter.ai
Otter.ai joins your Zoom or Microsoft Teams meetings and provides a live transcript. After the meeting, it generates a summary, identifies key action items, and even allows you to search the transcript for specific keywords.
Connect your calendar and Otter will automatically join your meetings and take notes for you.
Other Helpful Tools
ilovepdf / iloveimg
While not strictly “AI”, these tools are essential for any digital toolkit. They allow you to easily edit, compress, and convert PDF and image files directly in your browser.
Merge, split, compress, and convert PDFs. You can even edit PDFs and add page numbers or watermarks.
Resize, crop, compress, and convert images. Includes a simple photo editor and an upscale tool.
The Horizon
Future AI ✦
The tools listed here are impressive but are currently in early-release or require more technical setup. They represent where the technology is heading in the next 12-24 months.
NotebookLM
Upload your own documents (PDFs, transcripts, notes) and NotebookLM creates a private AI that only knows what’s in those files. You can ask it questions, and it will answer using only your data, providing citations for every sentence.
Current Pricing
HeyGen / ElevenLabs
AI-generated video and voice. You can create a digital avatar that looks and speaks exactly like you, in any language, just by typing text. Perfect for personalizing event invitations or training videos at scale.
Interactive AI Agents
Imagine a chatbot on the California Wine website that doesn’t just provide links, but actually helps an importer calculate shipping costs, recommends specific wineries based on their portfolio, or helps them fill out an application form.
These are ideas to inspire — not tools to use right now.
The pace of AI development means tools in this section could become mainstream production tools within 12-18 months. The goal right now is familiarity – so that when the technology is ready, you already know what it can do.