With a tagline like, “Bad Training SUCKS,” people know immediately that we’re a different kind of company. And at this year’s ASSE Safety 2011 Expo in Chicago, we didn’t disappoint.

We hired an actor/comedian, Matt Kissane, to be in-character impersonating “Matt Foley – Motivational Speaker,” made famous in several Saturday Night Live sketches starring the late Chris Farley.

The ASSE management actually came by our booth the morning of the second day asking if “Matt Foley” was going to be with us that day. We thought we might be in trouble because of the amount of attention he was getting. Just the opposite. They said if there was an award for the most entertaining booth, they’d give it to us, hands-down. We immediately suggested that it wasn’t too late for them to incorporate a “Most Entertaining Booth” award into their program and we’d happily accept.

And here’s Matt Foley, letting everyone know how Convergence Training can help get their training “back on the right track!”

OH&S (Occupational Health & Safety) Magazine also included a nice piece on us in their article, “Live from ASSE: Dirty Pictures and the Ghost of Chris Farley.”

Maybe next year, they’ll actually have our award for “Most Entertaining Booth” waiting for us.

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Over the past few years, we’ve gotten lots of compliments on our website. But as much as we like compliments, we’re driven by our own standards of quality and design. So check out our brand-spanking-new website https://www.convergencetraining.com/ for a look at who we are, what we do, and where we’re taking the industry.

We deliberately skipped traditional corporate web design, and took a revolutionary approach to our new site. We actually tell you what we do… and it may sound crazy, but we also show you some samples of our work. So be warned, if it makes you uncomfortable to have a company speak to you in direct terms, with relevant images, this site is not for you.

You won’t find businessy jargon like, “empowers companies to maximize their potential and facilitate ROI, blah, blah…” Convergence sells Training Courses, Training Management Software, and Custom Course Development Services at competitive prices to companies that value quality. Need to know more? Dig a little deeper into the site or just give us a call.

Yes, our phone lines have actual people on this end. We’re not using our site as a shield to protect us from those scary customers. Our phone number’s right at the top of every page.

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This year, at the ASSE Safety 2011 Expo in Chicago, we’re buying a selection of IKEA furniture for our booth (#1063) and working with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless to get the items to people who really need it. We think that’s a much more meaningful use of our resources than renting a folding chair and table skirt for a couple of days.

While trade shows provide a great opportunity for potential customers and product producers to meet, they can be costly and often wasteful. Printing marketing material, shipping display cases, renting furniture, and paying huge fees for space and services just for a chance to get face to face with prospective clients… We do all that… but we do it our way.

When we attend shows these days, we don’t rent furniture, we buy it and donate it to a local charity. We started this practice at last year’s Safety 2010 Expo in Baltimore MD. It’s just one way that we try to give something back to the community while we grow our business. It takes a little more coordination to buy the furniture and make arrangements with a charitable organization, but it’s really worth it.

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One of the many benefits of developing 3D animated training is that there’s always the opportunity to update and improve our models. As computing power increases and our development processes evolve, we get to take advantage of creating more complex and realistic 3D environments, machines, and people.

Here’s an example from our Trenching and Excavation Safety course, currently under development. The first image is what we’ve used in the past. At the time, it did the trick. But then, of course, this is a dynamic and ever-changing industry. And animators and 3D modelers characteristically like to push the envelope.

The second image is our latest model under development. It’ll be a focal point of our new Trenching and Excavating Safety course and it represents a much more sophisticated, detailed, and realistic piece of equipment. It’s the result of our increasingly refined skills, tools, and processes. Ultimately, that’s what defines an animation studio, constantly pushing the limits of what’s possible to create effective, engaging illusions that tell a story.

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June 12 -15 we’ll be exhibiting at ASSE’s Safety 2011 Expo in Chicago, IL. Last year’s show in Baltimore had an estimated attendance of 4,000. And with this year being the ASSE’s 100th anniversary, we expect even more attendees.

If you plan on coming to the show, or if you’re in the area, come by Booth #182 to experience our innovative 3D OSHA-based videos and learning management software. At the end of the show last year we gave away an iPad, flat screen TV, and massage chairs. Who knows what cool prizes we’ll give away this year. So stop by and talk with Bjorn Ansbro and Scott Rise. You’ll see some awesome training and you could just win big!

