March On!: Using year-round webinar production to keep storytelling active between festivals

Overview

Each webinar required more than a meeting link. Topics and speakers needed framing for the right audience, promotional materials had to move through several channels, and the live program needed a dependable run of show, followed by recordings and clips for reuse.

Black Digital developed program topics and speaker preparation for each webinar, managed registration, creative, email, and social promotion, ran full live production for each session, and handled recording, editing, and coordination for the pre-recorded programs published alongside the live ones. Eight webinars ran across 2025, each requiring its own audience framing while running through the same production system. The lineup included “Behind the Lens: Telling Civil Rights Stories Through Film” (June 24), featuring Emmy-winning producer Opal H. Bennett, who leads the March On! Filmmaker Competition, and director Christine Swanson (FANNIE, The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel), moderated by March On! Executive Director Kim Callinan; “A Power Boost for the Soul” (April 24), a virtual gathering revisiting highlights from past festivals; “Bibb Country: Land, Legacy, and Lettuce” (September 9), a pre-Festival conversation with author Lonnae O’Neal about her memoir, moderated by DeWayne Bray, VP and Head of Storytelling at Andscape; “The Road Ahead: March On! Health, The Right to Be Well” (September 15), a panel on health as a civil rights issue featuring Dr. Aletha Maybank, Dr. Uché Blackstock, Dr. Joel Bervell (Instagram’s “Medical Mythbuster”), and poet Terraya Lewis; and “Wisdom Across Generations: Stories, Lessons, Reflections” (October 28), presented with the Turquoise & Lavender Institute, pairing Civil Rights leaders Ambassador Andrew Young and Rev. Dr. Paul Smith with a panel of young leaders reflecting on their legacy, moderated by Dr. Catherine Meeks.

Beyond original programming, the series also does double duty as a distribution strategy: several in-person Festival sessions get a second life as rebroadcast webinars through a dedicated encore platform, giving content built for one week in September a much longer shelf life across the rest of the year. The active engagement wound down in 2025 as March On!’s funding tightened, but Black Digital finished the job before stepping back: the final video footage and the premiere-ready process for the encore replays airing into 2026 were completed as part of the handoff, alongside staff training, additional reusable assets, and technical support so March On! could keep the series running on its own after the relationship ended.

Results

• 8 webinars produced across 2025
• A repeatable production system spanning planning through replay distribution
• Consistent registration, promotion, and live production across every session
• A structured handoff, including staff training, reusable assets, and completed footage for 2026 encore premieres, delivered as the engagement wound down

A festival organization’s storytelling shouldn’t pause between annual events. This webinar series gave March On! a way to stay active with its audience year-round, and a system built to keep running even after the active engagement ended.

Related Services

• Webinar Production
• Conference Branding and Event Marketing
• Campaign Strategy and Creative