Johannesburg, SA – (17^th July 2013) – Christie® a global visual technology company and Stage Audio Works, a leading distributor to the event technology, houses of worship and commercial sectors, will be taking the opportunity to celebrate the first anniversary of Christie’s South African branch office at MediaTECH 2013 and Stage Audio Works recent appointment as Christie’s Authorised Service Centre for South Africa.

From 5pm on Thursday 18^th July, delegates, media and fellow exhibitors are invited to join Christie and Stage Audio Works on their adjacent stands at MediaTECH (Stands J22 and J28 & H20 respectively) for a traditional South African “Sun-downer”.

Christie opened its South African branch office on the 1st June 2012 to underpin the company’s long commitment to the territory, providing facilities for demonstrations, both customer and partner training and inventory management.

While Stage Audio Works own recent history echoes this commitment to training and the support of Christie products, having become Christie’s first Certified Technical Partner in 2009 and now Christie’s official Authorised Service Centre for South Africa following Stage Audio Works continued investment in Christie’s advanced training programmes and a dedicated resource centre and workshop.

Gustav Barnard, Stage Audio Works Technical and Education Manager said, “We have contributed to develop the Christie brand in the region to a diverse range of customers and have been particularly successful in providing House of Worship applications with Christie’s E and M Series DLP® systems with call-out wins for the Mosaiek Church and New Life Church in recent months.”

“By providing our customers with the combination of best in industry technical support, immediate access to stock and spares and delivering value-add solutions, including financing, we are able to put forward a stand-out offering to the Pro-AV market in South Africa and that’s something worth celebrating,” Barnard remarked.

Christie’s Territory Manager, Africa, Phil Lord said, “With the help of our Partners we have been growing the business for some time and this year our activity and success have really accelerated following the opening of our new branch office here in Johannesburg just one year ago.”

Lord added, “The last 12 months have delivered far beyond our expectations in terms of new business generation and the number of AV professionals trained by Christie. That success in no small part has been achieved thanks to the support we’ve received from the team at Stage Audio Works. So while none of us are resting on our laurels, it’s good to take a moment to stop, appreciate all that’s been achieved and thank everyone involved for making it happen.”