Visit the link below for more info:

www.asse.org/education/pdc11/

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Providing a secure and enjoyable experience for our customers is extremely important to us. So we make sure our ecommerce site is tested by one of the most respected names in software security, McAfee. And getting a big, green check-mark from them means a lot.

So shop with us worry-free. And if you ever have questions about our site or our products, just give us a call at 800.619.2280.

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Convergence Training Viewer (CTV) was tested recently by Download3k.com and found to be free of viruses or spyware. Using 4 of the best antivirus engines available today (Avira, Kaspersky, NOD32, Bitdefender), the Download3k tests provided confirmation that our Training Viewer software is completely clean of any form of badware (viruses, spyware, adware, etc.) and totally safe for anybody to download and use to view any SCORM-compliant training materials.

You can download Convergence Training Viewer from Download3k and use it to view Convergence courses, other SCORM courses, or even to import any courses you’ve created with popular authoring tools.

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We’ve got a new Hydraulic Fluid Safety module in the works and the material that Media Designer Michael Ojdana has created looks so good that we couldn’t wait to let you know about it.

We’ll post updates throughout production and provide you with some more sneak peeks as we get closer to wrapping things up. Stay tuned.

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Our new OSHA 10-Hour General Industry training videos are now in production and will be available later this year.

The new curriculum meets the training requirements of 29 CFR 1910 and provides the dynamic training experience you’ve come to expect from Convergence Training. Our set of video courses are SCORM-compliant, meaning you can input them into your current or future LMS. As always, our courses will be jam-packed with engaging visuals, clear instruction, and concise audio, with some of our best 3D animations and virtual sets ever.

This set of courses will cover:

• OSHA Act, General Duty Clause, Employer and Employee Rights and Responsibilities
• Walking and Working Surfaces, Including Fall Protection
• Exit Routes
• Electrical
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Hazard Communication
• And more

Check back for updates as video production continues, and we’ll be sure to announce when the new OSHA 10-Hour General Industry training curriculum is available for sale.

Who should take these training courses? People working in the following industries:

• Construction
• Distribution
• Health Care
• Pulp & Paper
• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Warehousing

And as always, feel free to call or email us with any questions or suggestions regarding our training courses and software. We’re always happy to hear from you.

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We’re super happy to announce that our Forklift Safety course is now available on DVD. And if we do say so ourselves, the 3D animation and graphics are some of our best yet. We feel there’s simply no better video out there on the common hazards and safe operation of forklifts.

Click Here for a sample video focusing on the principles of forklift stability. It’s a great preview of how our 3D animation can show dynamic physical concepts that simply aren’t possible via standard video or print materials.

Here’s a sample of how our new Forklift Safety DVD is being received by industry professionals:

• “This is by far the best visualization and explanation of forklift load shift that I have ever seen. Because the people you are training are visual and verbal learners this should go a long way.”
• – Bart Gragg, Workforce Consultant and President of Blue Collar University

Visit BuyBetterTraining.com for sample videos, more details, and to purchase our New Forklift Safety DVD.

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Last month Convergence Training was hired by Air Liquide to produce a safety training video about working with pressurized gas.

Air Liquide is a multinational producer of specialty industrial gases and also the containers that hold these gases. Air Liquide finds it valuable to give their customers the best information on how to work safely with their products. The Compressed Gas Cylinder Safety DVD is now available free of charge and can be ordered on the Air Liquide website.

The course emphasizes the most important concerns industrial workers need to know about working with pressurized gas cylinders. The info in this DVD includes:

• General cylinder facts and information
• Handling and transporting cylinders
• Cylinder and specialty gas hazards
• Indoor and outdoor cylinder storage
• Installation and use of cylinders and equipment
• Point-of-use cylinder safety

The course also features specific Air Liquide components, such as the SMARTOP™ and ALTOP™ canister cylinder caps. The ability of our 3D model artists to create realistic depictions of Air Liquide cylinders and components is one of the reasons Convergence Training was chosen for this project.

Also, 3D animation has certain strengths for industrial process videos like this, because we are able to depict what NOT to do much more easily than a standard live-action video can. In our Air Liquide video, we show the actual dangers (sometimes explosive) of what can occur when gas cylinders are not stored correctly, and this gives our safety training that much more impact. Air Liquide calls the DVD a “must see for anyone who uses gases under pressure.”

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